About the Work
The Pope in the Nineteenth Century is a political-religious manifesto written by Giuseppe Mazzini, the Italian revolutionary and founder of Young Italy. The work is presented as a collection of writings addressing what Mazzini terms “the Religious Question,” a subject he insists lies at the heart of all great world questions. The text includes the author’s own Preface, dated approximately twenty years after the founding of Young Italy in 1831, as well as a substantial essay titled “On the Encyclica of Pope Pius IX.,” subtitled “Thoughts Addressed to the Priests of Italy.” The Encyclica in question is dated December 8th, 1849, and was issued from Portici. The book is written in a polemical, exhortatory style, combining theological argument, political analysis, and direct appeals to its readers. It addresses itself primarily to Protestant England, to the priests of Italy, and to the Italian people generally, defending the Italian national party against accusations of atheism and disorder while advancing a sweeping critique of the papacy as an institution.
The Preface is dated December 1850 and signed by Joseph Mazzini. The writings themselves, according to the author, date from 1832, demonstrating that the national party did not wait for favorable circumstances to express its thoughts or to attack what duty required. The book is thus both a retrospective defense of a political movement and a forward-looking call to action. It is not a neutral history but a passionate intervention in the political and religious controversies of its time, written by a man who was himself a central figure in the struggles he describes. The work is notable for its fusion of religious language with revolutionary politics, its insistence on the unity of spiritual and temporal emancipation, and its unsparing condemnation of both the papacy and the moderate political parties of Italy.
Context
The book emerges from the turbulent period of Italian unification struggles, specifically the aftermath of the revolutions of 1848–1849. Mazzini writes at a moment when the Roman Republic, which he had helped establish, had been crushed by foreign intervention, and Pope Pius IX had been restored to his temporal dominions by the arms of Catholic powers. The Preface addresses Protestant England’s agitation over Catholic encroachments, arguing that such attempts would not have occurred if “the people’s banner were still floating at Rome.” The Pope, Mazzini asserts, would not have sent his Catholic hierarchy from Gaeta—the refuge to which he fled—had the Republic survived.
The intellectual context is the ongoing conflict between what Mazzini identifies as two principles dividing the world since creation: liberty and authority. The human mind desires to progress by its own light, by virtue of its own life’s law; authority says, “rest where thou art; I alone strike the hour of march; progress without me is impious.” This fundamental antagonism frames the entire work. Mazzini situates the Italian question within this broader European struggle, insisting that the fate of the papacy is inseparable from the fate of Italy and, by extension, of Europe itself.
The religious context is equally important. Mazzini writes against the background of a Europe in which religious sentiment, he claims, is expiring—the form remains intact but the foundation is undermined. He observes that the unity of the Reformation’s religious principle has disappeared and that the divorce between earth and heaven is accomplished in England as elsewhere. Because of this separation, he argues, Catholicism gains ground upon Protestantism. The book is thus addressed to a Protestant audience that Mazzini believes has lost its conviction and enthusiasm, retaining little of the faith that produced the Reformation. He criticizes Protestantism for assuming a sceptical position before the great question at Rome, asking only whether the governing individual belonged to one political school or another, while the “providential work” escaped its notice.
The immediate political context is the occupation of Rome by foreign troops—Austrians, Neapolitans, and Frenchmen—who marched against the Roman Republic. Mazzini claims that Protestantism had sufficient time to say “Stop—a question of religious faith is there at issue” but failed to summon the energy to do so. This failure demonstrates, in his view, “want of power, of decay,” and will be bitterly expiated unless the mistake is repaired. The book is written, therefore, in a moment of defeat and exile, but with an unshaken conviction that the cause is just and that victory is ultimately inevitable.
Structure of the Book
The book opens with the author’s Preface, dated December 1850, which serves as both an introduction to the collected writings and a polemical essay in its own right. The Preface addresses the religious question directly, defending the Italian national party against accusations of atheism and disorder, and setting forth the central thesis that all great world questions resolve into a religious question. It includes a lengthy critique of the moderate party in Italy, an analysis of Machiavelli’s legacy, and an appeal to Protestant England to recognize its own stake in the Italian struggle.
Following the Preface, the book presents the main text, titled “On the Encyclica of Pope Pius IX.,” with the subtitle “Thoughts Addressed to the Priests of Italy.” This section is itself divided into numbered sections, the last of which is explicitly identified as Section V. The essay opens with epigraphs from the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Matthew, establishing the scriptural framework for the argument that follows. The author analyzes the Encyclica of December 8th, 1849, comparing it to an earlier Encyclica of August 15th, 1832, signed by Gregory XVI., and finding in both the same anger, aversion to popular movement, calumnies against reformers, and impotent quarrels with the press.
The essay proceeds through a detailed theological and political critique of the Pope’s theory of authority and doctrine on poverty and ignorance. The author quotes extensively from the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, John, and Paul’s epistles—to demonstrate that the Pope’s teaching contradicts the explicit words of Christ and the apostles. He addresses the priests of Italy directly in the final section, appealing to them as brothers born on Italian soil, sons of the people, and urging them to place the opened gospel between themselves and the Pope, to examine their consciences, and to judge.
The book concludes with this appeal to the priests, ending on a note of personal testimony: the author declares that his life contains no act contradicting the faith he inculcates, and that his writings over the last twenty years contain no line breathing irreligion or materialism. The final words, though cut off in the notes, begin the statement of his lifelong conviction: that a separation exists between religious and political idea, between church and humanity; that this separation is fatal; that without faith no good thing is possible; and that it is necessary to reunite earth to heaven.
Detailed Section-by-Section Summary
The Preface: A Political-Religious Manifesto
Mazzini opens his preface by framing the collected writings as a defense of the Italian national party against the accusations of atheism and disorder leveled by its critics. He asserts a core conviction: that all great world questions ultimately resolve into a religious question. He dismisses the journalists who brand his party as unbelievers, insisting that those who consult their own conscience will read and judge for themselves. The writings, he notes, date from 1832, proving that the party did not wait for favorable circumstances to express its thoughts or attack what duty required. He maintains that they never concealed any part of their religious faith from political allies, never sacrificed conscience to increase their ranks, and that their opinions, even if erroneous, are at least serious. These opinions, he claims, hold collective importance, being the echo of thought fermenting in the Italian masses, first consecrated in Rome and Venice.
