TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE OVERTHROWN.
When Pius IX suffered himself to be betrayed into the emotional
remark quoted in the last chapter--that he neither could nor would
admit such modifications of the laws as the people desired--he made
a fatal mistake. It placed him in direct opposition to the expulsion
of the Austrians, the creation of a constitutional government, and
an independent Italian nation. He must have been grossly deceived by
his ecclesiastical advisers if he did not know that the popular mind
had become intensely aroused by the desire to see all these things
accomplished, that the revolution had no other meaning, and that
everything transpiring indicated unmistakably that pacification was
impossible without them. He would have known, upon a little reflection,
that the true Christian faith of the Church, as taught by the apostles
and "the fathers," was, in no proper sense, involved in any of these
propositions; that they had the approval of millions of Roman Catholics
throughout the world, and a vast majority of the Italians, and that
by employing his pontifical authority to ingraft upon the faith the
odious Jesuit doctrine that it was heresy to deny the temporal power
and kingship of the pope, he was not only doing violence to the honest
convictions of these multitudes of Christians, but was endeavoring to
convert the Church, as the representative of the whole body of its
members, into a machine for the perpetuation of monarchism, and the
suppression of the right of popular self-government.
To say to the people of Italy, as he did, that a constitutional
government established by them would violate the divine law, in
the face of what such governments had done elsewhere in the
world--especially in the United States--was, besides being an act of
weakness on his part, an arraignment of the popular intelligence of
the world. Such a doctrine was only endured in the Middle Ages because
the multitude were trained to servility and obedience, and held in
that condition by the united authority of Church and State. But its
avowal at the middle of the nineteenth century could be understood in
no other sense, even at Rome, than the expression of a desire to see
the period of human progress brought to an end by the permanent triumph
of imperial power. It was the mapping out for the modern progressive
nations such a policy as would, by destroying their constitutions,
subject them to papal domination throughout the vast domain of faith
and morals; for if, as he declared, the two hundred millions of Roman
Catholics scattered through the world were to become subject to his
summons to defend the temporal power of the pope, they would thereby
become the creatures of his will and the passive instruments of his
power. There were very few so ignorant as to be misled by his appeals
for the continuance of his own monarchical and absolute power, and
therefore his attempt, by the aid of the Austrians, to put stronger
rivets in their chains, only made them the more resolute in the
determination to break their fetters entirely.
As each day passed, the people became better acquainted with the
opinions and purposes of Pius IX. Yet, with commendable patience,
they submitted to his repeated censures, on account of their real
love for him, no less than their veneration for his office. If he
could have comprehended them fully, mingled emotions would have been
excited in his mind--those which spring up when the cords that reach
the sympathies of the heart are touched, and such as pride, vanity,
and ambition invariably engender. But, apart from the emotions he may
have personally experienced, he was controlled by circumstances against
which he was powerless to contend, because the existing complications
had been produced before his time, by combinations which recognized
no sympathy for popular suffering, and had become strong enough to
master even the papacy itself. Possibly his natural tendencies may
have inclined him to break the bonds which held him in the grasp of
the monarchs and the Jesuits; but he was as unable to do this as a
child is to tear away from the arms of a strong man. He was, in fact,
scarcely himself, but the victim of others far less scrupulous, who
lulled or aroused his passions and vanity at their pleasure, no matter
what fate befell him, the Church, or the people of Italy. If he looked
beyond Italy, he found the great military and monarchical power of
Austria holding him by the throat, and tightening its grasp every day.
If he looked at Rome, where he ought to have had wise counsels, he saw
himself surrounded by a corps of ecclesiastics whose minds--howsoever
otherwise enlightened--were dwarfed from the want of practical
knowledge of the world and practical experience in the management of
affairs, and who saw in human progress only that which placed a curb
upon their own ambition and a limit to ecclesiastical authority. But in
whatsoever direction he turned his eyes, he was haunted by the specter
of Loyola, which flitted through the recesses of the Vatican at all
times, ready "to whet his almost blunted purpose" whensoever he became
wavering and irresolute. The popular cry of "constitution" sounded like
a death-knell to all these advisers, with whom a war with Austria and
an independent Italy were sacrilegious violations of the divine law. We
should not, therefore, censure Pius IX too severely when we find him
surrounded and hedged in by such influences as these, which few men
would have strength enough to resist. No matter what glories clustered
about his sacred office, he was human like other men.
War with Austria soon became the popular cry; and when the people of
the provinces were apprised that the pope did not favor it, they began
at once to look in another direction for assistance. The relations
between Austria and Sardinia had long been hostile, and it was natural
that they should look to an alliance with Piedmont, then armed, for
the protection the pope refused. When Pius IX became sufficiently
composed to anticipate even the possibility of such a step as this, he,
probably for the first time, was made to realize how rapidly dangers
were gathering and thickening around the papacy, and how incompetent
he would be to encounter them, if the popular vengeance, aroused by
his indifference and neglect, should be turned against him. He was,
accordingly, induced to yield again to the better impulses of his
nature, and attempted to turn away the public wrath by additional
measures of reform. There were some political prisoners who had not
been included in his amnesty, and these were pardoned. He also had the
walls pulled down which separated the Jews from the other parts of the
population. But these measures, although important, were of slight
consequence so long as the Jesuits were permitted to remain in Rome.
