responsible for the care and protection of the Vatican in his absence. 4
Two years later, in November 1886, Leo charged yet another secret commission of cardinals with the task of advising him on fleeing Rome. To guide them, he had a report prepared on "the current condition to which the Holy See and the Pontiff have been reduced in Rome." It is clear from subsequent discussion by the cardinals that this report presented the views of the pope himself, so it offers us a priceless peek into Leo's outlook eight years into his papacy.
"The revolution," as the report labeled the unification movement, "having occupied the Papal States, took over this Capital of the Catholic world" and left the pope "in the power of his enemies." Strikingly, the secret document acknowledges that the people of Rome were no longer on the pope's side in his battle with the Italian state. Thanks to the malevolent influence of the sects, it explained, religious indifference was widespread, and the love for the Church and the papacy had greatly declined, especially among the middle classes. Fewer and fewer people believed that it was good for the pope to have temporal power. "The constant work of these same sects, together with the liberal party, has succeeded not only in spreading doubts in Italian souls about itsnecessity, but has led them to contest it openly with exaggerated ideas of national independence. Even most Romans no longer share their ancient devotion to the Pontiff, their sole legitimate Sovereign."
But there were still grounds for hope. If things looked bleak in Italy, the situation abroadânotwithstanding the cowardice of Europe's governmentsâwas very different. Outside Italy, the pope's cause was more popular than ever. And with Catholics feeling so strongly about the pontiff, their rulers could not long resist the pressure to come to his aid. All this afforded good reason "to hope that, whatever happens, the Pope's cause will not be abandoned, and that one day he will recover the place in Rome that is properly his." Paradoxically, even in Italy, where godless forces were making the Church's life so difficult, a glimmer of hope appeared, for the situation might have to get worse before it could get better. "Since the revolution continues, it corrupts the popular masses more every day and so ineluctably pushes them to socialism and anarchy." But once the direction they were heading in became clearer, the report argued, Italians would finally "shake off their lethargy and inertia. They will refuse to tolerate religious persecution or the Freemason's yoke any longer." They would at last realize that the pope was their only hope, that only the pontiff could bring stability to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe. 5
The commission met on November 1,1886, to consider this report. The pope and the whole Church, the first cardinal to speak lamented, find themselves in a pitiful condition. "The painful situation of the Holy See, more or less openly besieged for sixteen years in Rome, and almost for twenty-six in all Italy, is only getting worse."
We should have no illusions, he warned. Italy had become a unified state only through the occult efforts of the various sects and the Masons, committed to the extermination of the Church "either through open violence or through the hypocritical ploys of which the sectarians are the finest masters." A new ruling class of unbelievers, "moved by a blind hatred of the Church," had arisen in Italy. The cardinal then gingerly criticized Pius IX and his mystical faith in divine intervention: "Who knows what would have happened if, after ... denouncing to the whole world the nature of the Revolution whose victim he was, the octogenarian Pontiff, so popular everywhere, had taken the path of the pilgrim, leaving his city behind him?" But today it was too late. "If I raise this hypothesis now," he said, "it is to illustrate how, when we had the chance to destroy the evil work of the government, we perhaps
Two years later, in November 1886, Leo charged yet another secret commission of cardinals with the task of advising him on fleeing Rome. To guide them, he had a report prepared on "the current condition to which the Holy See and the Pontiff have been reduced in Rome." It is clear from subsequent discussion by the cardinals that this report presented the views of the pope himself, so it offers us a priceless peek into Leo's outlook eight years into his papacy.
"The revolution," as the report labeled the unification movement, "having occupied the Papal States, took over this Capital of the Catholic world" and left the pope "in the power of his enemies." Strikingly, the secret document acknowledges that the people of Rome were no longer on the pope's side in his battle with the Italian state. Thanks to the malevolent influence of the sects, it explained, religious indifference was widespread, and the love for the Church and the papacy had greatly declined, especially among the middle classes. Fewer and fewer people believed that it was good for the pope to have temporal power. "The constant work of these same sects, together with the liberal party, has succeeded not only in spreading doubts in Italian souls about itsnecessity, but has led them to contest it openly with exaggerated ideas of national independence. Even most Romans no longer share their ancient devotion to the Pontiff, their sole legitimate Sovereign."
But there were still grounds for hope. If things looked bleak in Italy, the situation abroadânotwithstanding the cowardice of Europe's governmentsâwas very different. Outside Italy, the pope's cause was more popular than ever. And with Catholics feeling so strongly about the pontiff, their rulers could not long resist the pressure to come to his aid. All this afforded good reason "to hope that, whatever happens, the Pope's cause will not be abandoned, and that one day he will recover the place in Rome that is properly his." Paradoxically, even in Italy, where godless forces were making the Church's life so difficult, a glimmer of hope appeared, for the situation might have to get worse before it could get better. "Since the revolution continues, it corrupts the popular masses more every day and so ineluctably pushes them to socialism and anarchy." But once the direction they were heading in became clearer, the report argued, Italians would finally "shake off their lethargy and inertia. They will refuse to tolerate religious persecution or the Freemason's yoke any longer." They would at last realize that the pope was their only hope, that only the pontiff could bring stability to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe. 5
The commission met on November 1,1886, to consider this report. The pope and the whole Church, the first cardinal to speak lamented, find themselves in a pitiful condition. "The painful situation of the Holy See, more or less openly besieged for sixteen years in Rome, and almost for twenty-six in all Italy, is only getting worse."
We should have no illusions, he warned. Italy had become a unified state only through the occult efforts of the various sects and the Masons, committed to the extermination of the Church "either through open violence or through the hypocritical ploys of which the sectarians are the finest masters." A new ruling class of unbelievers, "moved by a blind hatred of the Church," had arisen in Italy. The cardinal then gingerly criticized Pius IX and his mystical faith in divine intervention: "Who knows what would have happened if, after ... denouncing to the whole world the nature of the Revolution whose victim he was, the octogenarian Pontiff, so popular everywhere, had taken the path of the pilgrim, leaving his city behind him?" But today it was too late. "If I raise this hypothesis now," he said, "it is to illustrate how, when we had the chance to destroy the evil work of the government, we perhaps
Similar Books