When Young Italy raised its banner, Mazzini explains, two elements predominated in the land: superstition and materialism. Superstition was the habit of a population denied light and education, led astray by traditional religious sentiment in its narrowest spirit, clinging desperately to a poorly understood heaven. Materialism was the reaction of those emancipated from the abject spectacle of religion and its brutal yoke. He quotes Luther’s comparison of the human mind to a drunken peasant on horseback who falls to the other side when set upright. Young Italy rejected both equally, declaring that Italy must emancipate itself from old Catholic belief and eighteenth-century materialism. The first gave pretended divine sanction to immobility; the second dried up faith, destroying the idea of duty, leaving only right and enjoyment for worship. They wished to march with the world, not for panem et circenses, but for the dignity and sacred liberty of the human soul.
The predominating idea of Mazzini’s work is that a fatal separation exists between religious and political belief, between heaven and earth, causing humanity to wander from crisis to crisis. It is necessary to reunite earth to heaven, politics to eternal principles. The words “God, Religion; the People, Liberty in Love” were inscribed on the banner in 1831 and became the formula of all decrees of Venice and Rome. The people of Italy instinctively comprehended this, and Young Italy became rapidly powerful. He observes that two or three years of struggle exhaust strength when sentiment is only reaction, but a whole life is needed for a thought seeking to reunite earth to heaven.
The Moderate Party and Machiavelli
Mazzini then turns his attention to the party called “moderate” that came across their path. Imbued with badly-disguised materialism, springing from courts with no faith but power, this party has no belief, only opinions. It accommodates itself to everything—princes, republics, concessions, insurrections, truth and falsehood. It seeks and worships material strength wherever found, calling itself opportuniste. It now wars against priests in Piedmont for royalty; tomorrow it would war against princes in the Pope’s name. The moderates believe only in their own coterie and personal influence; they follow, do not initiate. When Charles Albert manifested weak ambition, they proclaimed him the first man of Italy. When Pius IX appeared liberal, they wrote volumes proving the Papacy would regenerate the world. Now, after the Roman affairs, they dare not tell the Pope he is a Falsehood—descend; they only combat his temporal authority while prostrating before his spiritual authority.
Mazzini argues that this policy comes from Machiavelli, but with him it was history, not theory. Machiavelli lived in ruin and dissolution; liberty perished, the last spark extinguishing in Florence; Pope and Emperor coalesced to spread darkness. Corruption descended from courts to middle ranks. Michael Angelo’s efforts seemed only to immobilize the national genius in stone or canvas as a tomb. Military valour appeared in band chiefs selling talents to the highest bidder. Machiavelli, after struggling and protesting in prison under torture, sat in sorrow upon the ruin and described its causes like an epitaph, using the scalpel of the anatomist. Now these men would inscribe death’s device upon a new life’s cradle. Italy is breaking her tomb’s stone, making her winding-sheet a banner of insurrection; instead of crying “arise,” they coldly read a chapter of Machiavelli. Mazzini wishes they would read the chapter saying “Thou wilt never again have life, except by unity; and thou wilt never have unity, except by abolishing the papacy.” But they dare not. They wage petty war against priests without daring to say: Liberty is the right and duty of the human soul; he who enslaves conscience desires to enchain the body.
England’s Reception and the Question of Liberty
Mazzini finds it strange that this moderate party finds favour in England, whilst the popular, logical, honestly emancipatory party is coldly received. England has borne only vain good wishes and injurious suspicions in the Italian question. The cause, he says frankly, is that religious sentiment is expiring in England; the form remains intact but the foundation is undermined. The unity of the Reformation’s religious principle has disappeared; the divorce between earth and heaven is accomplished in England as elsewhere; because of this separation, Catholicism gains ground upon Protestantism.
A mighty question agitates Europe between two principles dividing the world since creation: liberty and authority. The human mind desires to progress by its own light, by virtue of its own life’s law. Authority says: rest where thou art; I alone strike the hour of march; progress without me is impious. The mind interrogates itself, finds progress’s germ in itself, strength and right from God.
Addressing Protestant England
Mazzini addresses Protestant England’s agitation over Catholic encroachments, arguing these attempts would not have occurred if “the people’s banner were still floating at Rome.” He asserts the Pope would not have sent his Catholic hierarchy from Gaeta. He reasons: Papacy excluded from Rome means Papacy excluded from Italy; excluded from Italy means excluded from Europe. A Pope at Lyons or Seville would no longer be Pope but “only a dethroned king.”
Mazzini criticizes Protestantism for failing to understand this. He claims it retains little of the conviction and enthusiasm that produced the Reformation. Before the great question at Rome, Protestantism assumed a sceptical position, asking only whether the governing individual belonged to one political school or another, whether he was a partisan of terror or justice. It entered polemics about individuals while the “providential work” escaped its notice. When Austrians, Neapolitans, and Frenchmen marched against Rome, Protestantism could not summon energy to say “Stop—a question of religious faith is there at issue.” Mazzini claims sufficient time was given for this prohibition. Protestantism thus demonstrated “want of power, of decay” and will expiate it bitterly unless it repairs the mistake.
Mazzini states: “Faith begets faith.” Men cannot believe in Protestantism’s faith when it lacks consciousness of a right or feeling of duty. Protestantism looked on indifferently while liberty of the human soul was crushed beyond its gates. Faith is also wanting to the Pope, but he has audacity, obstinacy, and “unscrupulous logic of his false principle.” The Pope attacks; Protestants fortify for defence. He advances “with the continuous motion of the serpent”; they move by fits and starts under fear. He says “Servitude for all”; they say “Liberty for us alone.” Mazzini warns: “You are slaves by all the slavery of your brethren.” There is no religion without faith in the solidarity of the human race.
