The Indianapolis journal., 1903-08-02
THE POPE AND TEMPORAL POWER.


A dispatch from Rome says the impress
sion prevails there that the next Pope, no
matter who may be elected, will soon cease
to consider himself a prisoner in the Vati-
can, but will, unlike Leo XIII, leave its pre-
cincts when necessary. This is probably
true. and it will be practical recognition
by the-head of the church that the temporal
dominion and power of the Pope can never
be restored. His spiritual power will re-
main undisputed, but his temporal power,
as exofficio head and ruler Of the Papal
States, is a thing of the past. That claim
dates back considerably more than thou
sand years, and more than once while it
was recognized the ruling Pope led power
full armies and made effective warfare.
The Pope's dominion over the Papal States,
| including the city of Rome. continued to
| be recognized until about 1867, when the
| contest began between the italian govern
ment and the Pope. which was to end in
| the abolition of the latter's temporal power.
| This controversy continued during the reign
| OF Plus TX. One of his last acts was the
| issuing of an allocution in which he re-
viewed the condition of the papacy since
the occupation of Rome by the Italian gov
| ernment and denounced it for "riding
roughshod over every right. human and
divine" Leo XIII inherited this contro-
versy in it's full bitterness, and from the
beginning Of his reign ne chose to regard
himself as a prisoner in the Vatican. In
his first encyclical, issued in April, 1878, he
protested against ''the violation of the
| rights belonging to the Roman Church, and
dwelt the outrages perpetrated by the
Italian government. In an apostolic letter
| issued I'm 1881 he referred to the humiliating
position of the head of the church in Rome,
ga mere shadow of royal power being left
him as though in mockery," while ''he is
truly more in the power of his enemies
| than of his own Within the Vatican the
Pope was still supreme, as he was through
| out the world as the head of the church,
but the abolition of his temporal power had
been asserted and accomplished by the Ital-
| ian government as a political necessity and
| Indispensable to progress. 1t was neces-
| sary to the uniication of Italy and to en-
4
ers. Leo XIII adhered persistently to the
position that he was prisoner in the Vati-
| can, although he could have Travelled
around the world and visited the churches
! in all lands If he had chosen to do so. His
entire reign was protest against what he
| deemed the great wrong done the church
In depriving it's head of temporal power,
| and while he was not really a prisoner in
| the Vatican he made himself so. 1t may
| be doubted if he accomplished anything by
| his course in this regard. True, he kept
| alive, and made a daily and hourly record
of his protest against the treatment of the
papacy by the Italian government, but
there is no reason to believe that he accom-
plished anything in the way of winning rec
| ognition for the papal claim of temporal
| power As recognition of that claim would
be fatal to United Italy it can never come
except through revolution and war, and war
| in Italy would be more likely to result in
a republic or an advance of liberalism than
| in the restoration of the medieval idea of
| the temporal power of the Pope. A much
| wiser policy for the church would be to
abandon the idea altogether and establish
| a close and friendly alliance with the Ital-
ian government The suggestion that the
next Pope will not act as if he were pris-
oner in the Vatican seems to imply that
he may accept the inevitable by abandoning
| claim which Leo XIII maintained during
his entire reign without accomplishing any
| practical results whatever.