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Pio Nono and the Reunification of Italy

During the Italian unification movement, Il Risorgimento, if there can be said to have been a true "wild card", it was undoubtedly the person of Pio Nono, Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and the temporal ruler of much of central Italy. His actions have been scrutinized heavily, defended by his supporters and attacked by his enemies. He seems to have been the one man on the Italian peninsula to have surprised virtually everyone, and whose actions no one at the time could predict. The debate has raged from that time to the present, was Pio Nono a friend or foe of the progressive movement? How did his view of the Risorgimento change, and what were the causes?

�� The part Pio Nono would play in world history truly seems to have been pre-ordained. Immediately before his death, Pio Nono's predecessor on the Papal Throne, His Holiness Pope Gregory XVI, made the prophetic statement to a close friend that, "There is storm in the air, revolutions will soon break out." The year was 1846, and time, as well as his own policies, would prove the aged Pontiff correct. Gregory himself had worked so hard to prevent this that he even forbade the building of railroads into the Papal States, fearing that they would import sin and rabble-rousers from across the mountains[i].

�� The 'powers that be' certainly had cause for concern. Nationalist groups such as the Carbornari and Young Italy were a constant irritant. However, the situation changed dramatically when the Bishop of Imola, Giovanni Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, was elected to the Throne of St Peter to succeed Gregory. The liberal groups were very encouraged by the news, while the arch-conservative Prince Klemens von Metternich lamented, "We were prepared for everything but a liberal Pope, and now that we have one, who can tell what will happen?" He called the selection, "the greatest misfortune of our age."[ii]

�� Things were not as bad as either side complained though. When the College of Cardinals met at the Quirinale Palace to choose Gregory?s successor, there were definite divisions. Former Secretary of State, Luigi Cardinal Lambruschini, was leader of the Genoese faction, and the favorite of the conservatives. The most liberal was Cardinal L. Micara while Mastai-Ferretti was favored as a compromise candidate; traditional yet progressive without extremes either way[iii].

�� Upon his election, the new Pontiff said, "I am fully conscious of the high and weighty responsibility attached to my charge, and I feel my great inability to fill it properly. Have prayers said for me, therefore, dear brothers, and pray for me yourselves."[iv] His pontificate was to begin on a note of humility and charity. On Sunday, June 21, Pope Pio Nono was solemnly crowned in St Peter's Basilica. On his instructions, as he received the triregnum 6,000 scudi were distributed among the poor of Rome, and all those in prison for debt were released[v].

�� The new pontiff came to the throne with a very clear picture of what he wanted to do for his closest subjects. During his time as Bishop of Imola, Mastai-Ferretti made it clear that the trend of rebelliousness had to be suppressed, however, he felt that a thorough reform of the Roman government would be the best way to accomplish this, and that the people who paid the taxes had a definite right to know how the government was handling their hard-earned money[vi]. According to Pio Nono, "a bit of common sense, mildness, and Christian justice in the government" was all that was needed to improve the administration of the Papal States, which he found deplorable[vii].

�� Pio Nono had a reputation of being cordial and generous, even with the feared Carbornari. He immediately set up formal commissions to link the Papal States to the outside world by railroad, install street lights, use new scientific methods to modernize the archaic system of agriculture in the Papal States, boosted trade by tariff reform and repealed the law requiring Jews to attend Christian sermons once a week[viii].

�� According to the new Pope, his predecessor was a good man with disastrous policies. There was no money, no industry, high unemployment, no equality under the law, unjust taxation and harsh censorship laws. Pio Nono was resolved to change these things, starting with his appointment of His Eminence Pasquale, Cardinal Gizzi, a prominent liberal, as the new Secretary of State[ix].

�� Pio Nono also recruited renowned Italian jurists to reforms the courts. Plans were made to bring in the long forbidden telegraph lines and the Pope dramatically cut back the expenses of his own household and the Curia. For the first time, censorship was relaxed and liberal ideas were allowed to be published, even a complaint box was installed in the Vatican. To ease unemployment, the Pope planned new public work projects and made the young liberal Monsignor Corboli Bussi his consigliori[x].

�� The conservatives of Europe were outraged to the extreme when Pio Nono granted amnesty to the revolutionaries being held in Roman jails. Metternich denounced the Pope as a fool for playing with liberalism and predicted doom for the Church. Italians were overjoyed however, particularly after Pio Nono formed a lay assembly to advise the government of the Papal States. His status rose even higher when he forced Austria to withdraw their forces from Ferrara, even threatening to excommunicate Metternich[xi].