Mazzini offers his touch-stone of faith: when told “Behold a good man,” he asks how many souls he has saved; when told “Behold a religious people,” he asks what it has done and suffered to bring humanity to its belief. God gave life, the sun, the fruits of the earth, his law, and capability of comprehending to man, not to a certain number of men. Jesus died for all men. Protestants honour God’s name and murmur Christ’s name, but Mazzini asks what they have given for all men, for whom they die, for whom they dare martyrdom. They found establishments for sale of Bibles and smuggle the divine word across frontiers, but the foundation of all education is Liberty. The slave is not a man but “the form, the material part of man alone.”
The Unholy Divorce and Human Unity
Mazzini recurs to the “unholy divorce” between earth and heaven, characteristic of Protestant agitation, marking its inferiority to Catholic propaganda. Man is one: created in God’s image, he thinks and acts. Thought, Action, and Love (which translates Thought into action) form his Trinity, reflecting God’s mysterious Trinity. Dividing faith from works, thought from action, moral from practical or political man, breaks the chain attaching earth to heaven.
Earth and heaven are the lowest and highest steps of the ladder of human progress. Man is placed on earth to progress, to walk in the path of life according to God’s law, to accomplish his own education and others’, to manifest and practice belief. Liberty is the sine qua non of responsibility. Thought completes itself in action; faith in works. “God thinks only in working.” Identification of thought and action is obtained step by step through labour, suffering, self-sacrifice. Religion teaches us to do God’s will on earth as in heaven; it gives the law and principles political action ought to realise.
The Pope has felt this unity of man; hence his antagonism, of which the following pages on the Encyclica speak. “Pope and King are indissolubly connected.” The Pope says “Be subservient to my word in all that concerns the things of heaven”; the King says likewise for earth. They use excommunication and bombardment, priest and executioner. Protestantism denies human unity, pretends to emancipate thought while leaving action enslaved, joining conscience and servitude. No success can await its propaganda.
Mazzini has read writings and heard speeches of men protesting Catholic encroachments; he found no sympathy for “the Rome of the People” or Liberty, no prayer for Italy’s emancipation. They say they have nothing to do with political questions. Mazzini asks: is it by leaving man in oppressors’ hands that you emancipate his soul? Moses broke idols, knowing idolaters would exist while idols stood. Every religious agitation against Papacy will be vain unless it takes up the Italian political question. While the Pope possesses Italy, he has footing throughout Europe. Only the Italian nation can annihilate Papacy. Mazzini asks Protestants to help break open Italy’s prison gates; help reconquer liberty of speech, and “our first word will be liberty of conscience.” He urges petitioning the English government to stop the foreign occupation of Rome; twenty-four hours after deliverance, the Pope shall flee towards Gaeta and “soon much farther than Gaeta.” Agitation not making this object will be vain, immoral, failing to recognise man’s unity, betraying duty to assist victims of assassination, and representing “a secret compromise between lukewarm religious belief and political prejudices.” Asked whether Italians would proclaim themselves Protestants when emancipated, Mazzini replies it is not for individuals to answer; the country free to interrogate itself.
The Inevitable Destruction of the Papacy
The passage opens with the claim that the papacy’s destruction was inevitable in humanity’s destinies, revealing the action of a neglected social element: the popular element. The papacy was formerly a power because it supported itself upon the people. It alone constituted a visible centre of association, recognised the principle of capability (excluding the aristocracy in earlier times), opened the way for the man of the people and the serf to reach ecclesiastical dignity, waged war against feudalism and princely power, and opposed the altar to the sceptre. Therefore the people in Italy were principally Guelph, while in the rest of Europe they adhered to the throne where kings warred against the seignorial element.
After the death of Julius II, the last great Pope, the pontiffs perceived that the people began to feel powerful and sought the revealer of their doctrines elsewhere than the Vatican. The popes then leagued themselves with kings. This unequal alliance between Guelph and Ghibelline principles—sworn enemies for ages—is the most convincing proof of the papacy’s fall. The destroying worm was already in the idol: the papacy received the germ of its own destruction when it assumed and enlarged its temporal dominion. Religions must hold themselves supreme in an intellectual and moral sphere; contact with facts and material phenomena destroys them, removing their prestige and bringing the metaphysical principle before the multitude for examination. At present, the people is neither Guelph nor Ghibelline but stands aloof, distrustful of both parties, abhorring one and abhorring and despising the other, invoking the Moses who shall disclose the promised land.
Yet papacy still exists—worn out and undermined—as a pretext for absolutist governments’ machinations, a visible centre for cunning and incapability, a loathsome symbol still disputing the ground to those who would lay foundations of another temple. While it remains, the shadow of the idol extends, sheltering Jesuits, priests, and fanatics who disturb the world. Discord exists between moral and material society, between right and fact, between present and imminent future. The papacy will exist until new-born Italy overthrows the seat where it slumbers. In Italy lies the solution of the European question; Italy holds the high office of proclaiming general emancipation, and will fulfil this duty entrusted by civilization. Then peoples shall gather round another principle, and southern Europe shall be placed in equilibrium with the north.
Italy’s Three Awakenings and the Necessity of Religion
Awakened Italy shall enter the European family. Three times she has awakened since pagan Rome’s fall closed ancient civilization and she became the cradle of the new. The first time, a Word went forth from Italy substituting European spiritual unity for material force’s triumph. The second time, she diffused civilization in arts and literature. The third time, she will destroy with her powerful finger the symbol of the middle age and substitute social unity for old spiritual unity. From Rome alone can come the third time the word of modern unity, because from Rome alone can come the absolute destruction of the old unity.
Because catholic unity is extinct and papacy has finished its work (making itself a mere prince and servant of princes in an epoch fatal to princes), one must not conclude religion is extinct or that political theories alone will rule humanity. Political theories now more than ever need a religious sanction; without it they remain uncertain, without secure foundation. The general will is a fitting foundation for governments, but where general principles regulating the moral world are not evidenced in acts or reduced to maxims and recognized laws, there will never be a general will. Discovering these principles and their inviolability, deduced from an origin superior to individual power, is the task of present civilization.
