View source for Temporal power of the Holy See

{{Short description|Political and secular governmental activity of the popes of the Roman Catholic Church}}

[[File:Tiara of Pope Pius IX, 1854.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Papal tiara]] of [[Pope Pius IX]], the last pope to have reigned over the [[Papal States]].]]
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The [[Holy See]] exercised [[temporal power]], as distinguished from its spiritual and [[Pastoral care#In Christianity|pastoral]] activity, while the [[pope]] ruled the [[Papal States]] in [[central Italy]]. 

The Papal States ceased to exist following the [[capture of Rome]] in 1870 by the [[Royal Italian Army]], after which its remaining territories were annexed to the [[Kingdom of Italy]]. The [[Lateran Treaty]] of 1929 later established the [[Vatican City]], a small [[city-state]] where the Holy See currently exercises temporal powers.

== Origins ==
{{Main|Papal States}}
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Innozenz3.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Innocent III]] (1198–1216) in his papal tiara, which he claimed as signifying both his spiritual and (indirect)<ref>Pope Innocent III. Epistolæ, IV, 17, 13. "We do not exercise any temporal jurisdiction except indirectly". From: Jarrett, B. (1911). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11452a.htm Papal Arbitration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730153544/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11452a.htm |date=30 July 2022 }}. In the Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 30 July 2022.</ref> temporal power.]][[File:Coelestin V.jpg|thumb|Papal coronation of [[Pope Celestine V]]]]

===Patrimony of Saint Peter===
The [[Lateran Palace]] was the first significant acquisition of the Holy See, most probably a gift from [[Constantine the Great]]. The example of Constantine was followed by wealthy families of the Roman nobility,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14257a.htm Schnürer, Gustav. "States of the Church." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 29 December 2022 {{PD-notice}}</ref> and the residences and estates that were acquired in turn were designated the ''[[Patrimony of Saint Peter|Patrimonium Sancti Petri]].'' After the [[Deposition of Romulus Augustus|deposition]] of the last Roman emperor in the West in 476, the popes were subjects, first of Odoacer, then [[Arianism|Arian]] [[Ostrogoths|Ostrogothic]] kings, then of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperors, who ruled their Italian territories via a governor called an ''[[Exarchate of Ravenna|exarch]],'' stationed in Ravenna''.''

[[Pope Gregory II]]'s defiance of the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Leo III the Isaurian]] as a result of the first [[iconoclastic controversy]] (726 AD) in the [[Byzantine Empire]], widened the growing divergence between the Byzantine and Carolingian traditions in what was still a unified European Church. This, combined with [[Kingdom of the Lombards|Lombard]] military pressure to which the embattled empire could not respond effectively, eventually led to the establishment of the temporal power of the popes. The [[Duchy of Rome]] was an imperial territory under the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]]. With the waning of Byzantine control in the Italian peninsula, more of the management of the area fell to the popes.

===Donation of Pepin===
In 751 the Exarchate of Ravenna fell to Lombard King [[Aistulf]]. Five years later, [[Pepin the Short]] of the Franks defeated the Lombards and granted the lands of the Duchy of Rome as well as territory ceded by the Lombards to the Papacy in what is referred to as the [[Donation of Pepin]], marking the true beginning of the Papal States. The area conferred upon the pope included the territory belonging to Ravenna, even cities such as [[Forlì]] with their hinterlands, the Lombard conquests in the [[Romagna]] and in the [[Duchy of Spoleto]] and [[Benevento]], and the [[Pentapolis]] (the "five cities" of [[Rimini]], [[Pesaro]], [[Fano]], [[Senigallia]] and [[Ancona]]). [[Narni]] and [[Ceccano]] were former papal territories.<ref>Noble, Thomas F. X., ''The Republic of St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State'', 1984, .p. 93</ref> However, the medieval Popes were unable to exercise effective sovereignty over these extensive and mountainous territories, given the recalcitrance of their vassals.

For over a thousand years popes ruled as [[Sovereignty|sovereign]] over an amalgam of territories on the [[Italian peninsula]] known as the [[Papal States]], from the capital, [[Rome]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Papal States {{!}} historical region, Italy {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States|access-date=2021-11-14|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> In 1274 the [[Comtat Venaissin]] came under Papal control, followed by [[Avignon]] in 1348.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Avignon papacy {{!}} Summary, History, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Avignon-papacy|access-date=2021-11-14|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref>

== Early modern period ==

Theologian [[Robert Bellarmine]], in his 16th-century dogmatic work {{lang|la|[[Disputationes de Controversiis|Disputationes]]}}, strongly affirmed the authority of the pope as the [[vicar of Christ]]. However, he reasoned that since Christ did not ''exercise'' his temporal power, neither may the pope.<ref>Springborg, Patricia. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263155499_Thomas_Hobbes_and_Cardinal_Bellarmine_Leviathan_and_'the_ghost_of_the_Roman_empire' "Thomas Hobbes and Cardinal Bellarmine: Leviathan and 'the ghost of the Roman empire{{'"}}]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807091943/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263155499_Thomas_Hobbes_and_Cardinal_Bellarmine_Leviathan_and_%27the_ghost_of_the_Roman_empire%27 |date=7 August 2022 }}. ''History of Political Thought''. XVI:4 (January 1995), pp. 503–531 [516–517].</ref>

