Neoguelfen

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As Neo-Guelph trailers are a Catholic dominated political movement in Italy of the 19th century called. They were based on contemporary liberalism. Their goal was to make the Risorgimento , d. H. the agreement of Italy not to be carried out in opposition to the Catholic Church, but in cooperation with it.

The name Neoguelfism is based on that of the Guelphs . The Guelphs were supporters of the Pope in the 13th and 14th centuries - in contrast to the emperor and his followers, the Ghibellines . The ideological opponents of the Neoguelfen are called Neoghibellines in this context.

As a precursor to their efforts, the Neo-Guelph Cardinal Secretary of State saw Ercole Consalvi , of the administration of the era of restoration Papal States had modernized and being too archaic restoration efforts on the part of other employees Curia had rejected.

In his work Del primato morale e civile degli italiani from 1843 Vincenzo Gioberti formulated the theoretical foundations of neoguelfism. The program of neoguelfism aimed at the realization of the Italian unification on the basis of a confederate structure of the existing monarchical individual states under the centralized leadership of the Pope . This demand went hand in hand with efforts for increasing liberalization and democratization of the church, the establishment of a federal system and the emphasis on the autonomy of the individual states. Gioberti's work showed parallels to Antonio Rosmini's writings. Because of the strong orientation towards church dominance on the one hand and the radical reform program on the other, both the anti-clerical party and conservative circles in the curia rejected Gioberti's work. Cardinal State Secretary Luigi Lambruschini forbade its dissemination in the Papal States. On the other hand, it met with a great response from large parts of the Italian population, including the later Pope Pius IX. was impressed by it. Elements of neoguelfism can still be found in Niccolò Tommaseo , Cesare Balbo , Gino Capponi and Carlo Troya .

Nevertheless, the change in the chair Petri - Pius IX. took office in 1846 - not helping neoguelism to break through. This started with a reform program. This raised the hope that a liberal Pope might be of use to their movement among the neo-guelves, who were now at the height of their influence. Pius IX however, rejected the idea that the papacy could be linked to the office of head of state of Italy. Research today evaluates the liberalism of the early pontificate of Pius IX. because also rather ambivalent. To a large extent, this reflects an expectation on the part of the Italians and less an actual conviction of the Pope. In addition, the reform efforts in the first two years of the pontificate were hindered by considerable opposition from the Curia, which the reputation of Pius IX. as liberals additionally reinforced. In 1848 Pius IX made first of all concessions to the reform demands, which resulted in the proclamation of the Roman Republic . But he did not support Piedmont , which took up arms on the side of the Lombard rebels against Austria, which disaffected the neo-Guelph movement. In the course of the revolutionary year it became more and more apparent that Pius IX. had changed course so that the Church and Papal States were not involved in the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy. The Pope's opposition to Italian unification ultimately led to the compulsory integration of the papal territories and the 60-year conflict between the Kingdom of Italy and the Papal States.

literature

Peter Herd: Neoguelfen and Neoghibellinen . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, Sp. 735 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hubert Jedin (Ed.): Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte , Vol. VI / 1, Freiburg 1971, p. 376.
  2. ↑ Hubert Jedin (ed.): Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte . Vol. VI / 1, Freiburg 1971, p. 124.
  3. ↑ Hubert Jedin (Ed.): Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte , Vol. VI / 1, Freiburg 1971, p. 377f.
  4. ↑ Hubert Jedin (Ed.): Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte , Vol. VI / 1, Freiburg 1971, pp. 479–483.