They complained--and with
reason, too, upon their principles--of these ecclesiastical
reservations; and they made out of them their chief weapon of attack
upon the Pope's government, though they did not profit so much by the
use of it as by the evident unwillingness of Pius to rush into a war
with Austria for the purpose of giving the sovereignty of Lombardy to
Charles Albert, a measure to which he was averse, because he thought
such a conflict would be detrimental to the interests of the Church over
which he presided.
The world's future judgment of Pius will depend upon its belief of the
sincerity with which he acted in thus allowing nothing but his religious
duties and his position as the head of the Church to limit his
concessions of political privileges to his subjects. On this point, it
is well to hear the opinion of Farini, who, as one of the Mamiani
Ministry and as employed to mediate between them and the Pope, because
much loved and trusted by him, seems peculiarly qualified to form one
without undue bias on either side:
"Pius IX had applied himself to political reform, not so much for the
reason that his conscience as an honorable man and a most pious
sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the papal office
prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit of his
spiritual authority.
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