Religion is eternal, superior to philosophy—the bond uniting men in communion of a recognised generating principle and consciousness of a common tendency and mission; the word giving humanity a standard to raise among nations. Religion is humanity. Men need unity; without unity progress is impossible. There may be movement, but not uniform or concentrated—first disorder, then opposition, finally anarchy. Men cannot remain in anarchy. When directing minds do not hasten to extinguish it by revealing moral principles, scepticism, materialism, and indifference to everything but the individual enter the struggle.
Amongst Italians, Catholic faith being shaken by intelligence’s progress and ridicule’s shafts, minds turned anxiously to reforms and doctrines promising to substitute a new order. Tyranny remained mistress, forbidding reforms and new ways for the people to gather round something positive. Minds being unsettled—failing to acquire the new word, having lost the old—either took refuge in superstition or adopted materialism. Consequently there is want of harmony between the multitude and the educated; mistrust on one side, indifference on the other. Materialism is not a belief, has no faith, no consciousness of something better, recognises no mission—lives in itself, by itself, with itself—looks at facts, neglects principles—an individual cold and calculating doctrine. With such doctrine great peoples are not created, because great peoples represent and develop an idea in humanity; materialism excludes every general idea, making self-interest a law—self-interest being uncertain, differing in every individual, changeable with years, circumstances, climate accidents, and physical causes. In Italy there is no movement in literature, sciences, arts, philosophy, or law; no political movement save of a reactionary nature. Perhaps in religion as in politics, the age of the symbol is passing, and a solemn manifestation of the hidden idea may be near.
The Constituent Assembly and the Council
A short statement declares that the “Constituent Assembly and Council” are “the prince and the pope of the future.” Those who uphold monarchy by sophisms, expedients, and false doctrines will not save it; they only condemn society to more years of civil war, illusions, delusions, conspiracies, and violent reaction. Similarly, those who uphold Papacy by the same means will not save it; they condemn society to years of immorality, doubt, and materialism. The passage urges: “Bury the dead; join hands in loving act and thought, and go forward.” God created us for life, and he will reveal himself to his creatures when they assemble to interrogate their own beliefs and study the ways of the future, invoking his aid.
On the Encyclica of Pope Pius IX
The main text that follows is titled “ON THE ENCYCLICA OF POPE PIUS IX.,” subtitled “THOUGHTS ADDRESSED TO THE PRIESTS OF ITALY.” A footnote dates the Encyclica as given at Portici, December 8th, 1849. The author asserts that the word of Pius IX does not go forth from Rome. The Pope seemed to feel the impossibility of pronouncing his anathema upon liberty and his condemnation of the education of the human race from the initiating city of two great epochs of progress. This word, written by the side of “the worst of the kings of Italy,” is the word of a man who trembles and curses. The divorce between the world and him, between the people of believers (the true church) and the aristocracy that usurps its name, stands out in every syllable. Papacy has for many years lost the power to love or bless. Two years prior, Pius IX, moved by the resurrection of a people, pronounced a blessing upon Italy; that expression of love sounded so new that all Europe imagined a second era for Papacy. Now, the “amende is paid to monarchy.” The Encyclica of December 8th resembles that of August 15th, 1832, signed Gregory XVI, in its anger, aversion to popular movement, calumnies against reformers, and impotent quarrels with the press. Restored by the arms of the Catholic Powers to the lordship of the Roman States, Pius IX acquits himself by intimating war to the peoples, to those who desire to ameliorate their fate, to the press, and to socialism and communism, which he confounds in one, although the first philosophically contradicts the second. The Encyclica is an act of Political Resistance, not Religious Initiative, dictated by foreign princes; the words communism and socialism are unknown to the masses in Italy and never invoked by the national party.
The author says to pass by the indignities against men whose opinions the Pope approved two years ago; the accusations of irreligion and protestantism against writers who combatted materialism, and soldiers who fought with the cross on their breasts; the accusations of ferocity against chiefs who held power without pronouncing a death sentence and resumed exile poorer than before; and the insult against the sisters of charity of new-born Italy. The Pope condemned to imprisonment priests who assisted these women and blessed the martyrs of liberty in hospitals. What is important is the document’s theory of authority and doctrine on poverty and ignorance; both deny God, the word of Christ, and Humanity.
The author argues that communism and socialism are an oratorical artifice, scape-goats. The real target is the National party, which says Italians are twenty-six millions of men created free, equals, brothers, sons of God, servants only to his law. “God and THE PEOPLE” is the formula against which the Encyclica is directed. The Pope knows communism is unknown in Italy and opposed by most Republicans, and that socialism is an aspiration for progressive association. The source of every movement in Italy is the necessity of becoming a Nation.
The Gospel Against the Encyclica
The author opens this final appeal with the words of John xii. 31–32, declaring that the judgment of this world is at hand and that Christ, when lifted up, will draw all men unto him. He pairs this with the Beatitudes from Matthew v. 4, 5, and 10, which bless the meek, the mourners, and those persecuted for righteousness’ sake. This scriptural foundation establishes the tone for the entire argument: the Pope’s temporal authority is a usurpation of Christ’s spiritual kingdom, and the true church is built not on the swords of princes but on the suffering and faith of the faithful.
Christ’s Teaching on Works and Authority
The author turns to Christ’s own words to define the true nature of religious authority. He quotes Matthew v. 14–18, where Jesus calls his disciples the light of the world and declares that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it, insisting that not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled. This is followed by Matthew vii. 16, 19, 21, and 26, which teach that a tree is known by its fruits, that every tree not bringing forth good fruit is hewn down, and that only he who does the will of the Father shall enter the kingdom of heaven—not those who merely cry “Lord, Lord.” The foolish man who builds his house upon sand is contrasted with the wise man who builds upon rock. Jesus, coming down from the mount, did not merely preach these truths but exemplified them by healing a man afflicted with leprosy, demonstrating that works of mercy and love are the true signs of divine authority. The author cites Matthew vi. 33—”Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”—as the sum of the whole gospel doctrine. This single verse encapsulates the superiority of mind over matter, idea over fact, belief over temporal authority, and moral perfection over material good. This, the author insists, is also his own doctrine: “God first, then the people, and the people interpreter of God’s law.” Material wealth is not evil in itself; it is an instrument of good when applied to the advantage of all, but an instrument of evil when applied to egotistical ends. It ought to be distributed according to works and moral education, not hoarded by a privileged few.
