ABSTRACT
The doctrine of papal supremacy thus appears to be at the heart of the question, from both a political and a religio-theological standpoint. Before analyzing in detail the position Bellarmine took on this matter, I think it is worth the trouble to pause over a very well-known episode in the English religious history of this period, one whose implications, however, have yet to be fully explored, namely, the controversy over the oath that pitted Blackwell against Bellarmine himself.