Their society, was regarded as a cankerous sore eating at the heart
of society, with an appetite too voracious to be appeased. They had
been driven from every city in the provinces, and were followed by a
degree of popular odium which would have dispirited any other body of
men. But so far from that effect having been produced upon them, their
knowledge of the disrepute in which they were held had the effect only
to intensify their hatred of everything that tended to aid the cause
of the people in their efforts to secure a constitution. Having found
shelter in Rome, they crowded around the pope, practicing all their
arts in playing upon his vanity, inciting his passions, and turning him
against the people. At last the measure of popular odium which rested
upon them became so great that Pius IX was awakened to a consciousness
of their dangerous presence, and he _drove them out of Italy_. It
required some courage to do this, but it would have required infinitely
more not to do it, inasmuch as the detestation in which they were held
was well-nigh universal among the people, large numbers of whom were
disposed to attribute to their influence alone much of what was done
by the pope. Their expulsion, under the circumstances, was, therefore,
creditable to Pius IX, not alone because it was done in deference to
public opinion, but because it indicated that he had become apprised
of their evil influences, and was desirous to avoid them.
It can never be known, of course, to what extent the Jesuits molded the
opinions of Pius IX. But as they had employed the whole period after
their re-establishment in endeavoring to dictate to all the popes, and
were eminently successful with Gregory XVI, it may fairly be supposed
that the unsuspecting and impressible mind of Pius IX was unable to
detect their cunning, and consequently became influenced by them.
Taking into consideration everything bearing upon their relations with
him, in so far as they can be now known, the conclusion is inevitable
that their expulsion from Italy by the pope was not only the result
of imperative necessity, but the highest possible evidence of their
unworthiness. This is the natural and unavoidable inference from the
fact itself. Nevertheless, he had already gone so far in attempting
to enforce doctrines which the people attributed to the Jesuits, that
even their expulsion did not relieve him from the suspicion of having
already yielded too much to them. On this account he may have derived
more harm than benefit from it. Whilst they remained in Italy they
served as a shield, protecting him, in a large degree, from public
censure; for as the people loved him and hated them, they had to stand
in the front and receive the full force of the indignation that fell
upon him after their departure.
When the Jesuits were out of the way, and it came to be seen that
Pius IX still adhered to their obnoxious doctrines with regard to an
independent constitutional government and the religious obligation to
maintain the temporal power of the pope as a tenet of faith, he found
himself, far more than before, unable to escape the public criticism
and reproof. If he had pursued his course up to this time without
having given due consideration to possible results, and was then for
the first time brought to reflect upon them, it is not easy to see
how he failed to realize that he had gone too far, and had put it out
of his power to arrest the current of events then rapidly hastening
to the very results he deplored the most. He had probably never
suffered himself to regard the people as a power to be dreaded; for,
besides knowing their inclination to be faithful to the Church and
their personal esteem for him, he was manifestly influenced by the
belief that the combinations between Church and State were sufficiently
powerful to suppress any popular uprising in favor of constitutional
government. If these ideas occupied his thoughts, he must have become
satisfied, after he had expelled the Jesuits, that he had been deluded
by them, and that they had been the real authors of his misfortunes. It
is not probable, however, that his excitement subsided sufficiently for
calm reflection. Nor is it likely that anything occurred to awaken him
from his dream of security until he discovered that his renewed effort
at reform had no other effect than to assure the Italian people that
their independence could be achieved only by abolishing the temporal
power of the pope by means of an alliance with Sardinia. He had
unwisely made the issue with his own people, and was no longer able to
control it.
The imminence of war led to sending Italian troops to the frontier to
drive out the Austrians; and as Pius IX could not take part in such a
war because he considered himself "the father of all the faithful"--the
Austrians included--he begged the Emperor of Austria to withdraw
his troops, and sent a nuncio to the King of Sardinia, inviting
his co-operation in forming a confederacy of Italian republics,
_with the pope at its head_! The emperor refused to comply with his
request; and the king had no leisure to devote to impracticable and
visionary schemes with such an enemy as Austria near at hand, ready
to strip him of his territories and convert Sardinia into an Austrian
dependency. The Austrians, becoming incensed at the movements of the
Italian troops, announced that they would treat them as bandits and
brigands, and threatened to invade and desolate the Italian provinces.
