TheHoly See exercised temporal power, as distinguished from its spiritual andpastoral activity, while thepope ruled thePapal States incentral Italy. The Papal States ceased to exist following thecapture of Rome in 1870 by theRoyal Italian Army, after which its remaining territories were annexed to theKingdom of Italy. TheLateran Treaty of 1929 later established theVatican City, a smallcity-state where the Holy See currently exercises temporal powers.
TheLateran Palace was the first significant acquisition of the Holy See, most probably a gift fromConstantine the Great.[2] The example of Constantine was followed by wealthy families of the Roman nobility,[3] and the residences and estates that were acquired in turn were designated thePatrimonium Sancti Petri. After thedeposition of the last Roman emperor in the West in 476, the popes were subjects, first of Odoacer, thenArianOstrogothic kings, then of theByzantine emperors, who ruled their Italian territories via a governor called anexarch, stationed in Ravenna.[4][5] However, the medieval Popes were unable to exercise effective sovereignty over these extensive and mountainous territories, given the recalcitrance of their vassals.[6]
For over a thousand years popes ruled assovereign over an amalgam of territories on theItalian peninsula known as thePapal States, from the capital,Rome.[7] In 1274 theComtat Venaissin came under Papal control, followed byAvignon in 1348.[8]
TheologianRobert Bellarmine, in his 16th-century dogmatic workDisputationes, strongly affirmed the authority of the pope as thevicar of Christ. However, he reasoned that since Christ did notexercise his temporal power, neither may the pope.[9]
In 1590,Pope Sixtus V had, of his own initiative, placed the first volume of theDisputationes on a new edition of theIndex Librorum Prohibitorum for denying that the pope had direct temporal authority over the whole world. The entry concerning Bellarmin reads:"Roberti Bellarmini Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae fidei adversus huius temporis haereticos. Nisi prius ex superioribus regulis recognitae fuerint."[needs translation] Sixtus V died before he could promulgate thebull which would have made this new edition of theIndex enter into force. Sixtus' successor,Urban VII, asked for an examination and after it was done Bellarmine was exonerated and the book removed from theIndex.[10][11]
Concerning the pastoral and spiritual power of the pope, Bellarmine'sDisputationes (1586–1593) andDe potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus (1610;Concerning the Power of the Supreme Pontiff in Temporal Matters) "gave definite form to the theory ofpapal supremacy".[12]
The secular revolutionary movements of the 1800s posed a serious threat to the pope's temporal power. Avignon was seized by revolutionaries during theFrench Revolution in 1791, ending 450 years of papal sovereignty there. Between 1798 and 1814, the revolutionary French government invaded Italy several times and annexed the Papal States (though the papacy was restored between 1800 and 1809).Napoleon Bonaparte abolished the pope's temporal power in 1809, incorporating Rome andLatium into hisFirst French Empire.Pope Pius VII himself was even taken prisoner by Napoleon. However, the pope's temporal power was restored by theGreat powers at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in the 1815Congress of Vienna. The civil laws of theNapoleonic Code were abolished, and most civil servants were removed from office. In the coming years, rising liberal and nationalist sentiment created popular opposition to the reconstituted clerical government. This led to numerous revolts, which were suppressed by the intervention of the Austrian army.[13]
In November 1848, duringthe revolutions that swept Europe in that year, the assassination of his ministerPellegrino Rossi ledPope Pius IX to flee Rome. During a political rally in February 1849, a young revolutionary, the Abbé Arduini, described the temporal power of the popes as a "historical lie, a political imposture, and a religious immorality".[14]
On 9 February 1849, a revolutionary Roman Assembly proclaimed theRoman Republic. Subsequently, the Constitution of the Roman Republic abolished papal temporal power, although the independence of the pope as head of the Catholic Church was guaranteed by article 8 of thePrincipi fondamentali.[15] Like the other revolutionary movements of 1848, the Republic was short-lived; Rome was eventually conquered by theFrench Second Republic, which restored the papacy's temporal power in the region once again.[16]
In 1859–60, the Papal States were invaded by various republican forces seeking a unified Italian state, and lost the provinces ofRomagna,Marche andUmbria. These regions were incorporated into theKingdom of Sardinia (which thereafter became theKingdom of Italy), and the papacy's temporal power was reduced to Rome and the region of Lazio. At this point, someultramontane groups proposed that the temporal power be elevated into adogma. According to Raffaele De Cesare:
The first idea of convening anEcumenical Council in Rome to elevate the temporal power into adogma, originated in the third centenary of the Council of Trent, which took place in that city in December, 1863, and was attended by a number of Austrian and Hungarianprelates.[17]
However, following theAustro-Prussian War, Austria was forced to recognize the newly-formed Kingdom of Italy. As a result, most clerics lost hope of a return of the former temporal power of the Bishop of Rome. Some, primarily Italian, clergy suggested anecumenical council to dogmatically definepapal infallibility as an article of faith, binding upon the consciences of all Catholic faithful. This doctrinal view, however, initially proposed byFranciscan partisans in opposition to the prerogative of popes to contradict the more favorable decrees of their predecessors, faced significant resistance outside of Italy prior to and during theFirst Vatican Council.[18]
For practical purposes, the temporal power of the popes ended on 20 September 1870, when the Italian Army breached theAurelian Walls atPorta Pia andentered Rome. This completed theUnification of Italy (Risorgimento).
Bellarmine himself was not a stranger to theological condemnation. In August 1590 Pope Sixtus V decided to place the first volume of theControversies on theIndex because Bellarmine had argued that the pope is not the temporal ruler of the whole world and that temporal rulers do not derive their authority to rule from God through the pope but through the consent of the people governed. However Sixtus died before the revisedIndex was published, and the next pope, Urban VII, who reigned for only twelve days before his own death, removed Bellarmine's book from the list during that brief period. The times were precarious.
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