Roman Question

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The Roman Question was a political dispute between the Italian Government and the Papacy from 1861 to 1929.

The Roman Question began with the annexation of Rome in 1870 and the consequent extinction of the Holy See's temporal power, and ended with the Lateran Pacts between Mussolini's government and Pope Pius XI. During the intervening years the popes considered themselves (in the words of Pope Pius IX) "prisoners in the Vatican".

After the Lateran Pacts were signed in 1929, the Popes regularly visited parts of Rome outside the Vatican. In particular, they took possession, after their election, of their cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, situated on the opposite side of the city. They also went to their summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, which has extraterritorial privileges, like an embassy, but is not part of Vatican City State. Travelling further afield began with Pope John XXIII, was extended outside Italy by Pope Paul VI and reached a climax with Pope John Paul II, whose travels outside Italy added up to three times the distance between the earth and the moon.

1 Background
2 Law of Papal Guarantees
3 Lateran Pacts
4 In literature
5 See also
6 References
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] Background

Main article: Italian unification

In March 1861, when the first Italian Parliament met in Turin, it declared Rome the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, although the city and its surrounding area had, like Venetia, not yet been conquered, and this remnant of the Papal States was protected by a French garrison maintained there by Napoleon III of France. In 1865 the seat of government was moved from Turin to Florence.

In July 1870, the Franco-Prussian War began. In early August, the French Emperor Napoleon III recalled his garrison from Rome and could no longer protect what remained of the Papal States. Widespread public demonstrations demanded that the Italian government take Rome. The Italian government took no direct action until the collapse of Napoleon at the battle of Sedan. King Victor Emmanuel II sent Count Ponza di San Martino to Pius IX with a personal letter offering a proposal that would have allowed unopposed entry of the Italian Army into Rome, under the supposedly face-saving guise of offering protection to the pope.

According to Raffaele De Cesare:

The Pope’s reception of San Martino [10 September 1870] was unfriendly. Pius IX allowed violent outbursts to escape him. Throwing the King’s letter upon the table he exclaimed, "Fine loyalty! You are all a set of vipers, of whited sepulchres, and wanting in faith." He was perhaps alluding to other letters received from the King. After, growing calmer, he exclaimed: "I am no prophet, nor son of a prophet, but I tell you, you will never enter Rome!" San Martino was so mortified that he left the next day.^[1]

The Italian army, commanded by General Raffaele Cadorna, crossed the frontier on 11 September and advanced slowly toward Rome, hoping that an unopposed entry could be negotiated. The Italian army reached the Aurelian Walls on 19 September and placed Rome under a state of siege. Pius IX decided that the surrender of the city would be granted only after his troops had put up a token resistance, enough to make it plain that the take-over was not freely accepted. On 20 September, after a cannonade of three hours had breached the Aurelian Walls at Porta Pia, the Bersaglieri entered Rome (see capture of Rome). 49 Italian soldiers and 19 papal Zouaves died. Rome and the region of Latium were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy after a plebiscite.

Again, according to Raffaele De Cesare:

"The Roman question was the stone tied to Napoleon's feet — that dragged him into the abyss. He never forgot, even in August 1870, a month before Sedan, that he was a sovereign of a Catholic country, that he had been made emperor, and was supported by the votes of the conservatives and the influence of the clergy; and that it was his supreme duty not to abandon the pontiff. […] For twenty years Napoleon III had been the true sovereign of Rome, where he had many friends and relations […] Without him the temporal power would never have been reconstituted, nor, being reconstituted, would have endured."^[2]

[edit] Law of Papal Guarantees

Pope Pius IX, asserting that the Holy See needed to maintain clearly manifested independence from any political power in its exercise of spiritual jurisdiction, and that the Pope should not appear to be merely a "chaplain of the King of Italy,"^[3] rejected the Law of Papal Guarantees of 1871, which offered an annual financial payment to the Pope.

[edit] Lateran Pacts

Main article: Lateran treaties

[edit] In literature

Historical dramas such as Fabiola and Quo Vadis have been interpreted as implicitly comparing the Roman Question to the persecution of the early Catholic Church.^[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

De Cesare, Raffaele. (1909). The Last Days of Papal Rome. London: Archibald Constable & Co.
Hebblethwaite, Peter. (1987). Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World. Image Books.
Pollard, John F. (2005). Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850–1950. Cambridge University Press.