The Italians, therefore, having failed to obtain any assistance or
encouragement from the pope, although he insisted that he was their
rightful king and they his subjects, and being left to deal alone
with Austria, had to make choice between war and degradation. Under
these circumstances they could not fail to realize that everything
pertaining to their future prosperity and interests commanded the
former--their pride forbade the latter. Hence, the war from that time
was, upon their part, in self-defense. And it was not difficult to see,
from the beginning, that with such an adversary as Austria to contend
against, and the pope resisting rather than aiding them, the Italians
were compelled to rely upon their alliance with Sardinia, which by that
time had become separated from the influences dictated by the "Holy
Alliance," and was rapidly becoming an important and independent power.
At the battle of Novara, between Austria and Sardinia, Charles Albert,
the Sardinian king, was defeated with terrible loss. He immediately
abdicated his office and turned over the crown to Victor Emmanuel, his
son, who so conducted affairs as to make himself influential in the
great movements that led to the peace of Villafranca, and by skillful
statesmanship to procure from the Austrians the recession of Lombardy
to Sardinia. The military strength of Sardinia having been thus
increased, greatly encouraged the Italians, and in order to counteract
the influences which were tending to an alliance between them and
Victor Emmanuel, the proposition to create an Italian confederacy, with
the pope at its head, was revived. But the Italians, who had become
unwilling to submit to the dominion of an absolute monarch any longer,
resisted this scheme, from the conviction that it would still keep
them at the feet of their old masters. And to make this resistance
more effective, several of the Italian provinces transferred their
allegiance to Sardinia, thus increasing her strength beyond what it had
ever been, and adding to her importance as a military power.
The attitude occupied by Sardinia after these accessions, introduced
into the politics of Europe a new and most important question--whether
these revolted Italian provinces should be compelled to return under
the temporal dominion of the pope, or be allowed to settle their own
position and destiny for themselves? Although this question involved
the principle of self-government, it was considered as having somewhat
an international aspect, and consequently attracted the notice of other
powers beside those immediately interested. Louis Napoleon had, in
the meantime, made himself Emperor of France, and being fully imbued
with the "Napoleonic idea" of his own importance, ventured to suggest
to Pius IX, by way of advice, that it would be well for him and the
Church to let the revolted provinces "go in peace." The pope, however,
scornfully rejected this advice, and declared that he preferred death
to such degradation--in which it is fair to suppose he was sincere. But
his refusal settled nothing, having only invited renewed resistance
to his policy among the Italians. It led, however, to such results
that the right of the Italian provinces to unite with Sardinia,
if they deemed it expedient, was recognized. This was a practical
question, as it involved the right of the people of each province to
remain under the rule of the pope or not at their pleasure. As was
to be expected, Pius IX considered this as a death-blow aimed at his
temporal power, and, consequently, anathematized it severely. From the
papal standpoint he could not have done otherwise. And yet, if he had
rightfully interpreted the passing events, he could have seen that the
temporal scepter was rapidly passing out of his hands, and that severe
measures upon his part, instead of preventing, would only hasten that
result. The violence of his resistance was responded to by Parma and
Modena, both of which provinces were annexed to Sardinia. Tuscany and
the Æmilian provinces followed by the votes of an immense majority of
the people. Other provinces also followed their example. And thus, by
means of these important accessions, Victor Emmanuel was enabled to
signalize his reign by converting Sardinia into _the Kingdom of Italy_.
This measure of attraction having been presented to the Italians, soon
became an enthusiastic rallying-point, and the Two Sicilies, under
the lead of Garibaldi, united with Sardinia by a popular vote nearly
unanimous. Umbria and Ancona did the same. One by one, therefore, these
Italian provinces, filled with Roman Catholic populations, separated
themselves by solemn votes from the temporal dominion of the pope,
and left Pius IX to mourn over his rapidly-sinking fortunes, and to
repent--if his excited passions allowed of repentance--over the folly
which had produced that result.
The Government of Sardinia, without unnecessary delay, enacted such
laws as were demanded by this new condition of affairs. Victor Emmanuel
endeavored, consequently, to open negotiations with a view to bring
about a reconciliation between the two powers, spiritual and temporal.
This proposition involved, necessarily, the separation of Church
and State, and was designed to define the respective spheres and
functions of each, so that in the future there should be no conflict
or rivalry between them. Victor Emmanuel was a Roman Catholic, and
neither expressed nor entertained the desire to impair, in any degree
whatsoever, the spiritual authority or independence of the pope. Nor
did any such desire prevail among the great body of the people who had
aided in bringing about the new order of things--they still remaining
Roman Catholic, as they had always been. All that he and they desired
was to make the State independent of the Church in the enactment and
administration of temporal laws, and to leave the Church, with the pope
remaining its head, independent of the State in spiritual affairs.
If in this a model for imitation had been needed, it would have been
found in the form of government constructed by the people of the
United States, which must have influenced those conducting Sardinian
affairs at all events to the extent of separating Church and State.