Christ’s Theory of Authority
Jesus sanctioned a theory of authority founded upon works, not privilege, and in doing so disavowed the abject doctrine of absolute submission taught by the Pope. The author quotes Matthew xx. 25–28, where Jesus tells his disciples that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over their people, but that it shall not be so among them. “Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister,” Jesus declares, “and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. The author notes that Mark x. 42 is even more explicit in this condemnation of hierarchical domination. To the Pope, who has forgotten this law of service, the author recalls Matthew x. 33: “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” To the lukewarm, the indifferent, those who would compromise between Christ and the world, he recalls Matthew x. 34–37: “I came not to send peace, but a sword. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” The gospel is not a doctrine of passive submission but a call to active, even militant, discipleship.
The Apostles’ Mission
The apostles of him who said “I have overcome the world” and “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” understood their mission perfectly. They did not separate the body from the spirit but joined them in a single act of worship, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians vi. 20: “Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Their transformation embraced heaven and earth, and they called believers to combat any authority that opposed itself to the reign of Christ. After Ephesians i. 10, which speaks of gathering together in one all things in Christ, and Ephesians iv. 4–6, which declares one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Paul breaks into a holy hymn of war. The author quotes Ephesians vi. 10 and following: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” This is the true apostolic spirit—not the spirit of the Vatican, but the spirit of those who carried the gospel into the face of empire and persecution.
Reply to Pius’s Encyclica
The author now directly addresses the words of Pope Pius IX. He quotes the Pope: “Although the arms of nations have restored Rome unto me,—although the tumults of war (the battles of independence!) have disappeared even in the other parts of Italy, the wicked ones desist not!” The author’s response is immediate and unyielding: “Desist! No, never.” In the name of Jesus and St. Paul, they will persist in their witness. The Pope may hold Rome’s walls and stones “for a time” through the arms of foreign powers, but “the soul of Rome is with us. The thought of Rome is ours.” The author and his fellow believers bear the “holy ark of our faith” in exile, just as the first Christians bore the thought of Jesus into the catacombs and prisons of pagan Rome. It shall shine again from Rome, for the true church cannot be extinguished by bayonets or decrees. “Religion is no longer in your camp; she is in ours.” Through the Pope and the culpable inertia of the priests, the world is led astray by false systems. These false systems are more powerful than the Pope’s word because they point dimly to the future, while the Pope binds humanity “to the corpse of a past extinct for ever.” The Pope offers only the dead past; the author offers the living future, the kingdom of God that is coming on earth.
Address to Priests of Italy
The author now speaks gravely and directly to the priests of Italy. He acknowledges that they could conquer without them—”one of yourselves has confessed it,” he notes, with a footnote identifying “The Father Ventura”—but they do not wish to do so. The priests are brothers, born on Italian soil, sons of the people. The author attempts no seduction, no terror, no calumny, nor does he exhort them to refrain from reading the books of their adversaries. He asks only that they listen, and hearken to humanity’s voice. Between humanity and the Pope, he places the opened gospel, and he asks them to examine their consciences and judge for themselves. The appeal is truthful; they may sin through ignorance, but not through hypocrisy. “We have the boldness of truth; the Pope knows this, and for this he fears us.” The speaker then makes a personal appeal: “Examine my life—you will not be able to find therein a single act which contradicts the faith I inculcate: examine all that I have written during the last twenty years; you will not be able to find therein a single line breathing irreligion or materialism.” As interpreter of many brethren, he declared from the time his mind opened to Italian thought that a separation existed between the religious and political idea, between church and humanity. He declared that this separation was fatal, that without faith no good thing was possible, and that it was necessary to reunite earth with heaven, the people with God.
The Unity of Faith and Country
The author continues his appeal to the priests, insisting that the reunion of the religious and political ideas is not a novelty but a return to the primitive constitution of the church. The early Christians were not merely a spiritual community; they were a people, a nation, a commonwealth of believers who held all things in common and lived under the direct governance of God. The separation of church and state, of faith and politics, is a corruption introduced by the temporal power of the papacy, which sought to dominate rather than to serve. The priests of Italy, by clinging to the Pope, have become servants of a foreign power, enemies of their own people. The author calls them back to their true vocation: to be pastors of the flock, not princes of the world. He reminds them that the people of Italy are not their enemies but their brethren, and that the revolution is not against religion but against its corruption. The priests must choose: they can stand with the Pope and the corpse of the past, or they can stand with the people and the living God. The author does not threaten them with punishment or promise them reward; he simply places before them the gospel and asks them to judge.
The People as Interpreter of God’s Law
The author now develops his central doctrine: the people are the interpreter of God’s law. This is not a democratic slogan but a theological principle. God reveals himself in history, and the people, in their collective life, are the medium of that revelation. The Pope claims to be the sole interpreter of scripture, but this claim is a usurpation of the Holy Spirit, who speaks through the whole body of the faithful. The author cites the example of the early church, where decisions were made by the whole community, not by a single bishop. The people, in their struggles for freedom and justice, are not rebelling against God but fulfilling his will. The Italian revolution is not a mere political event; it is a religious act, a manifestation of the divine purpose in history. The author calls upon the priests to recognize this and to join the people in their march toward the kingdom of God. If they refuse, they will be left behind, and the people will find other leaders, as they have always done when the official church has failed them.
