Irreformable Sentence Examples

On the 18th of July the pope's decrees were declared " irreformable of themselves, irrespectively of the consent of the Church," always provided that they dealt with doctrines of faith and morals, and were delivered ex cathedra - that is, with the intention of binding the consciences of all Catholics.

The second and decisive victory followed at the Vatican Council (1870), which, at the cost of a small secession of distinguished men, declared the pope personally infallible (see Infallibility) and irreformable as often as he rules ex cathedra points of faith or morals.

The only reservation which the most advanced Gallicans dared to formulate, in the terms of the celebrated declaration of the clergy of France (1682), had as its object the irreformable character of the pontifical definitions, which, it was claimed, could only have been acquired by them through the assent of the Church.