On the 20th of September Italy took posses sion of Rome and declared herself absolute temporal ruler, with the acquiescence, more or less cordial, of all the European governments. The latter, confiding in the promises of the Italian government, no longer interested them selves in the question of temporal power and the ((Roman that is, the attitude of the Pope and of Italy in regard to the pos session of Rome, was considered a purely Ital ian question, in which it was not permitted to foreigners to meddle. The Law of Guaranty was passed by Parliament 19 May 1870, assur ing independence to the Pope and liberty to the Church. At the time this law was criticized bitterly, even by those who, afterward becoming ministers, scrupulously observed it themselves, and made others observe it; for they were con vinced that through this law Italy would suc ceed in making the abolition of the Pope's temporal power an accepted fact.
The law has two clauses: the first, concern ing the prerogative of the Pontiff and of the Holy See. The person of the Pope is declared sacred and inviolable; all public and personal attacks on his reason, evil speaking and other offences directed against him to be .punished as though they were directed against the king. But as this special protection guaranteed to the Pontiff did not diminish or prevent the lib erty of conscience and of the press, it was ex plicitly stated that the discussion of religious matters was freely permitted. By this arrange ment the law recognized in the Pope a sort of spiritual sovereignty, independent of the tem poral power — with which he was invested pri marily — and also gave back to him sovereign honors and recognized his precedence, as is done by other Catholic sovereigns.
Once his sovereignty was recognized, the Pope could maintain a guard of honor, divided into classes, Swiss, Palatine and Noble, none of whom, however, have any recognized mili tary rank in the national government; in fact the men who compose them, even though Italian citizens, are not subject to military duty as are ordinary troops. The number of these guards was not determined; the law reading usual number') was meant only to prevent the en rolling of so large a number as to be a menace to public order. The spiritual sovereignty of the Pope gave him the liberty to perform all the acts of his spiritual ministry, communicating freely with the Catholic world, planning as he saw fit the administrative policy of the Holy See, which was again called "Curia Romana.° It was therefore ordained that no political, ad ministrative, or judicial authority should, with out permission from the Pope, enter the palaces or places of his residence. It was forbidden to visit, to make a police search, or sequestration in the papal official “congregazione,° which cor responds to the cabinet of a secular government. The Pope may affix to the doors, the gates of the Basilica, and churches of Rome (a histor ical manner of publishing the Pope's mandates) the acts of his administration. The foreign
ecclesiastics who hold positions in the "Curia Romans' enjoy the same personal privileges as citizens. They cannot be expelled, nor be prosecuted by law, or otherwise molested. The Pope corresponds freely and independently with the Catholics in Italy and abroad; he may install in the Vatican, or in the place of his residence, post-office. officials, telegraph and telephone operators, these employees to be chosen by himself.
The papal post-office correspondence is trans ported in a closed bag to the postal officials placed on the frontier, and papal mail matter is remitted by the Italian officials gratuitously. The same rule is observed for telegrams; the papal wire is connected with the rest of the state, and the papal telegrams are in the same category as the telegrams of the Italian gov ernment and are transmitted gratuitously as if the postal or telegraphic correspondence were addressed to the king.
It is a secular custom that the institutions for ecclesiastical instruction and education in which the Holy See has the greatest number of dignitaries and functionaries, should be situa ted in Rome, and its six adjoining bishoprics, which are immediately subordinate to the Pope as Bishop of Rome. Now, because in this the Pope is entirely free, these institutions are withdrawn from all interference from the school authorities of the state, for the Pope can nom inate whom he will to the higher ecclesiastical positions, and the bishops can do the same for the smaller ones, without the authority of the government, giving the exequatur to the orders in the first instance, and the placet in the second, for the enjoyment of the beneficies annexed to these positions as well as for others in the kingdom.
With the purpose of removing any pretext for outside interference, and moved by the ne cessity of providing for the economic exigencies of the Holy See, the law has ordained a species of civil list for the Pope of 3,225,000 lire (about $645,000) a year, entered in the great volume of Public Debt as a perpetual and inalienable pay ment free from every kind of tax. The sum was fixed according to the balance of the Ro man States of 1848, the only one published. This fund must be used for the support of the Pope, for the various functions of the "Curia Romana,' for the maintenance in ordinary and extraordinary of the palaces of the Vatican— •for the stipends of those employees attached to the court, to the museums, to the picture gal leries, to the libraries, etc. The Pope has never demanded payment of this money, but the agree ment to pay on the part of the Italian govern ment has never been withdrawn, hence the total credit remains intact, though every five years the interest is outlawed, according to Italian state custom.