The Holy Ark of Faith in Exile
The author returns to the image of the holy ark of faith carried in exile. The true church is not in the Vatican but in the hearts of the faithful who suffer for righteousness’ sake. The Pope may have the stones of Rome, but the thought of Rome is with the exiles. The author recalls the history of the church, how it was born in persecution and grew in the catacombs. The present exile is not a defeat but a purification. The church will return to Rome, not as a temporal power but as a spiritual force, and it will shine again from the seven hills. The author is confident in this future because he trusts in the promises of Christ, who said, “I have overcome the world.” The world may seem to triumph, but its triumph is temporary. The kingdom of God is eternal, and it is coming. The author calls upon all Italians, priests and laity alike, to prepare for that coming by living lives of faith and works, by seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
The Final Appeal
The author concludes his address to the priests with a final, solemn appeal. He does not ask them to abandon their faith but to return to its source. He does not ask them to deny Christ but to follow him. He places before them the opened gospel and asks them to read it with fresh eyes, to see in it not a charter of priestly privilege but a call to service and sacrifice. He reminds them that they are sons of the people, born on Italian soil, and that their first loyalty is to God and to their brethren. The Pope has chosen the way of the world, the way of power and privilege; the priests must choose the way of the cross. The author speaks not as an enemy but as a brother, not as a revolutionary but as a believer. He has written nothing that breathes irreligion or materialism; he has lived a life that contradicts nothing he teaches. He asks only that they listen to the voice of humanity, which is the voice of God, and that they judge between him and the Pope. The future of Italy, and perhaps of the church itself, hangs in the balance. The author does not know if the priests will heed his call, but he knows that he has spoken the truth, and he is content to leave the result in the hands of God.
The Soul of Rome
The author now turns from the priests to the wider world, declaring that the soul of Rome is with those who bear the holy ark of faith in exile. The Pope may hold the walls and stones of the city through foreign arms, but he does not hold its soul. The thought of Rome, the idea that has made it the capital of the world, is not in the Vatican but in the hearts of those who dream of a free and united Italy. The author recalls the glory of ancient Rome, not its imperial conquests but its law, its citizenship, its sense of a universal human community. That glory has been reborn in the Italian people, who are rising not to dominate but to serve, not to conquer but to liberate. The Pope, by aligning himself with the foreign powers that oppress Italy, has betrayed the very idea of Rome. He has made himself a stranger in his own city, an enemy of his own people. The author declares that religion is no longer in the Pope’s camp; it is in the camp of the people. The Pope has bound humanity to the corpse of a past extinct for ever, but the people are marching toward a future that is alive with the presence of God.
The False Systems of the Age
The author acknowledges that the world is led astray by false systems, which are more powerful than the Pope’s word because they point dimly to the future. These systems—materialism, atheism, socialism without God—are errors, but they are errors that arise from a genuine hunger for justice and truth. The Pope, by clinging to the past, has abandoned the field to these false prophets. He has nothing to offer the people but the dead forms of a bygone age. The author does not condemn those who have embraced these false systems; he understands their despair and their hope. But he insists that they are mistaken, that the future they seek can only be found in the gospel of Christ, properly understood. The gospel is not a doctrine of submission but a doctrine of liberation. It is not a promise of otherworldly comfort but a call to build the kingdom of God on earth. The author calls upon all who hunger and thirst after righteousness to return to the source of all truth, to seek first the kingdom of God, and to trust that all other things will be added unto them.
The Coming Victory
The author ends his appeal with a vision of the coming victory. The Pope may think he has won, that the arms of nations have restored Rome to him, but his victory is an illusion. The soul of Rome is with the people, and the thought of Rome is with the exiles. The holy ark of faith, carried into exile, will return to the city of the apostles, and it will shine again from the seven hills. The author does not know when this will happen, but he knows that it will happen, because he trusts in the promises of Christ. The world may seem to triumph, but its triumph is temporary. The kingdom of God is eternal, and it is coming. The author calls upon all who read his words to prepare for that coming by living lives of faith and works, by seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The Pope has chosen the way of the world; the author has chosen the way of the cross. He is content to leave the result in the hands of God, knowing that the judgment of this world is at hand, and that Christ, when lifted up, will draw all men unto him. The final word belongs not to the Pope but to the gospel, not to the past but to the future, not to death but to life.
Main Arguments
The central argument of the book is that the papacy’s destruction is inevitable in humanity’s destinies, and that this destruction will be accomplished by Italy. Mazzini argues that the papacy was formerly a power because it supported itself upon the people. It alone constituted a visible centre of association, recognized the principle of capability, opened the way for the man of the people and the serf to reach ecclesiastical dignity, waged war against feudalism and princely power, and opposed the altar to the sceptre. Therefore the people in Italy were principally Guelph, while in the rest of Europe they adhered to the throne where kings warred against the seignorial element.
However, after the death of Julius II, the last great Pope, the pontiffs perceived that the people began to feel powerful and sought the revealer of their doctrines elsewhere than the Vatican. The popes then leagued themselves with kings. This unequal alliance between Guelph and Ghibelline principles—sworn enemies for ages—is, Mazzini argues, the most convincing proof of the papacy’s fall. The destroying worm was already in the idol: the papacy received the germ of its own destruction when it assumed and enlarged its temporal dominion. Religions must hold themselves supreme in an intellectual and moral sphere; contact with facts and material phenomena destroys them, removing their prestige and bringing the metaphysical principle before the multitude for examination.
A second major argument concerns the fatal separation between religious and political belief, between heaven and earth. Mazzini insists that this separation causes humanity to wander from crisis to crisis, and that it is necessary to reunite earth to heaven, politics to eternal principles. The words “God, Religion; the People, Liberty in Love” were inscribed on the banner of Young Italy in 1831 and became the formula of all decrees of Venice and Rome. The people of Italy instinctively comprehended this, and Young Italy became rapidly powerful. Two or three years of struggle exhaust strength when sentiment is only reaction; a whole life is needed for a thought seeking to reunite earth to heaven.
Mazzini argues that the Pope has felt this unity of man, and hence his antagonism. “Pope and King are indissolubly connected.” The Pope says “Be subservient to my word in all that concerns the things of heaven”; the King says likewise for earth. They use excommunication and bombardment, priest and executioner. Protestantism, by contrast, denies human unity, pretending to emancipate thought while leaving action enslaved, joining conscience and servitude. No success can await its propaganda.
The book also argues that every religious agitation against the papacy will be vain unless it takes up the Italian political question. While the Pope possesses Italy, he has footing throughout Europe. Only the Italian nation can annihilate the papacy. Mazzini asks Protestants to help break open Italy’s prison gates, to help reconquer liberty of speech, and promises that “our first word will be liberty of conscience.” He urges petitioning the English government to stop the foreign occupation of Rome; twenty-four hours after deliverance, the Pope shall flee towards Gaeta and “soon much farther than Gaeta.”