�� Yet, this was not the sort of popularity Pio Nono could take any pleasure in. He was disturbed at the idea that he was being applauded by the masses, not as a reforming Pope, but as a leader of the anti-tradition revolution. In 1848, he was shocked to see violent uprisings in the Two-Sicilies, Florence, Venice and Milan[xii].

�� The 1848 revolutionary movement began in Italy when the citizens of Palermo rebelled. Ten days later, the Bourbon troops had been defeated and King Ferdinando II in Naples granted a constitution by the end of January[xiii]. Two months later, the fervor had grown strong enough to force the Pope to grant a constitution as well, and even allow for an elected assembly with power to veto the Papal crown in government matters. Moreover, the cries for a united Italian war against Austria were growing, and the Pope's most devoted liberal adherents expected him to take the lead in this "Crusade"[xiv].

�� For Pio Nono, this was the last straw. As the situation began to get out of hand, revolutionary envoys came to Rome to persuade the Pope to lead the fight against Austria for the sake of Italian national unity. Pio Nono responded by saying, "I am more Italian than you are, but you will not make the distinction in me between the Italian and the Pontiff". The Austrians were further incensed to learn that some of the troops opposing them were deserters from the Papal military corps as well as the regular army which happened to be commanded by a Piedmontese general provided by King Carlo Alberto[xv].

�� The Italian liberals firmly separated from the Pontiff on April 29, when Pio Nono issued an Allocution denouncing the revolts, which read in part, "We assert clearly and openly that war with Austria is far from our thoughts, since we, however unworthy, are the Vicar of Him who is the author of peace and the lover of accord". His government saw a succession of ever more liberal administrations who ultimately declared the situation to be beyond control[xvi].

�� Now, almost overnight, those who had cheered praises to the Pope were now shouting condemnation at him for betraying the Italian nation. It soon became clear that Rome was out of control, in a way that would change the Pope's outlook on liberalism entirely. On November 15, Count Pellegrino Rossi, the lay Minister of the Interior and the equivalent of the Pope?s Prime Minister in the Papal States, was assassinated in front of the Cancelleria[xvii].

�� Until this point, Pio Nono had refused to give in to the liberal mobs besieging the Quirinal Palace. Now, his own residence had been attacked and a secretary murdered. One day later, stressing that he did so under duress to avoid further bloodshed, Pio Nono agreed to form a liberal cabinet. However, in the face of increasing unrest, he fled only a few days later, in disguise, to Gaeta in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies[xviii]. From this point on, the character of Pio Nono's pontificate would take on an entirely different tone in both temporal and spiritual matters.

�� After being forced into exile in Gaeta, the rebels proposed the formation of a constituent assembly elected by universal male suffrage. For the time and place, this was as radical as it could get. When Pio Nono received the demand, he condemned it as, "a monstrous act of unconcealed treason". He further declared that anyone who voted in favor of such an act would face the ultimate penalty of excommunication and placed outside of the community of the faithful[xix].

�� In spite of this, the threat of the most severe act of spiritual punishment which the Pope could issue (effectively banning someone from Heaven), the assembly was elected and on February 9 the Italian liberals declared the end of the Papal States and the establishment of the Roman Republic[xx]. The new regime was formed under the leadership of the fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi, and the thinker Giuseppe Mazzini. Its policy was to be extremely liberal and extremely anti-clerical[xxi].

�� In response to this, Pio Nono had no further recourse but to appeal to the Catholic powers of Europe. The response was swift and forceful. The King of Naples sent forces up the peninsula from the south, the Austrian Emperor, fresh from victory in the Piedmont, also diverted troops to Rome and the newly elected President of France, Louis Napoleon advanced from the north[xxii].

�� Embarrassed by the Pope opting for Gaeta over Avignon for his exile, Napoleon III determined to lead the restoration effort. In typical Bonaparte fashion, he switched camps. Louis Napoleon had fought with the nationalists against the Papal State in his youth, but was now determined to come to their defense so as to deprive King Ferdinando II of Naples and Emperor Franz Josef of Austria of the spoils of victory[xxiii]. He hoped above all, not so much to restore the Pope, but ensure that the Austrians and Neapolitans did not gain a superior position against France on the peninsula. In response to these attacks, the Republic formed a Triumvirate on March 29 consisting of the Roman lawyer Carlo Armellini, the liberal leader of the Romagna Count Aurelio Saffi and, the most famous republican of all, Giuseppe Mazzini[xxiv].

