WE RECENTLY ventured on the suggestion that “in the circumstances of the modern world, the most unfortunate residence for the Vicar of Christ is the capital city of a great and ambitious nation.” The Tablet reproaches us for this remark on the ground that united Italy has usurped the Eternal City for only five and fifty years, whereas the Popes, who stole it from nobody and saved it from destruction, held it for a millennium and a half. We sympathize with the Tablet’s view on grounds of principle. But we were concerned with the circumstances of the modern world. If Florence had been made the capital of united Italy, as was proposed in Cavour’s days, things would be different. But the withdrawal of the State from Rome is not a probable occurrence, and, therefore, as things are, the Italian character of the Papacy is a real danger. Roman Catholics themselves have recently criticized unfavourably the overwhelming majority of Italians in the Curia and government of the Roman Church. The whole problem of the relation of the Church to the State bristles with difficulties, and Montalembert’s maxim, “l’Eglise libre dans l’Etat libre,” is simpler on paper than in fact. Meanwhile, our contention remains unrefuted. No doubt, ideally, the Roman Church is called international as things are, but as a matter of fact that is precisely what it is not.
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