A further argument concerns the nature of religion itself. Because catholic unity is extinct and the papacy has finished its work—making itself a mere prince and servant of princes in an epoch fatal to princes—one must not conclude that religion is extinct or that political theories alone will rule humanity. Political theories now more than ever need a religious sanction; without it they remain uncertain, without secure foundation. The general will is a fitting foundation for governments, but where general principles regulating the moral world are not evidenced in acts or reduced to maxims and recognized laws, there will never be a general will. Discovering these principles and their inviolability, deduced from an origin superior to individual power, is the task of present civilization.
Mazzini argues against the moderate party in Italy, which he characterizes as imbued with badly-disguised materialism, springing from courts with no faith but power. This party has no belief, only opinions. It accommodates itself to everything—princes, republics, concessions, insurrections, truth and falsehood. It seeks and worships material strength wherever found, calling itself opportuniste. The moderates believe only in their own coterie and personal influence; they follow, do not initiate. Mazzini traces this policy to Machiavelli, but argues that with Machiavelli it was history, not theory. Machiavelli lived in ruin and dissolution; liberty perished, the last spark extinguishing in Florence; Pope and Emperor coalesced to spread darkness. Machiavelli, after struggling and protesting in prison under torture, sat in sorrow upon the ruin and described its causes like an epitaph, using the scalpel of the anatomist. Now the moderates would inscribe death’s device upon a new life’s cradle. Italy is breaking her tomb’s stone, making her winding-sheet a banner of insurrection; instead of crying “arise,” they coldly read a chapter of Machiavelli.
Key Concepts
The book develops several specific named ideas and motifs that structure its argument. The most prominent is the “unholy divorce” between earth and heaven, a phrase Mazzini recurs to throughout the work. This divorce between religious and political belief, between faith and works, between thought and action, is presented as the characteristic malady of the age. It marks Protestantism’s inferiority to Catholic propaganda, for while the Pope at least feels the unity of man, Protestantism denies human unity, pretending to emancipate thought while leaving action enslaved.
Related to this is the concept of man’s Trinity: Thought, Action, and Love, which translates Thought into action. These three form man’s Trinity, reflecting God’s mysterious Trinity. Dividing faith from works, thought from action, moral from practical or political man, breaks the chain attaching earth to heaven. Earth and heaven are the lowest and highest steps of the ladder of human progress. Man is placed on earth to progress, to walk in the path of life according to God’s law, to accomplish his own education and others’, to manifest and practice belief. Liberty is the sine qua non of responsibility. Thought completes itself in action; faith in works. “God thinks only in working.” Identification of thought and action is obtained step by step through labour, suffering, self-sacrifice.
The formula “God and THE PEOPLE” is presented as the banner of the national party, the formula against which the Encyclica is directed. Mazzini states that the words “God, Religion; the People, Liberty in Love” were inscribed on the banner in 1831. The people of Italy instinctively comprehended this formula, and it became the basis of all decrees of Venice and Rome. The Pope, by contrast, fears the people “stupified by vice,” recommends bishops to preach that by immutable law some must be superior in riches, menaces eternal punishment, and puts forth a theory on the necessity of poverty.
The concept of the “two elements” in Italy—superstition and materialism—is another key motif. Superstition was the habit of a population denied light and education, led astray by traditional religious sentiment in the narrowest spirit, clinging desperately to a poorly understood heaven. Materialism was the reaction of those emancipated from the abject spectacle of religion and its brutal yoke. Mazzini quotes Luther’s comparison of the human mind to a drunken peasant on horseback who falls to the other side when set upright. Young Italy rejected both equally, declaring Italy must emancipate itself from old Catholic belief and eighteenth-century materialism. The first gave pretended divine sanction to immobility; the second dried up faith, destroying the idea of duty, leaving only right and enjoyment for worship.
The book also develops the concept of the “age of the symbol” passing. Mazzini suggests that perhaps in religion as in politics, the age of the symbol is passing, and a solemn manifestation of the hidden idea may be near. This is connected to his argument that the papacy, as a symbol of the middle age, must be destroyed by Italy, which will substitute social unity for old spiritual unity. From Rome alone can come the third time the word of modern unity, because from Rome alone can come the absolute destruction of the old unity.
The concept of “faith begets faith” is central to Mazzini’s appeal to Protestant England. Men cannot believe in Protestantism’s faith when it lacks consciousness of a right or feeling of duty. Protestantism looked on indifferently while liberty of the human soul was crushed beyond its gates. Faith is also wanting to the Pope, but he has audacity, obstinacy, and “unscrupulous logic of his false principle.” The Pope attacks; Protestants fortify for defence. He advances “with the continuous motion of the serpent”; they move by fits and starts under fear. He says “Servitude for all”; they say “Liberty for us alone.” Mazzini warns: “You are slaves by all the slavery of your brethren.” There is no religion without faith in the solidarity of the human race.
Mazzini offers his touch-stone of faith: when told “Behold a good man,” he asks how many souls he has saved; when told “Behold a religious people,” he asks what it has done and suffered to bring humanity to its belief. God gave life, the sun, the fruits of the earth, his law, and capability of comprehending to man, not to a certain number of men. Jesus died for all men. Protestants honour God’s name and murmur Christ’s name, but Mazzini asks what they have given for all men, for whom they die, for whom they dare martyrdom. They found establishments for sale of Bibles and smuggle the divine word across frontiers, but the foundation of all education is Liberty. The slave is not a man but “the form, the material part of man alone.”
Themes
The deepest recurring meaning of the book is the unity of human life and the indivisibility of emancipation. Mazzini insists throughout that man is one: created in God’s image, he thinks and acts. The separation of spiritual and temporal, religious and political, is not merely an intellectual error but a fatal wound in the body of humanity. This theme grounds his critique of both the papacy and Protestantism: the Pope divides heaven from earth by making the poor exist for the benefit of the rich and by teaching that every effort to ameliorate the earthly condition of the poor is a sin; Protestantism divides thought from action by pretending to emancipate conscience while leaving the body enslaved. Both deny the unity of man and therefore deny God’s image in humanity.
