Is a Christian who believes that abortion is wrong in every case or that marriage can only be between a man and a woman suitable for public life today? These kinds of questions can make or break political careers, but such matters are hardly new. John Henry Newman faced them almost
150 years ago.
In November 1874 William Gladstone, having lost the election and stepped down as prime minister, had time to write a pamphlet touching on the recently held First Vatican Council. Now that the pope had declared himself to be infallible, he commented, Catholics had not only lost their intellectual freedom but had also become unsuitable for public life.
