The elder begins a fresh allocution by citing Matt.
Just as at the third scrutiny the early catechumen passed a last examination in the Gospels, Creed and Lord's Prayer, so after their year of abstinence the credens receives creed and prayer; the allocution with which the elder "handed on" this prayer is preserved, and of it the Abbe Guiraud remarks that, if it were not in a Cathar ritual, one might believe it to be of Catholic origin.
With the assistance of their legal representation, they determine allocution of debts, division of assets, custody of minor children, and other important issues.
At the end of May the pope, in an allocution to the cardinals, had spoken of Italy in terms of unusual cordiality, and had expressed a wish for peace.
The pope, in an allocution of 22nd June 1868, declared that these " damnable and abominable laws " which were " contrary to the concordat, to the laws of the Church and to the principles of Christianity," were " absolutely and for ever null and void."