The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-22 00:00:00

"11.

"First of all, is the temporal power of the Pope neces-
sary for the exercise of his spiritual power ? The Catholic
doctrine and political reason hare agree in replying in the
affirmative. In a religious point of view it is essential that
the Pope should be a Sovereign. In a political point of
view it is necessary that the head of 200,000,010 of Catho-
lics should not bo dependent on any ono, not be subservient
to any Power, and that the august hand which sways the
souls, free froth all trammels, should be able to soar above
all human passions. If the Pope were not an independent
Sovereign he would be either French, Spanish, Austrian, or
Italian, and the title of his nationality would deprive him
of his character as universal Pontiff. The Holy See would
be nothing more than the stay of a throne at Paris, Vienna,
or Madrid.- It was so at a for Mer period, and a suc-
cessor of St. Peter kad the misfortune to allow his
authority to be absorbed in the ' Holy German Empire.'
Europe was deeply shaken by it, and that disturbance of
its moral and political equilibrium lasted for nearly three
centuries. The struggle between Guelph and Ghibelline
was, in reality, nothing else but an effort to emancipate
the Papacy from the preponderance of the Emperor of
Germany. Even at the present day those historical de-
nominations have survived the events. The head of the
Church is styled Guelph or Ghibelline, according as he is
considered a partisan of Austria or the representative of
Italian nationality and of the independence of the Holy
See. All the great Popes were Guelphs, because the con-
dition of their glory was to belong to themselves—that is to
say, to acknowledge only the authority of God. Whenever
they made their authority subservient to the interests of a
Prince they altered the true principle of their authority.
Tho Church suffered—Europe suffered from it.

" The spiritual power, the seat of which is at Rome, can-
not be displaced without shaking the political power, not
only in the Catholic States, but in all Christian States. It
is equally important for England, Russia, and Prussia, as
it is for France and Austria, that the August representative
of Catholic unity should neither be constrained, nor humili-
ated, nor subordinate. Rome is the centre of a moral power
too universal for it not to be in the interests of all Govern-
ments and all peoples that it should not incline to any side,
and that it should remain immovable on the sacred rock
which no human power can overthrow.

"111.

"The necessity of the temporal power of the Pope in
the double point of view of the interests of religion and
of political order in Europe is, therefore, clearly proved.
But what is this power in itself ? How can the Catholic
authority, founded upon dogma, Le reconciled with a con-
ventional authority, founded on public morals, human in-
terests, social wants ? How can the Pope be at the same
time Pontiff and King? How can the man of the Gospel,
who forgives, be the man of the law, mho punishes ? How
can the head of the Church, who excommunicates heretics, be
the head of the State, who protects freedom of conscience ?
Such is the problem to be solved. Doubtless the problem is
difficult. There is, in some measure, antagonism between
the Prince and the Pontiff confounded in the same personifi-
cation. The Pontiff is bound by principles of divine order
which he cannot discard. The Prince has to respond to the
claims of society which he cannot disown. Whore, then,
are the means to bo found that the mission of the Pontiff
may find in the independence of the Prince a guarantee of
his authority, without finding therein at the same time an
embarrassment for his conscience ?
"If we were to seek for the solution of this problem in
the customary forms of the government of peoples we should
not find it. There does not exist in the world a constitu-
tion of a nature to conciliate exigencies so diverse. It is
neither by monarchy nor by liberty that this end can be
obtained. The power of the Popo can only be a paternal
power; ho must rather resemble a family than a State.
Thus, not only is it not necessary that this territory should
be of large extent, but we think that it is even essential that
it should be limited. The smaller the territory, the greater
will be the Sovereign.

"In fact, a great State implies certain requirements (exi-
gencies) which it is impossible for the Pope to satisfy. A
great State would like to follow up the politics of the day,
to perfect its institutions, participate in the general move-
ment of ideas, take advantage of the transformations of the
age, of the conquests of science, of the progress of the human
mind. He cannot do it. The laws will be shackled by
his dogmas. His authority will be paralyzed by traditions.
His patriotism will be condemned by faith. He must either
resign himself to immobility, or rise even to revolt. The
world will advance and leave him behind. Then, of two
things, one will happen,—either everything will be extin-
guished in that people, and nothing will remain in it of tho
generous activity of public life, or else the noble aspirations
of nationality will burst through, and it will become neces-
sary, as we have witnessed already, for material force to
supply the deficiencies of moral authority. The temporal
power of the Popo under these conditions cannot maintain
itself unless protected by an Austrian or French military
occupation ;—a painful resource, for every Power that does
not exist upon its national strength and public confidence is
simply an institution—is but an expedient. The Church,
far from finding therein a condition of independence,
would only find a cause of discredit and incapacity. This
is not what France can wish. This is not what truly reli-
gious men can desire.