But Pius IX could not consent to this without being unfaithful to the
cause of the papacy, as distinct from the welfare and best interest
of the Church, which manifestly required that he should conciliate,
and not further antagonize, the Roman Catholic populations in whose
behalf the proposition of the Sardinian Government was made. Instead
of conciliation, however, he--with a mind singularly constituted and
curiously erratic--surrendered himself entirely to the dominion of
his passions, and, in order to condemn that form of government and
to rebuke the amicable spirit exhibited by Victor Emmanuel, issued a
pontifical allocution, which may well be called "_brutum fulmen_,"
because it was made entirely harmless by the violence of its language,
as well as by its inconsiderate and intemperate assault upon the
leading principles which prevail among modern nations. Inasmuch as this
allocution was intended to be an official announcement of the faith
maintained by him upon the politico-religious questions involved, and
was of so recent date, it deserves special consideration, because of
its direct bearing upon the question of restoring the pope's temporal
power. Where else shall we look for papal doctrines but to the
infallible head of the papacy?
He accused the new Government of Italy with "attacking the Catholic
Church, its wholesome laws, and all its sacred ministers"--an
accusation which lost its force by the excess of its misrepresentation,
as the facts just detailed abundantly show. The burden of this
attack was the proposed separation of Church and State; but, besides
other matters of which he complained, he specially designated civil
marriages--such as are provided for by the laws of all the States
of the United States--which he said "encouraged a concubinage that
is perfectly scandalous." He meant by this that the issue of all
marriages solemnized otherwise than by the Roman Catholic clergy are
bastardized by the unchristian and illegitimate character of the
ceremony. And with the express view, doubtless, of fully explaining
himself upon the vital question then pending, he announced his claim
to "_civil authority_"--that is, his right to wear the crown of a
temporal king--by declaring that he and his successors never can be
"subject to any lay power," but must "exercise, in entire liberty,
supreme authority and jurisdiction over the Church" in all its
entirety. His idea--more than once repeated by him, and affirmed by
his successor--was this: that, in whatsoever country the Church shall
have a footing, it shall not be governed by the temporal laws of the
State in conflict with its interests, but only by the Canon laws which
it has itself provided, and which confer upon the popes plenary and
sovereign power to define what they may do and require of others within
the domain of faith and morals, along with the coercive power necessary
to secure obedience. Seemingly unconscious that he was placing himself
in the track of the popular storm then sweeping away the props upon
which the papal throne had long rested, he fancied that his "apostolic
authority" would yet enable him so to direct its course as would
prevent the final wreck of the temporal power. Putting on, therefore,
his full papal armor in imitation of some of his predecessors, he
endeavored to upturn and destroy the new Government of Italy by the
thunder of his anathemas. He, accordingly, abrogated and declared "null
and void, and without force and effect," all its laws and decrees in
conflict with his claim of supreme and absolute authority over both
spiritual and temporal affairs throughout the whole of Italy, including
the provinces annexed to Sardinia! It requires a very inventive
imagination to conceive of an act of more supreme folly than this
useless allocution.[185]
If Pius IX had been less perturbed, and calm enough to reason
logically, he might have observed how fatal to his own conclusion
was an important confession made by him in this official allocution.
Without seeming to comprehend its full meaning and force, he declared
it to be "a singular arrangement of Divine providence" that the pope
"was invested with his civil authority" _at the time of the fall of the
Roman Empire_; that is, during the latter half of the fifth century,
and nearly five hundred years after the beginning of the Christian
era. In this he admits--certainly by necessary implication--that
during all the long period preceding that event, the affairs of the
Church had been conducted without the assistance of a temporal monarch
at Rome or elsewhere, and by spiritual authority alone--by bishops
who looked after religious and not political affairs.[186] He must
have been guilty of a singular omission of duty if it did not occur
to him to inquire why so great and radical a change in the management
of Church affairs had not been made before the fall of the Roman
Empire, but had been deferred until that particular period. It is easy
enough to understand how the popes may have become kings in a purely
temporal sense, after that event; but that was not the question he
was considering. His object was to show that when the Roman Empire
fell, the temporal power was divinely added to the spiritual power of
the pope, and, therefore, that it would violate the divine law if he
were deprived of the crown of temporal royalty, which the popes of the
primitive times did not possess. A little calm reflection might have
enabled him to see, in the light of his own statement, what fallacy
there is in the pretense that belief in the Divine establishment of
the temporal power is a necessary and essential part of true religious
faith; for if it had been the Divine purpose that Christianity should
not exist without it, that purpose would have been fulfilled long
before the fall of the Roman Empire. The concession of Pius IX must
consequently be taken as fatal to the claim of temporal power as
necessarily pertaining to the cause of Christianity or to the Church as
a religious body. The primitive Christians had no knowledge of it, and
the fact that they had not--which he concedes--suggests such a contrast
between what the early Church was immediately following the apostolic
period, and what it became after the papacy was established by means
alone of the temporal power, as to show conclusively that the papal
pretense of sovereignty must have been the result of usurpation.
