"The Government perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did
the torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not affirm that the Pope
and the Government ought to have exposed to the last hazard the security
of the State for an ineffectual defence of the fraternity. What I wish
to observe is that if there were among the Jesuits men stained with
guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have been watched and
punished as bad citizens; but it was incompatible with propriety or
justice to condemn and punish a religious association, as such, in a
place where the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority of
the Church. None but the Pope had the power to condemn the society as a
whole, and no condemnation but his could be just or valid in the opinion
and conscience of the Catholics, or produce the desired political
effects." On the same day that the Jesuits were expelled, the Pope
issued a noble proclamation, breathing the best spirit of religion. The
following excerpt is a portion of it:
"_Pius Papa IX to the People of the States of Italy--Health and
Apostolic Benediction_:
"The events which the last two months have witnessed, following and
thronging one another in such rapid succession, are no work of man.
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