"IV.

" Thus, then, the temporal power of the Pope is neces-
sary and legitimate; but it is incompatible with a State of
any extent, It is only possible, if exempt from all the ordi-
nary conditions of power—that is to say, from everything
that constitutes its activity, its development, its progress.
It must exist without an army, without a Parliament, so to
say, without a code of laws or a court of justice. It is a dis-
tinct system, and which approaches nearer to family autho-
rity than to the Government of a people. Under this system
the dogmas are the laws, the priests are the legislators, the
altars are the citadels, and the spiritual -weapons are the
only defence of the Government. The power lies less in its
strength than in its weakness ; it is to be found in the re-
spect which it commands, and in the happiness which it
gives to those to whom it refuses the enjoyments of a politi •
cal life.

"Hence it naturally ensues, in our opinion, that the ques-
tion is not to ascertain whether the Pope shall have more
or fewer subjects, more or less territory. Ho must have
sufficient not to be subjugated himself and to be a Sovereign
of the temporal order. But this sovereignty must not render
it obligatory upon him to aot a political part, for then the
Pontiff, instead of finding in this power a guirantee of in-
dependence, would find only a condition of servitude for
himself or a necessity of servitude for his people.
"The existence may be admitted in Europe of a small
corner of earth free from the passions and interests which
agitate other peoples, and devoted solely to the glory of
God. In that corner of earth, illustrated by the grandest
reminiscences of history, the centre of Catholic unity has
replaced the capital of the world. Rome, which formerly
resumed within her all the grandeur of the Pagan era, has an
exceptional calling. In losing her political domination she
has acquired a domination of a more; elevated character in
the spiritual order, and she styles herself ' The Eternal
City.' Religion, souvenirs, and the arta also form a
nationality. Those who live at Rome, under the authority
of the Head of tho Church, are doubtless subject to parti-
cular conditions of social and civil life ; but if they are no
longer the members of a great country they are still the
citizens of a glorious metropolis, which extends its influence
wherever faith is maintained and spreads. Rome belongs,
then, to the Head of the Church. Should she slip away
from that august power, she would at once lose all her
prestige ; Rome with a tribune, orators, writers, a secular
Government, and a prince at the Vatican, would be nothing
moro than a town. Liberty would disinherit her. After
having given laws to the whole world, she can only retain
her greatness by commanding souls. Tho Roman Senate
has no other compensation worthy of it but the Vatican.

"V.

" History, religion, politics, justify, then, completely a
derogation from the regular and normal conditions of the
life of peoples. Nothing more simple, snore lagitinsate, and
more emential than the Popo throning at Rome and poses-

.....
the Holy Father ought to be a father for all his subjects.
If his institutions are beyond the principles which guaran-
tee the rights of govertuntent in a political society, his acts
ought to be only the more irreproachable, and when ho can-
not be imitated by auy one he will be the envy of all men.
We look, therefore, upon the temporal Government of the
Pipe as the image of th 6 Government of the• Church. It
is a Pontificate, and not a Dictatorship. The large de-
velopment of his municipal area relieving him from the
responsibility of administrative interests, he can maintain
himself in a sphere far above the management of affairs.
A member of the Italian Confederation, he is protected by
the Federal army. A Federal army ought not to be more
than an emblem of public order. When enemies are to be
fought, either at home or abroad, it is not for the Head of the
Church to draw the sword. Blood shed in his name seems
an insult to Divine mercy, which he represents ; when he
raises his hand it ought to be to bless, and not to strike.
" Another very important point is that the Catholic reli-
gion does not remain exclusively at the charge.of the sub-
jects of the Pontifical Government. The Pope is the spiritual
govereign of all his Hock ; it Would not bo equitable that
the necessary expenses to maintain the splendour which
appertains to the majesty of the Head of the Church should
be supported by the populations of his States. It is for the
Catholic Powers to provide the means which concern them
all by a large tribute paid to the Holy Father. His budget
will thus not be exclusively Roman, and will bo interna-
tional, like his authority, which in a religious point ofyiow
is recognised and respected everywhere where the dogma
which ho represents is the law of consciences. In this man-
ner a double result, equally precious, will be maintained.
On the one hand, the Pope will find in the tribute of the
Catholic Powers a new proof of the universality and unity
of the moral power which he exercises ; and, on the other,
he will not bo obliged to press upon his people by taxes
which would not fill his treasury except by throwing dis-
credit on his name.