The condition of the European nations at the period here referred
to--although certainly not designed for that purpose by the chief
actors--was favorable to the cause of Italian independence. The
jealousies and rivalries among the sovereigns had brought them into
such relations as to require immense standing armies to keep watch over
each other. Austria was not only one of the most restless, but the most
arbitrary of the great powers, and soon found it necessary, of her own
accord, to withdraw her armies from Italy, in order to protect herself
against attack at exposed points within her own borders. The removal
of this formidable adversary greatly encouraged the whole populations
of the Italian peninsula, among whom the desire to become united with
the kingdom of Italy became almost universal. After Venetia, by a vote
practically unanimous, decided to do so, the revolutionary spirit was
greatly aroused. There were, however, among the revolutionists, some
who were so enthusiastic as to demand a republic, which, for a time,
somewhat threatened the cause of independence. All of these favored
the new Government under Victor Emmanuel to a longer continuance of
papal rule, but desired to dispense with a king entirely, preferring
that the entire political sovereignty should be vested in the people.
These readily rallied at the call of Garibaldi, and made preparations
for attacking Rome. In the meantime, after the withdrawal of the
Austrians, Louis Napoleon--acting under a species of infatuation which
he never could well explain, and nobody could fully understand--had
sent a large body of French troops to Italy to protect the temporal
power of Pius IX, and hold him upon the throne, it having been fully
demonstrated by this time that nothing but foreign military force
could do so. The Garibaldians were defeated by the French, which
event, although it produced a temporary sadness among the patriotic
Italians, did not intimidate them. The course of events among the
sovereigns favored their cause to such a degree that there are far
better grounds for saying that they were providentially designed to
abolish the temporal power than there are in support of the pretense
that it was divinely established at the fall of the Roman Empire, or
at any other time. Louis Napoleon had his own affairs to look after.
His stealth of the imperial crown of France had given fresh spur to his
ambition, but his perfidy was so flagrant that even among the stanchest
monarchists he was held in contempt. His self-conceit made war between
Prussia and France inevitable; and when that event was brought on, he
realized, probably for the first time, that he had been engaged in the
ignominious work of preventing the independence of Italy, and forcing
the Italian people to accept a king they had almost unanimously decided
to reject. Whether he fully realized this or not, his necessities
compelled him to withdraw the French troops from Italy, and to leave
Pius IX without the support of foreign troops, who had stood guard
over his temporal crown during every hour of his pontificate. The war
between Prussia and France was a terrible blow at Pius IX, but an event
of incalculable value to the cause of Italian independence. And when it
led to Sedan, the capture of Paris, and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine
by France, Victor Emmanuel steadily kept his eyes upon the unification
of Italy, which even Pius IX understood to mean the abolition of the
temporal power.
Victor Emmanuel again had an opportunity of acting frankly towards
the pope and fairly with the Church. He endeavored to explain himself
in a letter to Pius IX, wherein, "with the faith of a Catholic" but
"with the dignity of a king," he declared that it was not his purpose
to impair or interfere with the spiritual authority or independence
of the pope, and that he would maintain these with his troops; and,
counseling him to recognize the stubborn facts which confronted him
and which he was powerless to change, he urged him to accept this
as the only practical and possible solution of the difficulties
surrounding him. He closed his appeal in these words: "Your holiness,
in delivering Rome from the foreign troops, in freeing it from the
continual peril of being the battle-field of subversive parties, will
have accomplished a marvelous work, given peace to the Church, and
shown to Europe, shocked by the horrors of war, how great battles can
be won and immortal victories achieved by an act of justice, and by
a single word of affection."[187] Here, in an eloquent and touching
appeal, the king implored the pope to "give peace to the Church," well
knowing, as he did, that the only purpose of the revolution was to get
rid of the temporal power and establish a constitutional government,
and that if this question were disposed of by the acquiescence of Pius
IX the vast multitude of Roman Catholics then in arms would return
to their homes and be content to live in peace and quiet under his
spiritual dominion. The issue was a single and a simple one, which
could not be misunderstood; and that it should be made so clear that
even the commonest mind could comprehend it fully, Victor Emmanuel
accompanied his letter with a statement of the terms which he proposed
for adjusting the relations between the Church and the State. They were
these: All nations should have free access to the pope; all Churches in
Rome to be neutralized; ambassadors to the pope to enjoy full immunity;
the cardinals to retain their revenues and immunity; the salaries of
all military and civil functionaries to be paid as before; and the
bishops and clergy throughout Italy to have "the full and absolutely
free exercise of their ecclesiastical functions."
It would be hard, if not impossible, for a liberal mind to find
fault with these propositions. They were so generally accepted as
fair that any comment upon them is unnecessary. They encountered no
objection--except from those who preferred that the pope should remain
an absolute temporal monarch, with full power to make and unmake all
the laws--to a constitutional government representing the people.
