ABSTRACT
The papal brief Ex hac apostolicae establishing the See of Baltimore did not reach John Carroll until April, 1790. Rome had chosen to ignore the American clergy's earlier request that the mode of election for future appointments should not be made without prior consultation with the priests in the United States who best understood the temper of America. The Congregation of Propaganda discussed Carroll's petition at a General Meeting on June 16, 1794. In the hope of avoiding any further prejudice towards the Catholic Church in America, permission was granted for Carroll to replace the traditional oath with that allowed the Bishops of Ireland and the Bishop of Mohilow, Russia, which deleted the objectional passage. Carroll had served as bishop for a quarter of a century, and throughout his episcopacy he tried to obtain, without success, Rome's approval to establish a permanent procedure by which the independence of the Catholic Church in America could be secured from outside control.