" In short, there will be a people in Europe who will be
ruled less by a King than by a father, and whose rights will
be guaranteed rather by the heart of the Sovereign than by
the authority of the laws and institutions. This people will
have no national representation, no army, no press, no ma-
gistracy. The whole of its political existence will be limited
to its municipal organisation. Beyond that narrow circle
it will have no other resource than contemplation, the arts,
the study of ruins (la culture des ruines), and prayer. lie
will be for ever disinherited of that noble portion of activity
which in every country is the stimulus of patriotism► and
the legitimate exercise of the faculties of the mind of supe-
rior characters. Under the Government of the Sovereign
Pontiff there can be no aspiration either to the glory of the
soldier or the triumphs of the orator or of the statesman. It
will be the Government of peace and reflection—a sort of
oasis where the paisions and interests of politics will not
trespass, and which will only have the sweet and calm con-
templations of a spiritual world.

" Doubtless, there is in this exceptional condition some-
thing painful for men who feel within them noble ambitions
to serve and raise themselves by merit, and who are con-
demned to inaction. It is a sacrifice which must be asked
from them in a higher order of interests, before which pri-
vate interests must fall. Moreover, if the subjects of the
Popo are deprived of a political existence, they will be in-
demnified, on the other hand, by a most paternal Govern-
ment, by the exemption from taxation, by the moral great-
ness of their country, which is the centre of Catholic faith,
and by the presence of a Court, the brilliancy of which, ne-
cessary for the double Majesty of the Pontiff and the Pi ince,
will be maintained by the means of liberal tributes paid by
the Catholic Powers of Europe. These considerations have
surely some value, and, after all, under such a system, with
such ad vantages, and with the chance of having great Popes,
such as history records, it will always be an honour to call
oneself a Roman citizen—cisiJ Romanus.

" Necessity of maintaining tho temporal power of the
Pope;

" Necessity of divesting it as much as possible of all the
responsibilities incunabsint upon a Government, and of
placing the need of the Church in a sphere where his spiri-
tual authority can neither be shackled nor compromised by
his political authority ;

"Necessity, to achieve this, of restricting instead of ex-
tending his territory, and of diminishing rather than in-
creasing the nutut,er of his subjects?;
"Necessity of giving to the population of these States,
thus deprived of the advantages of a political existence,
compensations by a paternal and economical administration ;
" Such is in a few words the substance of what we have
endeavoured to demonstrate in the preceding pages.
" As a consequence of this deinonstration, another ques-
tion presents itself—a delicate question, but the solution
of which we imagine will become easier at the light of the
principles we have laid down.

" The Romagna has been separated de facto for some
months from the authority of the Pope. It has been living
under a Provisional Government. It is actively ruled by a
Government whose powers extend over all the States of
Central Italy. Thus this separation bears for it all the marks
of a fait accompli.
" Is the Romagna to be restored to the Pope ?
" To resolve this question we do not wish to consult the
interests of the Papacy. As we have already said, it is in a
Catholic spirit that we write, and we seek solely what may
be advantageous to the Church, to assure to its august Head
the security and grandeur which France, more than any
other nation, is bound to give him.
" Thus, it is not our task here to study the interests of
the populations of the Romagna, the right they may have
to give themselves another form of Government, the com-
plaints which they raise against the Pontifical Adminis •
tration, the sincerity more or less serious of the votes which
have pronounced the annexation to Piedmont ;—this does
not come within our subject.

" Is it advisable, yes or no, for the glory of the Church,
for the authority of its Head, that the Romagna should be
restored to the patrimony of the Holy Father? This is all
that we have to examine.