They were made by a Roman Catholic king, representing and speaking
for several millions of Roman Catholic people, and, besides being in
a conciliatory and kindly spirit, bore upon their face conclusive
evidence of sincerity. If they had been accepted by the pope, the true
faith of the Church would have been untouched, and the pope in the
full possession of all his rightful and necessary spiritual powers.
The Church, in fact, would have been brought back to its primitive
condition before the fall of the Roman Empire. But Pius IX, instead
of reciprocating the generosity of the king, mourned over the "deep
sorrow," which filled his "life with bitterness," and, at the same
time, treated the propositions of the king with intense scorn. He was
then the first pope, in all the long history of the Church, who had
been allowed authoritatively to avow his own personal infallibility.
He had convened the celebrated Council of the Vatican, in which, but
a few weeks before, the Jesuits had succeeded in having him declared
infallible by the passage of a decree dictated by himself, and secured
by the suppression of debate, against the protest of a number of
bishops, including several from the United States.[188] Having obtained
this victory over the liberalism of the Church, and thus thrown himself
completely into the arms of the Jesuits, and preferring an alliance
with them to union with millions of Roman Catholics who favored a
constitutional government, he made it impossible to take a single step
towards conciliation, or to carry on even an amicable discussion with
the king. He manifestly felt as if no human power had the right to
demand or to expect conciliation or discussion from an infallible pope.
The Council had affirmed his universal sovereignty, and had encouraged
him in the belief that he possessed the power of omnipotence, so that
those who refused obedience to him were under the curse of God. The
time for debate, therefore, had passed with him, and no longer were
thoughts of peace and conciliation to be entertained. Consequently, he
is represented by a friendly pen as having, with an air of imperial
majesty, broken off the official interview with the envoy of Victor
Emmanuel, by expressing "the full measure of his scorn and indignation"
in these expressive words: "_In the name of Jesus Christ, I tell you
that you are all whited sepulchers!_"[189]
There was nothing then left for Victor Emmanuel but to advance his
troops, and take possession of the city of Rome, in the name of the new
kingdom of Italy. He delayed no longer. After crossing the frontier
of the papal territory, his army engaged in several skirmishes with
the Zouaves of the pope, but met with no serious resistance. On the
20th of September, 1870, orders were given to attack the city. Two
breaches were soon opened in the walls, and as the victorious Italians
entered, the papal troops retreated, and Pius IX took refuge in the
castle of St. Angelo as a fugitive from the city where, but a short
time before, a decree of his personal infallibility had been forced
through a packed Council by such methods as no other body of men in
the world would have submitted to, and to which it is not likely they
would have submitted but for the influences of the Jesuits. The pope
having fled and made himself a voluntary prisoner in the castle of
St. Angelo, the remaining duties pertaining to the papal Government
devolved upon Cardinal Antonelli, who still called himself Secretary of
State. This consisted of a formal and puerile protest in the name of
the fugitive pope, wherein he declared that nothing done by the kingdom
of Italy had conveyed any rights whatsoever against the dominion and
possession of the pope, and that the pope "both knows his rights, and
intends to conserve them intact, and _re-enter at the proper time into
their actual possession_." All that can be said of this is, that,
whilst practically it was mere unmeaning bravado, it fully set forth
the policy and purposes of Pius IX, by which he expected, with the
aid of the two hundred millions of Roman Catholics in the world, to
destroy the new Italian Government, and bring the people again under
papal dominion. Strange fatuity, made the more strange by the fact
that these announcements proceeded from the first pope whose personal
infallibility had been approved by conciliar decree!
The possession of Rome and the flight of the pope made it necessary to
put in operation the machinery of the new Government. Accordingly, a
temporary Government was formed and provision made for taking the vote
of the whole population to decide whether or no the people were for
or against the "unification of Italy." At this vote an overwhelming
majority decided in favor of the new Government--thus indicating that
even if the people had hitherto been persuaded to believe that the
kingship of the pope had been of Divine creation, they had become
enlightened enough to understand that Providence had permitted it
to continue long enough; and that as it had succeeded in separating
the Western from the Eastern Christians, and splitting the whole
into rival and warring factions, the time had been reached when, by
a new dispensation, the spiritual department of the Church should be
purified by stripping the pope of his imperial authority and enlarging
the sphere of his spiritual functions and duties. Realizing that God
governs the world in all things by his providences, and casting their
eyes over the nations to see where the largest degree of prosperity
and happiness prevailed, they were awakened to the conviction that, as
these had been produced where Church and State were separated, the
Divine wisdom had been displayed by pointing out to them a like measure
of relief from their existing grievances. Taught by their own instincts
to believe that the shifting dispensations of God's providences were
only so many methods of exhibiting his sovereign power, and that
as he had permitted their forefathers and themselves to bear the
burden of the papal temporal power for centuries, it was natural for
them to conclude that he had at least indicated to them the duty of
exchanging it for that liberty and intellectual development which free
constitutional governments had assured to other peoples as the means
of making them happier and more prosperous--better able to appreciate
and discharge the duties which pertain to citizenship as well as to
Christian life. God had tolerated their misfortunes only in the sense
in which he has permitted slavery to exist; but they could not be
persuaded to believe that he intended longer to perpetuate them by his
providences, any more than can the people of this country consent that
the former existence of slavery here overthrew the fundamental truth
set forth in our Declaration of Independence, that the inalienable
right to freedom and civil equality is derived from the natural law.
