before its actual definition, a Catholic might deny it, or suspend his
judgment, without censure; whereas, to do either the one or the other,
after the Church has solemnly declared the doctrine to be contained in
the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, would be nothing short of
heresy.

"The Infallibility, whether of the Church or of the Pope," says
Cardinal Newman, "acts principally or solely in two channels, (_a_) in
direct statement of truth, and (_b_) in the condemnation of error. The
former takes the shape of doctrinal definitions, the latter
stigmatises propositions as 'heretical,' 'next to heresy,'
'erroneous,' and the like" (p. 136).

The gift of Infallibility, observes Cardinal Manning, "extends
_directly_ to the whole matter of divine truth, and _indirectly_ to
all truths which, though not revealed, are in such contact with
revelation that the deposit of faith and morals cannot be guarded,
expounded, and defended, without an infallible discernment of such
unrevealed truths" (_Vatican Decrees_, p. 167).

8. To sum up: Persons who refuse to assent to doctrines which they
know to be directly revealed and defined, or which are universally
held by the Church as of Catholic Faith, become by that very act
guilty of heresy, and cut themselves adrift from the mystical Body of
Christ, and are no longer His members. If, on the other hand, their
assent is refused only to doctrines closely connected with these
dogmatic utterances, and which, as such, are proposed for their
acceptance, they become guilty, if not of actual heresy, then of
something perilously akin to it, and are, at all events, guilty of
serious sin.