When Some Depart from the Rest

What, then, will a catholic Christian do if some small part of the church has cut itself off from the communion of the universal faith? What else, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the unsoundness of a diseased and corrupt limb? And what if some new contagion tries to infect not just a small part of the church but the whole? Then he will take care to cling to antiquity, which today cannot possibly be led astray by any trick of novelty.

But what if, within antiquity itself, error is found on the part of two or three men, or even of a city or a province? Then he will take care by all means to prefer the decrees of an ancient general council, if there are any, to the rashness and ignorance of a few. But what if some error springs up on which no such decree is found to bear? Then he must bring together and compare, consult, and question the opinions of the ancients: of those, that is, who lived in different times and places, yet remained in the communion and faith of the one catholic church, and stand out as recognized and approved authorities. And whatever he finds to have been held, written, and taught, not by one or two of them only, but by all, equally, with one consent, openly, often, and steadily, he must understand that he too is to believe without any doubt or hesitation.