Gerald Slevin on Pius IX and the Doctrine of Infallibility: Pope Francis Can Make the Church Great Again by Eliminating the "Infallibility Trap"

Earlier today, I linked to a very fine statement by Irish lay Catholic Ursula Halligan in response to recent comments by Archbishop Eamon Martin of Ireland. Archbishop Martin notes that the Catholic community has difficulty welcoming people who do not live up to its ideals — notably, LGBTQ people. In response, Ursula Halligan asks Archbishop Martin,

"Trust in Obedience: Remain Silent, and Never Say a Word" — Hubert Wolf's The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal

Sister Maria Ignazia of Sant'Ambrogio Franciscan Cloister, Rome, Testimony Before Inquisition, March 1860

I've just finished reading Hubert Wolf's The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal, trans. Ruth Martin (NY: Vintage, 2015). The excerpt from this book I've highlighted for you above catches my eye for a number of reasons, which I'll explain at the end of this "review."