1. DOCTRINE, to be committed to the Inquisition, presided over by a Cardinal of the Inquisition, the committee to be enlarged by the addition of some members not attached to the Holy Office. This committee could be subdivided into sections.
2. ECCLESIASTICAL-POLITICAL AFFAIRS, to be committed to the Congregation for ecclesiastical affairs, enlarged by consulters and others.
3. MISSIONS AND ORIENTAL CHURCHES, to be committed to the Propaganda and the Congregation of Oriental Rites.
4. DISCIPLINE, to be committed to the congregation for bishops and regulars, with the addition of consulters, canonists, and theologians.
Each committee was to be presided over by a Cardinal, and all were to report to the Directing Congregation, with which should rest the ultimate authority.[53]
[Footnote 52: "_Juxta modum a Sanctissimo statuendum._"--_Cecconi_, p. 29.]
Memoranda of Thirty-six chosen Bishops, consulted under Bond of Strictest Secrecy, April to August, 1865--Doctrine of Church and State--Antagonism of History and the Embryo Dogma--Nuncios admitted to the Secret--And Oriental Bishops.
On April 10 his Holiness sanctioned a letter to thirty-six select bishops of different countries, intimating under the most binding secrecy his intention of holding a Council in the Holy City, at some time yet undetermined, and requesting them to communicate their views as to the subjects proper to be treated.[54]
In August, nearly all the answers had arrived. Out of the thirty-six, only three bishops cast doubts on the wisdom of the project; all the others were rejoiced.
The letters of the thirty-six, according to Cecconi, expressed views on the present condition of society coinciding with those of the purpled in Rome. The thirty-six generally remarked on the absence of any special heresies. When we come to particulars, the subjects which our author finds specified are: the right of the Church to hold land; her independence of the State; her right to control education; her right to judge what promotes and what hinders religion. Among other matters noted, the chief are: the obligation of the faithful to adhere to the decisions of the Church, and in particular to those of the Holy See, and the necessity of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, with "similar points."