�� The Pope, previously so peaceful, was fully supportive of this international effort. Pio Nono warned that anyone who threatened to interfere, or aid in the interference of his sovereignty (the latter being a shot at the Piedmontese) and the independence of the Church and her teaching would face excommunication. He was now certain that the masses were incapable of displaying good judgment, and were too easily corrupted. He was confident that a firm hand, and a show of force, would end the liberal movement[xxv].

�� This is where we see the apparent transition in the Pontiff's character, from liberal to reactionary. Before the revolutions of 1848, Pio Nono was the Pope who had granted amnesty to more than a thousand political prisoners, and welcomed back to the Papal States countless others who had been exiled for spreading liberalism[xxvi]. By 1849 the Pope had come to the conclusion that the role of Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church was totally opposed to constitutional government, which, along with freedom of the press, he now declared to be inherently evil. Liberalism, according to Pio Nono, who had once been called its champion in Italy, was misleading people wherever it existed[xxvii].

�� The Pope's position can be easily understood given the betrayal of so many of his 'liberal' supporters. After French troops secured Rome and allowed the Pope to return, Count Camillo Cavour, Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, planned and executed a full blown campaign of Italian nationalism aimed at undermining the Pope's position[xxviii]. The sight of men like Mazzini and Garibaldi parading through the Quirinal Palace was enough to convince the Pope that Metternich had been correct; liberalism of any degree would always lead to revolution[xxix].

�� It was easy to see that there was a massive shift in the opinion of the Curia following 1850 and the Pope's return to Rome. Giacomo, Cardinal Antonelli, the Secretary of State, still believed in reform, but had come to the conclusion that liberals and the temporal power of the Pope could never be reconciled. Pio Nono himself was so changed by the latest turn of event that many now began calling him "Pio Nono secondo".[xxx]

�� The Pontiff still believed in a merciful style of leadership, but was now determined to resist absolutely any infringement whatsoever to his temporal authority. The Pope was to reign supreme in his dominions from now on, and no concessions on this issue would be tolerated, "Roma locuta est, causa finite est*"[xxxi].

�� This dramatic change in attitude, and the presence of French troops keeping order in Rome caused the Piedmontese to attack the Pope as being more devoted to France than to his native Italy. However, relations between France and the Papacy were not so friendly as many in the liberal camp believed. The French embassy reacted quite angrily when Pio Nono appointed Cristofe de Lamorici�re general-in-chief of the Papal Army, on the advise of Monsignor Xavier de M�rode. This apprehension was doubtless due to the fact that Lamorici�re, like so many of his men, were Bourbon legitimists[xxxii].

�� The Pope was actually friendlier towards his enemies than many in the Vatican would have liked. Although he absolutely opposed his policies, Pio Nono had a great deal of admiration for the Piedmontese King Vittorio Emmanuelle II and his victories over Austria. However, the suppression of all monasteries and convents, along with various other anti-clerical legislation, ensured that the Pope would remain a political enemy. Pio Nono saw this as 1789 France born again, and he would have to fill the role of his namesake, Pius VII, in standing opposed to it[xxxiii].

�� This mindset was to have a dramatic effect on both the future of Italian unification, and the universal Church as a whole. In December of 1864 Pio Nono issued The Syllabus of Errors, in which he denounced 80 liberal ideas, including the idea that the Pope should conform to the changes of modern society. With this document, the Pope had effectively drawn his line in the sand. Some people, such as the New York Herald, were foolish enough to believe this would finally mean the end of� the Papacy[xxxiv].

�� As a result of the Pope's defiance, central Italy would prove the most difficult conquest of the nationalists. In 1860, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia annexed the Legations and the Marches[xxxv], and in response, Pio Nono called upon the faithful of the world to rush to his defense. Monsignor Xavier de M�rode was made Minister of War and began recruiting troops from across the globe[xxxvi]. This army included Swiss, German, Italian, Belgian, French and other volunteers, whose primary goal was to keep partisans such as Garibaldi out of the Patrimony of St Peter[xxxvii].

