The True Story of the Vatican Council #223102

Pius the Ninth, in that short interval, had made known to the cardinals that for a long time the thought of convoking an (ecumenical Council as an extraordinary remedy to the extraordinary needs of the Christian world had been before his mind. He bade the cardinals to weigh the matter each one by himself, and to communicate to him in writing, and separately, what before God they judged to be right. But he imposed rigorous silence upon them all.