In 1590, [[Pope Sixtus V]] had, of his own initiative, placed the first volume of the {{lang|la|Disputationes}} on a new edition of the {{lang|la|[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]}} for denying that the pope had direct temporal authority over the whole world. The entry concerning Bellarmin reads: {{lang|la|"Roberti Bellarmini Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae fidei adversus huius temporis haereticos. Nisi prius ex superioribus regulis recognitae fuerint."}}{{translation needed inline|date=May 2024}} Sixtus V died before he could promulgate the [[Papal bull|bull]] which would have made this new edition of the ''Index'' enter into force. Sixtus' successor, [[Urban VII]], asked for an examination and after it was done Bellarmine was exonerated and the book removed from the ''Index''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Blackwell|first=Richard J.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1gFDgAAQBAJ&q=urban+vii+index+Blackwell+urban+viii&pg=PT123|title=Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible|date=1991|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|isbn=978-0-268-15893-4|page=30|language=en|chapter=Chapter 2: Bellarmine's Views Before the Galileo Affair|doi=10.2307/j.ctvpg847x|quote=Bellarmine himself was not a stranger to theological condemnation. In August 1590 Pope Sixtus V decided to place the first volume of the ''Controversies'' on the ''Index'' 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 revised ''Index'' 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.}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite book|last1=Vacant|first1=Alfred|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedet02pt1vaca|title=Dictionnaire de théologie catholique : contenant l'exposé des doctrines de la théologie catholique, leurs preuves et leur histoire|last2=Mangenot|first2=Eugene|last3=Amann|first3=Emile|date=1908|publisher=Letouzey et Ané|others=University of Ottawa|edition=2nd|volume=2|location=Paris|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedet02pt1vaca/page/563 563]–564|language=fr|chapter=Bellarmin}}</ref>

Concerning the pastoral and spiritual power of the pope, Bellarmine's {{lang|la|Disputationes}} (1586–1593) and {{lang|la|De potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus}} (1610; ''Concerning the Power of the Supreme Pontiff in Temporal Matters'') "gave definite form to the theory of [[papal supremacy]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/France|title=France – Political ideology|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref>

== 19th century ==
The secular revolutionary movements of the 1800s posed a serious threat to the pope's temporal power. Avignon was seized by revolutionaries during the [[French 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|Napoleon Bonaparte]] abolished the pope's temporal power in 1809, incorporating Rome and [[Latium]] into his [[First French Empire]]. [[Pope Pius VII]] himself was even taken prisoner by Napoleon. However, the pope's temporal power was restored by the [[Great powers of Europe|Great powers]] at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]]. The civil laws of the [[Napoleonic 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.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Papal States – The 15th century to the French Revolution |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States/The-15th-century-to-the-French-Revolution|access-date=2021-11-14|language=en}}</ref>

In November 1848, during [[Revolutions of 1848|the revolutions that swept Europe in that year]], the assassination of his minister [[Pellegrino Rossi]] led [[Pope 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".<ref>Jasper Ridley, ''Garibaldi'', Viking Press (1976) p. 268</ref> 

On 9 February 1849, a revolutionary Roman Assembly proclaimed the [[Roman Republic (19th century)|Roman 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 the {{lang|it|Principi fondamentali}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ossimoro.it/p41.htm|title=Costituzione Della Repubblica Romana, 1849|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927125446/http://www.ossimoro.it/p41.htm|archive-date=2013-09-27|access-date=2013-09-27}}</ref> Like the other revolutionary movements of 1848, the Republic was short-lived; Rome was eventually conquered by the [[French Second Republic]], which restored the papacy's temporal power in the region once again.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic, 1848–1850 |url=https://watson.brown.edu/research/projects/roman_republic|access-date=2021-11-14|publisher=Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs|language=en}}</ref>

In 1859&ndash;60, the Papal States were invaded by various republican forces seeking a unified Italian state, and lost the provinces of [[Romagna]], [[Marche]] and [[Umbria]]. These regions were incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] (which thereafter became the [[Kingdom of Italy]]), and the papacy's temporal power was reduced to Rome and the region of Lazio. At this point, some [[Ultramontanism|ultramontane]] groups proposed that the temporal power be elevated into a [[Roman Catholic dogma|dogma]]. According to Raffaele De Cesare:

{{Quote|The first idea of convening an [[First Vatican Council|Ecumenical Council]] in Rome to elevate the temporal power into a [[Roman Catholic dogma|dogma]], 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 Hungarian [[prelate]]s.{{Sfnp|De Cesare|1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft/page/422 422]}}}}

However, following the [[Austro-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 an [[ecumenical council]] to dogmatically define [[papal infallibility]] as an article of faith, binding upon the consciences of all Catholic faithful. This doctrinal view, however, initially proposed by [[Franciscan]] 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 the [[First Vatican Council]].{{Sfnp|De Cesare|1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft/page/423 423]}}

For practical purposes, the temporal power of the popes ended on 20 September 1870, when the Italian Army breached the [[Aurelian Walls]] at [[Porta Pia]] and [[capture of Rome|entered Rome]]. This completed the [[Unification of Italy]] ({{lang|it|Risorgimento}}).

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Donation of Pepin]]
* [[Duchy of Rome]]
* [[Gregorian Reform]]
* [[Hierocracy (medieval)]]
* [[Interdict (Catholic canon law)]]
* [[Investiture Controversy]]
* [[Neo-ultramontanism]]
* [[Papal deposing power]]
*[[Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560]]
* [[Papal supremacy]]
* [[Patrimony of Saint Peter]]
* [[Political theology]]
* [[Pontifex Maximus]]
* [[Primacy of the Bishop of Rome]]
* [[Prisoner in the Vatican]]
* [[Roman Question]] 
* ''[[Sic transit gloria mundi]]''
* [[Symphonia (theology)]]
* [[Theocracy]]
* [[Ultramontanism]]
*''[[Unam Sanctam]]''}}

==References==
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{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book|last=De Cesare|first=Raffaele|title=The Last Days of Papal Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft|publisher=Archibald Constable & Co.|date=1909 |isbn=9780790554624}}

==Further reading==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=0XcpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA449&dq=%22the+last+days+of+papal+rome%22 ''The Last Days of Papal Rome'']

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