�� The Piedmontese now turned their propaganda on full force, describing the people living under the Pope as oppressed subjects yearning for freedom from the presence of foreign mercenaries who had come for wealth. The truth was quite the opposite, the troops who volunteered for the Papal Army received only the bare necessities, and supporting them was a constant struggle. Furthermore, the Piedmontese effort to incite a rebellion in Umbria failed completely, and in the annexed areas, even with a sizeable bribe it was difficult to recruit collaborators for the new committees[xxxviii].

�� Strangely enough, it was the supporters of Garibaldi which most worried Count Cavour as well. Naples had fallen and the republicans were moving north, with the Papal States and the French army blocking any effort to move against them. Napoleon III, though far from a true friend, also saw it as being in his best interests to keep Italy divided. He had tried to prevent Piedmont from taking Tuscany and had recently recalled his representative at the court in Turin[xxxix].

�� The war in central Italy soon took on the character of a Crusade. Anglican convert Henry, Cardinal Manning described the soldiers of the Pope's army as martyrs who were defending the rights and independence of God?s kingdom on earth. Cardinal Manning was at the forefront of a new pro-papal party within the Church who denounced modernism and hearkened back to the good old days of the Middle Ages. The stand of Pio Nono was bringing about a revival of traditional Catholicism[xl].

�� Within the Church, there was also a renewal of devotion to the Virgin Mary, following the personal example of the Pope, who declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception to be a formal part of the Catholic faith. What is most significant is that this step was taken solely upon his own authority as Supreme Pontiff. There was also a new wave of devotion, encouraged by the Pope and the Jesuits, to the Sacred Heart, which had long been a symbol of conservative Catholic orthodoxy[xli]. All of this demonstrates that the Pope's attitude was constant in both temporal and spiritual matters, which he viewed as totally intertwined.

�� This trend, called the ultramontane movement, culminated in 1869 when Pope Pio Nono called the First Vatican Council. There were important documents issued which condemned the heresies of the modern, progressive society, as well as attacking atheism. However, the most important and controversial issue dealt specifically with the position of the Pope as leader and teacher of the Church. This was the formal decree of Papal infallibility, which stated in part that the Pope, ?possesses that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer was pleased to invest his Church in the definition of doctrine on faith and morals?[xlii]. Here was Pio Nono, and the Church as a whole, announcing to the world that, come what may, the Pope would continue to reign supreme. Territory may be lost and temporal power curtailed, but the spiritual authority of the Pontiff was firmly defined as absolute and beyond all human interference. Little in the life of the Church actually changed, but the definition itself made a statement to the world.

�� However, these changes could not stop the advancing wave of nationalist fervor. When war broke out between France and Prussia, Napoleon III was forced to recall his troops from Rome, leaving only 13,000 troops of the Pope's volunteer army to defend the Eternal City. Vittorio Emmanuelle announced that he would be occupying the Patrimony of St Peter for the sake of the security and stability of Italy. Piedmont prepared for war while the Pope prayed for divine intervention[xliii].

�� On September 11, the Piedmontese forces entered the Papal States. Separate corps under generals Fanti, Ciadini and Della Rocca all converged on the small army of international volunteers of General Lamorici�re. They made heroic but hopeless stands at Perugia and Spoleto before being defeated at Castelfidaro on the 18th. Lamorici�re took the survivors in retreat to Ancona[xliv]. In fact, the Pope was distressed that they fought so well. He had given instructions that his troops were to put up mostly a symbolic defense, simply to show the world the fact that he was being conquered rather than occupied[xlv].

�� After the conquest of Rome, Pio Nono withdrew in protest behind the walls of the Vatican, refusing to enter as a subject any area which was rightfully his as a prince. The Patrimony was annexed into the new Kingdom of Italy, which the Pope completely refused to acknowledge. Although he maintained diplomatic contacts, his Swiss Guard and his own postal service, holdings such as the Vatican, Castel Gandolfo and the Lateran were reserved for his use, but claimed as the property of the Kingdom of Italy. To compensate the Pope for these 'acquisitions', the government offered 3,225,000 lire, which Pio Nono consistently refused to accept. He told his enemies, "I need money badly, but you, what do you bring me? A part of what you stole from me?". The Pope knew that to accept the money would be to recognize the Italian kingdom[xlvi].