A very large majority of the aggregate vote cast in the provinces
having been in favor of the new Government--the negative vote having
been less than two thousand--it became necessary to adjust the future
relations between the Church and the State so that they could exist
harmoniously together, each in full possession of its proper functions.
Accordingly, the pope and all the papal authorities were notified that
the utmost liberality would be displayed toward the Church, and that
there would be no interference with it whatsoever except the abolition
of the pope's temporal power, and such provisions in regard to temporal
affairs as that rendered necessary. It is only necessary to observe the
leading provisions made by the new Government to show their liberality
and to demonstrate the folly of their rejection; and to realize how
much the Church has lost by the unwise and infatuated policy of Pius
IX, it is sufficient to observe that there is no Government existing
in the world to-day from which the same conciliatory terms could be
obtained. Not all of them could have been obtained, even then, from any
other but a Roman Catholic population.
The policy of the new Government was set forth as follows: The pope
was to be left entirely free to exercise all his spiritual rights as
before; he was to continue to possess "the prerogatives of a sovereign
prince," and his court was to be provided for with that view; he was
to be secured "a territorial immunity," limited, of course, within
bounds to be defined, wherein he should be free and independent of the
State; all the prelates, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and those in
ecclesiastical orders, who should be summoned to Rome by the pope, were
to enjoy immunity from civil interference; the pope was to be permitted
to communicate with foreign powers and the Church throughout the world,
and to have special postal and telegraphic service at his command; all
the representatives of foreign powers at the court of the pope were to
enjoy perfect liberty; freedom of publication and communication were
assured; the pope was guaranteed "full liberty to travel at all times,
and at all seasons, in and out of the country," and was to be treated
and honored as "a foreign lay sovereign" throughout Italy; his "royal
appanage" and the members of his court were to be furnished by the new
Government, which should also pay the debts of the pontifical States;
and the liberties of the Church and the spiritual independence of the
pope were to be fully and amply guaranteed.[190]
These fair and liberal provisions had reference only to the changed
relations produced by the abolition of the temporal power. They
involved a purely political question, except as it had been made
politico-religious by the doctrine of the Jesuits, which Pius IX had
adopted, to the effect that it was a necessary part of the faith of the
Church that the pope should be a temporal monarch. The Roman Catholic
population of Italy having rejected this doctrine, and demanded the
expulsion of the Jesuits because they taught it, these provisions were
the result of their desire to leave Pius IX in the full possession
and enjoyment of all his spiritual powers. It was intended by them to
provide merely for the new condition of affairs, and to recognize the
kingdom of Italy as an accomplished fact, neither to be controverted
nor changed. Victor Emmanuel, as a firm and consistent Roman Catholic,
was not disposed to do anything less, and his obligations to the
Italian people would not allow him to do more. But Pius IX, still
continuing to sorrow over the destruction of the "old _régime_," and
clinging to the Jesuit idea that God was offended because he had
lost his temporal crown, refused to be reconciled. Bemoaning the
incompetency of the people to decide what was right and what was wrong
in affairs of government, and the inevitable ruin which he imagined
would follow their attempt to be governed without a pope-king, he
again hurled his fiercest anathemas at the new Government, and at the
heads of all who had aided in its creation. And having done this,
the controversy was brought to an end, leaving it well understood
that Church and State had been finally separated in Italy by a Roman
Catholic population, and that Pius IX would not be reconciled to the
loss of his temporal sovereignty which that separation occasioned, or
to anything short of his restoration to absolute royal power. There
were other acts necessary to complete the entire drama, but these would
draw us off into fields crowded with a multitude of combatants. We are
now concerned only with the conflict about the temporal power, and the
bearing of that power upon the right of the Italian people to have a
voice in the construction of the Government, and the passage of such
laws as their own welfare required. That was the only issue between the
Italians and the papacy--between Victor Emmanuel and Pius IX. If the
latter had adhered to the convictions of his own mind when he first
introduced measures of reform, and had followed the kindly dictates
of his own heart, many heartburnings and bickerings might have been
avoided, and the Church might have escaped a serious and staggering
blow. The contestants upon both sides were attached to the Church, its
history, its traditions, and its faith. A calm discussion between them
as to what it had or had not taught with regard to the temporal power,
would have made it clear that it did not involve any essential article
of the Christian creed, and they might thus have been led to see that,
as this power did not exist in the apostolic and primitive times,
there could not rightfully exist in the changed condition of the world
anything to render it absolutely necessary to the existence and growth
of Christianity in the present age. But when Pius IX suffered his mind
to be impressed by the teachings and doctrines of the Jesuits, and
allowed them to mold his pontifical policy, passionate declamation took
the place of calm discussion, and made reconciliation impossible.
