1815–1870

The Papal States, the Risorgimento and the fall of Rome (1815–1870)

Shelley: after 1815 the popes Leo XII, Pius VIII and Gregory XVI refused to join the nineteenth century and lost touch with the movements of their time; liberalism, for its part, denied the Church’s right to speak on the morality of society. The Papal States, where the pope was both spiritual leader and temporal ruler, became the chief symbol of the popes’ bond with the past and the chief target of the Italian national movement, the Risorgimento. Pius IX, at first beloved of liberals, returned to absolutism after 1848; in 1859–1860 most of the territory was lost, and on 20 September 1870 Rome surrendered and the Papal States ceased to exist.

Key points

• Shelley: Leo XII, Pius VIII and Gregory XVI after 1815 were not bad men, but defended the past and did not understand the world of the French Revolution; liberalism insisted that political science is independent of Christian ethics and that Catholics are merely private individuals. The most obvious symbol of the popes’ bond with the past was the Papal States, where the pope was both spiritual leader and temporal ruler; the Italian unity movement could not tolerate a medieval absolutist state in Italy, and after 1849 only French bayonets defended it. Pius IX, elected 1846, was a kind man, and liberals thought him a reformer when on 14 March 1848 he gave the territory a constitution; after the murder of premier Rossi and a revolution the pope fled, and returning with French help insisted on the former absolutism. Later Pius IX rejected the subsidy and free exercise of spiritual functions, became the “prisoner of the Vatican” and forbade Italian Catholics to vote; the “Roman Question” was resolved only by Mussolini’s Lateran Accords (1929): the pope renounced the territory and gained sovereignty over Vatican City
• Loss of the States: in 1859–1860 most of the Papal States fell to the nationalists, and in 1861 Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed king of Italy
• Loss of the States: on 20 September 1870 Rome surrendered; the Papal States ceased to exist, and in 1871 the king moved his seat to Rome

People

• Pius IX

Place

Rome, the Papal States, Italy