2005-10-09
Giru Lee

 

The Pope and Italian Democracy in the 19C

 

 

Introduction

             The unification of Italy and the confiscation of Rome in 1860s and 1870s established a barrier between the Pope and Italy. The separation of Church and State was unavoidable step for Italy, while it was an invasion on temporal power for the pope. Hence, the popes and Italy maintained a hostile relationship for decades.

Yet, it is far from truth to say that the Italian government and the popes never tried to negotiate. To have Pope as its foremost antagonist was detrimental to the image of Italian government, and to imprison himself in Vatican was not the best choice for the pope, either. From time to time, though not too frequently, the two tried to negotiate and find some truce. However, when both sides were willing to negotiate, external sources impeded them, hence the hostile state continued until the early 20C.

             Although the pope did not recognize the establishment of Italian government officially, the pope exerted his influence over Italian society through Catholics in Italy. Italy was not in a truly democratic state. Only partial male suffrage was given, and most of the major politicians were wealthy nobles. Few of the workers and farmers were given franchise or represented, and thus, their grievances grew with the worsening economy. The pope, by urging Christians to work for the well-being of the society, promoted socialistic movement based on Christian organization. Hence, even though he was not directly involved, the Pope influenced much of Italian society.

 

The Political, Social State of Italy in the late 19C

After its unification in 1860, Italy declared to be a constitutional monarchy under King Victor Emmanuel. A Civil Code was adopted (1865), State and Church were separated, tariffs were removed, and the Savoyan constitution was adopted. The parliament was bicameral with major power laid in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputis. As many other European countries at that time, Italy gave only partial franchise; only propertied, educated were given the franchise. This partial suffrage system leaved out workers and farmers for many decades, thus dissatisfaction grew among the lower classes as economy worsened.

 Italy was unstable politically, economically, and socially. Italy was a combination of many different states, and hence the politicians had different opinions about federalism, parliamentism, and monarchism. Many regional nobles refused to accept the Italian parliament as the legitimate political system, and Church refused to recognize Italy either. Different politicians took the premiership in every 1-3 year, and the government had to often rely on army to find stability.

In this chaotic condition, the Chamber of Deputies learned to favor political alliances over time-consuming debates and arguments. Camillo Cavour, the leader of Italian unification and the prime minister of Italy in 1861, often used political, economical bribery to coerce the opposing party. Although such political alliances reduced much conflict and instability, they led to corruption and stalemate situations without much development. The public was too ignorant about politics to change the trend, and even the Non Expedit policy of Church (discussed later) contributed to the corruption by prohibiting some educated people from politics. By the time Agonisto Depreties(1813-1887) was the prime minister, the transformation of opposing groups into allies was so common that the entire system of government was called “transformismo”.

The economic situation was not very hopeful either. The sudden removal of tariff was detrimental to the southern Italy, whereas the northern Italy could easily adapt to the changed system. The economic gap between the two regions brought up severe dissatisfaction among the southerners; riots arose frequently.

 

Pius IX

             During Pius XI’s pontificate, which was from 1846 to 1868, Italy was unified and proclaimed to be a liberal state. A liberal state meant the separation of Church and State, which would lead to the loss of temporal power as well as part of the Papal States. Hence, Pius IX showed strong hostility against the new government throughout his pontificate.

             Of course, disapproval from Church was detrimental Italy. Catholic was the major religion, and many people took the pope’s words seriously. Thus, King Victor Emmanuel was careful when dealing with Church. For example, in his address to parliament in 1871 after the occupation of Rome, he stated:

“We have proclaimed the separation of Church and State. Having recognized the absolute independence of the spiritual authority, we are convince that Rome, the capital of Italy, will continue to be the peaceful and respected seat of the Pontificate…”(Halsall)

Emmanuel tried to put the separation of Church and State as the “absolute independence of the spiritual authority.” He also designed the Law of Guarantees to appease the Pope. The law allowed the Pope to govern a few papal palaces in Rome along with an annual remuneration of 3.25 million lire.

Despite the king’s efforts, Pius IX maintained a hostile position against the Italian government. He refused to recognize his loss of the Papal States and his temporal power. Calling himself the “prisoner in the Vatican,” Pius IX refused to recognize his loss of the Papal States and his temporal power. He ordered Non Expedit, a prohibition from political activities, to Catholics in Italy as well. He thought that by prohibiting Catholics from politics, he would be able to cause distress and subversion in Italy, and thus he would regain his temporal power.

