C. To the Third Objection
1. First Way of Speaking and its Rejection
21. As to the third objection [n.16] there are four ways of speaking [about it]:
First that the Pope conceded that priests could anoint on the forehead with oil but not with chrism [Hugh of St. Victor, Albert the Great].
22. But this is against the text of the letter, as is plain in the same place in the afore cited chapter [n.16].
23. Again he conceded this because some were scandalized for its being taken away; but if he had conceded it to be done with oil alone, as if showing it were done with chrism, it would be pretense and against the truth of doctrine, just as if blessed bread were permitted to be given in place of the Eucharist.
2. Second Way of Speaking and its Rejection
24. The second way of speaking is that he conceded it, or rather permitted it, for a time to avoid scandal [Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas].
25. But this is a nothing, because “it is more useful for scandal to be permitted to arise than for truth to be abandoned” [Gregory IX, Decretals V tit.41 ch.3].
26. Again, Gregory [the Great] would have sinned mortally in making this concession if he had conceded de facto what he could not have conceded de iure; and he would have given priests an occasion for sinning mortally, namely for doing what it was not licit for them to do.
3. Third Way of Speaking and its Proof by Authorities
27. There can be two other probable ways of speaking:63
One is this, that in the primitive Church there was no difference between priests and bishops.
28. This is proved through two authorities from Jerome, which are set down in Gratian, Decretum p.1 d.95 ch.5.