�� In conclusion, we can see that Pio Nono was much of what both sides claimed him to be. He was, as the liberals claimed, intransigent, for he refused to compromise on subjects dealing with the Church and his role as Shepherd of all the Faithful, and he was forced to rely on predominately foreign armies to defend himself against his brother Italians. Likewise, as his supporters knew, Pio Nono was a compassionate, devoted, humorous and approachable man who guided the Church through a time of crisis.

�� Concerning whether Pio Nono was, at heart, a liberal or a conservative, while it is obvious there were changes following 1848 (and there are few things in life so moving as having people trying to kill you), it would be more correct to say that Pio Nono was never a liberal in the modern sense of the word. Even as Bishop of Imola he had been very conservative on religious issues, arguing that those who did not care about religion were a greater threat than the worst heretics[xlvii]. His view of society, and firm belief that God provided the only solution to the evils of humanity were inherently conservative[xlviii].

�� From this, it is clear that Pio Nono was always a very traditional man at heart, whose drive for reforms and modernization, in areas like farming and transportation at least, came from a spirit of Christian charity and compassion rather than any sense of liberal social justice. He gave the people greater freedom because he wanted to make them happy, and in areas of state policy, 1848 was the action of ungrateful people who had to be chastised. As the Lord giveth, the Lord could also taketh away. So, while his politics were forced to change from progressive to reactionary, his personal principles never did, as is seen by the consistency of his spiritual teaching. As such, it is no wonder that the enemies of all tradition despise him, nor that the current Pontiff recently beatified him as Blessed Pope Pio Nono.

*"Rome has spoken, the cause is finished"

End Notes.

[i] Hibbert, Christopher, Rome: The Biography of a City (London: Penguin Books, 1985), 244.

[ii] Ibid., 246

[iii] Coppa, Frank J., Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1979) p.41

[iv] Ibid., 42

[v] Ibid., 44

[vi] Ibid., 38

[vii] Ibid., 39

[viii] Duffy, Eamon, Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 222

[ix] Coppa, Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age, 44-45.

[x] Ibid., 48

[xi] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 222.

[xii] Hibbert, Rome: The Biography of a City, 248.

[xiii] Coppa, Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age, 73.

[xiv] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 223.

[xv] Hales, E.E.Y., Pio Nono (New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1954), 78.

[xvi] Hibbert, Rome: The Biography of a City, 249.

[xvii] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 223.

[xviii] Hibbert, Christopher, Garibaldi and His Enemies (Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1965), 37.

[xix] Hibbert, Rome: Biography of a City, 249.

[xx] Ibid., 250.

[xxi] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 223.

[xxii] Hibbert, Rome Biography of a City, 252.

[xxiii] Hibbert, Garibaldi and His Enemies, 43.

[xxiv] Hibbert, Rome: Biography of a City, 252.

[xxv] Coppa, Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age, 94.

[xxvi] Hales, Pio Nono, 57.

[xxvii] Coppa, Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age, 105.

[xxviii] Maxwell-Stuart, P.G., Chronicle of the Popes (New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997), 218.

[xxix] Hales, Pio Nono, 137.

[xxx] Coppa, Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age, 112.

[xxxi] Ibid., 113.

[xxxii] Blakiston, Noel, The Roman Question (London: Chapman & Hall, 1962), 98.

[xxxiii] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 224.

[xxxiv] Maxwell-Stuart, Chronicle of the Popes, 219.

[xxxv] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 224.

[xxxvi] Berkeley, G.F.H., The Irish Battalion in the Papal Army of 1860 (Dublin: Dublin & Cork, 1929), 27.

[xxxvii] Ibid., 20, 34.

[xxxviii] Ibid., 35, 97.

[xxxix] Cesare, R. De, The Last Days of Papal Rome, 1850-1870 (London: Thames & Hudson, 1909), 277, 276.

[xl] Duffy, Saints & Sinners, 225.

[xli] Ibid., 225.

[xlii] Maxwell-Stuart, Chronicle of the Popes, 219.

[xliii] Hales, Pio Nono, 313, 314.

[xliv] Hibbert, Garibaldi and His Enemies, 293.

[xlv] Hales, Pio Nono, 315.

[xlvi] Ibid., 317-318.

[xlvii] Frank J. Coppa, ?Pessimism and Traditionalism in the Personality and Policies of Pio Nono?, Journal of Italian History II (1979): 216.

[xlviii] Ibid., 215

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