Respicientes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Respicientes (Latin: looking back ) is an encyclical by Pius IX. , with which he protested on November 1, 1870 against the capture of Rome by the Italian troops and excommunicated all authors and participants in the conquest of Rome .

review

After the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17th March 1861 Occupied Italian troops after the French soldiers due to the outbreak of the Franco-German War had been withdrawn, on 20th September 1870 Rome, the capital of the Papal States .

The prisoner in the Vatican

After the annexation of the Papal States, Rome was declared the capital of the kingdom. Pius IX refused any declaration of guarantee for the Vatican state and declared himself the "prisoner in the Vatican". The solution to the Roman question remained one of the Holy See's greatest problems until 1929 .

The encyclical

Pius IX began his encyclical with a review of developments in Italy and described the history of this "evil war"; he explains that in several apostolic letters and encyclicals he told these atrocities to the whole Catholic world. These documents were the serious violations of religious sovereignty by the government of Piedmont were committed prior to the seizure, evidence. These documents would also demonstrate the scandalous machinations of this government and the increasing audacity with which it had acted. In another paragraph, Pius IX counts. the outrages, insults and repression against the church and its clergy carried out from the church's point of view .

Occupation and rejection

Even before that, the enemies had secretly infiltrated the city of Rome and finally the great storm in the autumn of 1870 swept over this city. The enemies took advantage of the opportunity when two great opponents in Europe faced each other ( Franco-German War ) and raised their swords against the church state, stated the Pope. Pope Pius IX explicitly stated that he had refused all offers and orders from the government so far. The government has tried, he writes, to rob and destroy the owners of the church and, despite the protest, it has continued its attacks on the loyal soldiers of the papal state. All this would not have diminished the reputation of this city, because the believers would still flock to the masses and people from many nations would visit the holy city.

Papal protest and excommunication

The Pope protested against the occupation with extremely harsh words , condemned the damage to church property and denounced the taking of the Quirinal Palace as a great outrage. He called the usurpers the result of evil; he had turned to all foreign representatives so that they should condemn what had happened. Since all warnings and political notes had not shown the expected success, he would now, by virtue of his office and in accordance with canon law, excommunicate all initiators as well as all commanders, their helpers, superiors and subordinates following the apostolic letter with immediate effect.

literature

  • Josef Gelmi : The papacy until the First World War . In: Bruno Moser (Ed.): The Papacy - Epochs and Shapes . Südwest Verlag, Munich 1983.

Web links