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Neo-Guelphs Neoguelfi | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Vincenzo Gioberti |
| Founded | 1843 (1843) |
| Dissolved | 1852 (1852) |
| Ideology | Confederalism[1] Theocraticmonarchism[2][3] Christian liberalism[4][5] |
| Political position | Centre[6] |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| National affiliation | Moderates |
Neo-Guelphism (Italian:Neoguelfismo) was a 19th-century Italian political movement, started byVincenzo Gioberti, which wanted to unite Italy into a single kingdom with thePope as its king. Despite little popular support, the movement raised interests among intellectuals, journalists and Catholic reformist politicians. They were also linked both toontologism, a philosophical movement, and to rationalist-leaning theology.
As modern political parties were not present in Italy in the 19th century, the neo-Guelphs were only circles of intellectuals, aristocrats, journalists and businessmen with Catholic and unitarian tendencies. The movement was not too nationalist, preferring aconfederation between the several Italian states led by thePope.[7] On social issues, the neo-Guelphs tended to support bothreformist andlaw and order policies.[7]
Many neo-Guelphists thought that Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti (elected popePius IX in 1846) would boost their cause, but he rejected their movement. This rejection was disheartening toCatholic liberals everywhere, and theanti-clerical left saw it as proof that the papacy was inherently reactionary—ready to sacrifice its very autonomy and an Italian state simply to protect narrow temporal interests, such asnoble interests in thepapal states. Popes generally came from this nobility, to say nothing of thecuria andVatican hierarchy in general.
InPiedmont-Sardinia, the movement gained enough influences to install two neo-Guelphs in government:Cesare Balbo, from March to July 1848, and Gioberti himself, from December 1848 to February 1849. However, the final defeat in theFirst War of Independence byAustria caused the decline of neo-Guelphism, seen as too moderate and "papist", in favor of parliamentaryright-wing group, that purposed a mix of war and diplomacy to unify Italy under theHouse of Savoy.
After theFranco-Austrian War of 1859, which granted to Piedmont-Sardinia the control over Northern Italy (except for Veneto), neo-Guelphism was considered obsolete and unobtainable. In 1860, republicanGiuseppe Garibaldi led hisexpedition in Southern Italy, which eventually led toItalian unification under Piedmont-Sardinia, however, leaving the Papacy as its own individual state. This eased the fears from Roman Catholic countries such as France who believed that a unified Italy could "corrupt" the Papacy.
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