The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-23
LOSS OF TEMPORAL POWER.
Leo the First POntiR who Was Not
Civil Ruler.

Civil Ruler.
It was the great Napoleon who broke
the temporal power of the Papacy.
When he overturned the power of near
ly every government in Europe he did
not allow the government of the church
to escape. For centuries, until the Cor
sican soldier came to desolate Europe
with fire and sword, the Pope had
been the power above King and EN-
peror. No throne was secure that he
did not support. and he even claimed
and sometimes exercised the right or
comforting and taking away the scep-
ter The Pontiff was more than i'm
perial. He was the supreme Power
of Europe, and every priest was
minion and executive of his power.
Napoleon took away the power of the
Kings of Europe and then he took
away the power of the Pope. Thus it
is that Pope Leo was the first Pope to
be a spiritual ruler only.
IN 1909 Napoleon declared the tenn
poral power of Pope Plus VII at an
end. Plus VII retaliated by placing
| the ban of communication upon the
! Emperor Enraged by the act of the
| Pontiff, and determined to show his
power over the head of the church,
the Emperor had the Pontiff brought
to France a prisoner and kept him
until 1873 when the Pope was allow
ed to return to Rome, but without
| temporal power.
One year later Napoleon's Empire
| fell, and the Papal States were restor-
ed to the Pope. The restoration, how
ever, did not replace all the former
power of the Vatican. The Pope held
all the central part of Italy, but his
| former power over the Kings of Eu-
| rope had been broken forever. The
| Papal yoke had been a heavy one, and
those who had been relieved of it
would bow their necIIs to it no more.
When Plus TX assembled the throne of
st. Peter in 1S46. the Papal dominions
| consisted of 10 states, situated in CEN
| trail Italy, covering 1900 square miles
| and having a population OF 3.0OO,OOO J..
| The Pope maintained a standing army
of which the Noble Guard and other
small companies which now guard the
| Vatican comprise the existing remnant,
and collected a revenue that is be-
lieved to have approached $14,O00,000 an
| nually. The Pontiff's power in this
| large dominion was absolute, both tenn
| poral and spiritual. and it so continued
until thirty7three years ago, since
which time the Pope has been, as both
| Plus TX and Leo XIII expressed 1t,
1.-The Prisoner of the Vatican" In
|
itual and temporal, were filled by
priests, and to this day the Roman
Catholic priests are still educated as
if in view of their having al some time
to fill temporal offices under the power
of the Vatican. Pope Leo during the
reign of Gregory XVI was Governor
of the Provinces of Bonevento and Pc
rugia, and filed the offices with mark
ed success and ability. his administra-
ton being chiefly marked by the dis
appearance of the banditti whom he
routed out of mountain Businesses and
imprisoned or executed.
In 1859 the powers in Italy, besides
the Papal states, where the Kingdoms
of Naples and of Sardinia, and the
Provinces of Lombardy, Tuscany, Mo-
dena and other Provinces all under the
dominion of Austria. These Provinces
under Austria, had for a long time
been misgoverned and oppressed, AND
there had been a number of rebellions
Finally an army under the Patriot
Garibaldi and King Humbert of Sar-
DINA threw off the Austrian yoke and
then proceeded to Naples and Sicily
driving out King Francis II, whose
reign over that country had been re-
inarkable for tyranny. King Victor
! Emmanuel was elected King of United
Italy and only the Papal states re
manned out of the United Kingdom
These states, extending across the
kingdom and cutting it in two, and
having within them the city of Rome
the natural capital of the country, were
GENEROUSLY regarded by King Victor
Emmanuel and his advisers. Since
1S49, however, France had protected
the Pope in his dominons, French
force having been placed in Rome aftel
a period of practical anarchy, during
which the Eternal City was in the
hands of a mob that had driven GU
the Pope. When it became an oper
secret that Victor Emmanuel only
waited for a chance to seize the Papa
states, Emperor Napoleon III put Z
large French army in Rome and KEEP
. it there until 1870 The war with Prus
STA then compelled him to Withdraw