And now, when those most devoted to the Church look back upon this
conflict, and realize upon what a multitude of their Christian brethren
the papal anathemas are still resting, because of their refusal to
assent to a dogma of faith which strikes at the foundation of free
constitutional government, they can not fail to observe that, whilst
the blow has fallen heavily upon the Church, the Jesuits alone have
achieved a triumph. They laid the foundation of this triumph by
extorting from Pius IX--at a time when his unsuspicious nature was
easily imposed upon--his celebrated Encyclical and Syllabus, whereby
he declared that freedom of speech, of conscience, and of the press
were errors which the Church could not tolerate; that the Church must
be the sole judge of its own jurisdiction, and possess the power of
coercing obedience within the circle it shall assign to itself; and
that it never can become reconciled to, or agree with, the "progress,
liberalism, and civilization" of the present age. By this he placed a
barrier between the papacy and all the leading modern nations, which
the Jesuits are striving hard to overleap, but can not; but which can
only be broken down by that Christian charity which ennobles the
nature of its possessor, and teaches that God has implanted in the
hearts of mankind a spirit of brotherhood which no creeds or dogmas or
ceremonies should be permitted to extinguish.
But Pius IX added to his sufferings by the pretense of hardships that
were not real. He was allowed to return to Rome unmolested, and to take
up his residence again in the Vatican. He called himself a prisoner,
and induced others to do so, thereby setting an example his successor
has imitated. But he was not a prisoner, except when he, of his own
accord, shut himself up in the castle of St. Angelo. He was, up till
the close of his life, free to go wheresoever and when he pleased.
There was no restraint imposed upon his actions. No indignity to his
spiritual office or to his person was allowed. He could open and close
the doors of the Vatican at his own pleasure, and admit or exclude
whomsoever he pleased. He enjoyed the utmost liberty of speech and of
writing, and bestowed praise or censure at discretion. But instead
of enjoying the real liberty guaranteed to him by the laws of the
Government upon which his pontifical curse was resting, he wore his
life away by useless complaining, and by sending forth additional
anathemas, which indicated only that his vanity was ungratified and his
ambition disappointed. He died at last, not broken-hearted--for he was
always a spiritual sovereign--but with the melancholy consciousness
that his pontifical arm had become too feeble to bear up the temporal
scepter which many of his predecessors had grasped so tightly. It would
be hard to write his life well and faithfully; it was so impulsive,
varied, and feverish. His purposes were honest, his affections sincere,
his generosity unbounded, his nature kindly and sympathetic; but he was
as powerless to drive back the storm that beat upon the papacy, as a
seaman is to check the speed of the winds when the storm is raging. And
now that he has appeared before the final Judge, who is infallible, it
might be appropriately engraved upon his tomb that he was a good priest
but a poor and incompetent statesman.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 185: Appleton's Ann. Cyclo., 1866, p. 674. "The pope had lost
all his bygone sympathy for the popular cause, and was only too willing
to secure his restoration to the Vatican by the aid of an Austrian
occupation of the Romagna, and of a French siege of Rome." (Life of
Victor Emmanuel. By Dicey. Page 118.)]
[Footnote 186: During the progress of the Italian revolution, the
present pope, Leo XIII, then Cardinal Pecci, wrote a pastoral letter
"On the Temporal Dominion of the Popes," for the express purpose
of maintaining that dominion. Referring to the period of its first
introduction, he said it had been "_consecrated by eleven centuries of
time_." Neither he nor Pius IX has been able to fix the time, except in
general and indefinite terms, differing, as they do, several hundred
years, yet both infallible! (Life of Leo XIII. By Bernard O'Reilly.
Page 200.)]
[Footnote 187: Maguire, p. 470. Appleton's Ann. Cyc., 1870, p. 410.
After the occupation of Rome by the Italian army, the citizens were
required to decide by the form of a plebiscite, whether or no they
favored union with the kingdom of Italy, when the popular vote was
133,681 in favor of, and only 1,507 against it. Victor Emmanuel
thereupon signified his loyalty to the Church in this strong and
expressive language: "As a king and as a Catholic, while I hereby
proclaim the unity of Italy, I remain constant to my resolve to
guarantee the liberty of the Church and the independence of the supreme
pontiff." (Life of Victor Emmanuel. By Dicey. Pages 317-318.)]
[Footnote 188: Eight Months at Rome. By Pomponio Leto (Francis
Vitteleschi). London Edition. Page 212.]
[Footnote 189: Maguire, p. 473.]
[Footnote 190: Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia. 1870. Pages 414-415.]