Securus judicat orbis terrarum

The secure judgement of the whole world--according to Richard John Neuhaus, this refers to the judgment of the Catholic Church. This, according to John Henry Newman, was the assertion of St. Augustine, which embodied "Antiquity ... deciding against itself" (Apologia Pro Vita Sua). This disrupted his dearly held via media.

This points, really, to what may be at the heart of the problem with the via media. While it is nice to appeal to reason, scripture and tradition, there is a difficulty, first, in distinguishing between scripture and tradition (See de Lubac) and, second, in knowing exactly to which part of the tradition to appeal.