Though Pius IX maintained hostile relationship until the end of his pontificate, there were some times in which the Pope and the Italian government tried to negotiate. Many times, it was Italy that attempted to negotiate, and the Pope was not always as defiant as he was often described, for the self-imprisoned state was inconvenient, self-consuming for himself as well. Hence, when Bettino Ricasoli, the premier of Italy from 1861 to 1862 and again from 1866 to 1867, proposed to give the exequatur to forty-five bishops in Italy as well as to restore the property of the suppressed religious orders in return for the gradual payment of 24,000,000,000, the Pope accepted the proposal. However, in this incident, the Italian Chamber refused the proposal; Ricasoli resigned his office and one of the few opportunities for negotiation became nullified.

 

Pope Leo XIII(1878~1903)

             During the conclave period, Francesco Crispi(1819-1901), the prime minister of Italy, tried to take over the conclave so that Italy could elect a Pope who would recognize Italy. In 1879, when Pius IX died, Crispi tried to let the Italian government manage the conclave so that it could be recognized by the new Pope. Although the Italian government did not take full control over the conclave, Crispi managed to persuade the Sacred College to held the conclave in Rome, thus establishing the legitimacy of the capital.

Although Leo XIII did much to reverse hostile policies Pius IX maintained with many civil powers, Leo XIII kept hostile policy against the Italian government. He followed Pius IX in his “prisoner in the Vatican” policy, and he refused to recognize his temporal loss either. He also kept the policy of “Non expedit,” thus prohibiting Catholics from being politically active.

During Leo XIII’s pontificate, Italy’s economy worsened. Francesco Crispi imposed economical reforms dictatorially, but his policies turned out to be failures. The gap between the North and the South became significant, and the worsening relationship with France resulted in withdrawal of French investment. Series of famine hit Italy in the 1880s.

In this period, Leo XIII stepped in political issues. Although he did not directly act as a politician, he expressed his idea about political issues through publications that were read by Catholics. Thus he made Christians, starting from those in Italy, to be aware of current political issues and thus be more active. In his encyclical Immortal Dei(1885), he defined Christianity as the foundation of political activities, and in Libertas(1888) he redefined liberty in Christian aspect. In his Rerum Novarum(1891), he discussed about capital and labor, thus promoting the Catholic socialism. His consistent effort to activate Catholics in politics indeed saw the result; Christians in Italy started to make socialistic organizations and campaigns. The movement, incorporated into the Catholic system of Italy, became widespread and well-organized to the extent to be termed specifically as “Christian Democracy.”

As in the pontificate of Pius IX, There were times of negotiation between Italy and Church. This time, the Pope and the Italian government established some officious negotiations. However, France impeded any significant negotiations because Italy was on the opposing side of France due to the Triple Alliance. Hence, France forced the Pope not to keep too close relationship with Italy by threatening to put pressure on French Catholics. As the result, the negotiations between the Italian government and the Church could never be explicit or strong.

 

Conclusion

             From the beginning, the Italian government was bound to have hostile relationship with the Church. Outwardly, the Popes maintained their refusal to recognize Italy and to have no contact with Italian government. However, the Popes needed certain negotiations with Italy as much as Italy did, and thus the negotiations came onto the table from time to time. Yet in those times when the Pope accepted the proposals, other factors such as Italian Chamber or French intervention hindered the settlement of those proposals and thus the self-imprisoned state continued until 1929.

             Although the Popes did not actively involve in politics, they influenced the devout Christians in Rome and Italy to make political actions. Both Piux IX and Leo XIII prohibited Catholics to participate in any political activities relating to the Italian government, while Leo XIII promoted them to be active for the welfare of the nation. Hence, though not explicit, the Popes influenced the politics of Italy much more than what the Italian parliament expected.

References

Books

Rich, Norman. The Age of Nationalism and Reform, 1850-1890. W.W. Norton &
Company: New York, 1970.

             Santore, John. Modern Naples, 1799-1999. Italica Press: New York , 2001

Websites

Wikipedia, “Francesco Crispi.” June 2005. July 2005.
                  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Crispi>

Wikipedia, “Bettino Ricasoli.” June 2005. July 2005.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettino_Ricasoli>
U. BENIGNI. “Law of Guarantees.” Catholic Encyclopedia, Nov. 2004. July 2005.

<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07048a.htm>
Ganse, Alexander. “The Unification of Italy.” World History at KMLA. Nov. 2004. July 2005

<http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/italy/itunif.html>
Halsall, Paul. “Modern History Sourcebook: King Victor Emmanuel: Address to Parliament,
                  Rome, 1871.” Internet Modern History Sourcebook. July 1998. July 2005.

<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1871victoremm.html>
Ganse, Alexander. “The Establishment of the Liberal State.” World History at KMLA.

Nov. 2004. July 2005. <http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/italy/itlibstate.html>
Ganse, Alexander. “Italy 1860-1914.” World History at KMLA. Nov. 2004. July 2005.

<http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/italy/it18601914.html>

Dear Mr. Johnson, I could not find any history article/magazine relating specifically to Italian Democracy, so instead I made more references from websites. Sorry.