The theme of Italy’s providential mission runs throughout the book. Mazzini presents Italy as the cradle of European civilization and the destined agent of its renewal. Three times Italy has awakened since pagan Rome’s fall closed ancient civilization and she became the cradle of the new. The first time, a Word went forth from Italy substituting European spiritual unity for material force’s triumph. The second time, she diffused civilization in arts and literature. The third time, she will destroy with her powerful finger the symbol of the middle age and substitute social unity for old spiritual unity. In Italy lies the solution of the European question; Italy holds the high office of proclaiming general emancipation, and will fulfil this duty entrusted by civilization. This theme gives the book its prophetic, exhortatory tone: the Italian people are not merely struggling for their own liberation but for the liberation of humanity.
The theme of religion as the necessary foundation of all political life is another deep current. Mazzini argues that political theories now more than ever need a religious sanction; without it they remain uncertain, without secure foundation. Religion is eternal, superior to philosophy—the bond uniting men in communion of a recognised generating principle and consciousness of a common tendency and mission; the word giving humanity a standard to raise among nations. Religion is humanity. Men need unity; without unity progress is impossible. There may be movement, but not uniform or concentrated—first disorder, then opposition, finally anarchy. Men cannot remain in anarchy. When directing minds do not hasten to extinguish it by revealing moral principles, scepticism, materialism, and indifference to everything but the individual enter the struggle. This theme explains why Mazzini, a revolutionary, writes in explicitly religious language and grounds his politics in the gospel rather than in secular philosophy.
The theme of the people as the bearer of religious truth is closely connected. Mazzini argues that the papacy was formerly a power because it supported itself upon the people, and that the people of Italy instinctively comprehended the formula “God and THE PEOPLE.” The true church, he insists, is the people of believers, not the aristocracy that usurps its name. The Pope’s word is not the word of the church but the word of a man who trembles and curses, written by the side of “the worst of the kings of Italy.” The people, by contrast, are the interpreter of God’s law. This theme reverses the traditional hierarchy: the Pope claims authority over the people, but Mazzini argues that authority is founded upon works, not privilege, and that the people are the true interpreters of God’s will.
The theme of exile and the holy ark of faith gives the book its emotional power. Mazzini writes from exile, bearing the “holy ark of our faith” as the first Christians bore the thought of Jesus into catacombs and prisons. Rome’s walls and stones may be the Pope’s “for a time” through foreign arms, but “the soul of Rome is with us. The thought of Rome is ours.” The theme of exile is not merely personal but ecclesial: the true church is in exile, while the false church occupies the holy places. Yet this exile is temporary; the faith shall shine again from Rome. “Religion is no longer in your camp; she is in ours.” This theme transforms political defeat into spiritual victory and gives the book its note of unshaken confidence.
The theme of the solidarity of the human race is the moral foundation of the entire work. Mazzini insists that we are all pledges for one another; the curse of Cain is upon him who does not guard his brother. Every good thought not translated into action is a sin. God will ask, “What hast thou done for the souls of others?” This theme grounds his appeal to Protestant England: “You are slaves by all the slavery of your brethren.” There is no religion without faith in the solidarity of the human race. It also grounds his critique of the Pope’s theory of poverty: it is not true that two races exist, the rich and powerful and the poor and enslaved. Before God there are neither masters nor servants, rich nor poor, patricians nor plebeians. We are all free, accountable, capable of progress, born to labour. Inequality is a human invention, not a divine decree.
The Author’s Conclusions
Mazzini concludes that the papacy’s destruction is inevitable and that Italy is the destined agent of this destruction. The papacy has finished its work, having made itself a mere prince and servant of princes in an epoch fatal to princes. It exists only as a pretext for absolutist governments’ machinations, a visible centre for cunning and incapability, a loathsome symbol still disputing the ground to those who would lay foundations of another temple. While it remains, the shadow of the idol extends, sheltering Jesuits, priests, and fanatics who disturb the world. The papacy will exist until new-born Italy overthrows the seat where it slumbers.
Mazzini concludes that religion itself is not extinct and cannot be replaced by political theories alone. Political theories need a religious sanction; without it they remain uncertain, without secure foundation. The task of present civilization is to discover the general principles regulating the moral world and to reduce them to maxims and recognized laws, deduced from an origin superior to individual power. This is the work of the people, who are the interpreter of God’s law.
He concludes that the Encyclica of Pius IX is an act of Political Resistance, not Religious Initiative, dictated by foreign princes. Its theory of authority and doctrine on poverty and ignorance both deny God, the word of Christ, and Humanity. The Pope’s real target is the National party, which says Italians are twenty-six millions of men created free, equals, brothers, sons of God, servants only to his law. The Pope’s accusations of communism and socialism are an oratorical artifice, scape-goats; communism is unknown in Italy and socialism is an aspiration for progressive association. The source of every movement in Italy is the necessity of becoming a Nation.
Mazzini concludes his appeal to the priests of Italy with a personal testimony and a declaration of his lifelong conviction. He says: “Examine my life—you will not be able to find therein a single act which contradicts the faith I inculcate: examine all that I have written during the last twenty years; you will not be able to find therein a single line breathing irreligion or materialism.” As interpreter of many brethren, he declared from the time his mind opened to Italian thought that a separation existed between religious and political idea, church and humanity; that this separation was fatal; that without faith no good thing was possible; that it was necessary to reunite earth to heaven. The book ends on this note of personal conviction and prophetic declaration, with the author’s final words beginning the statement of the faith that has guided his life and work.
Significance
The significance of The Pope in the Nineteenth Century lies in its fusion of religious and political discourse at a crucial moment in European history. The book represents a distinctive position in the Italian unification movement: neither Catholic nor secularist, but a third way that sought to ground political emancipation in religious faith while rejecting the authority of the institutional church. Mazzini’s insistence that the Italian question is fundamentally a religious question, and that the destruction of the papacy is a necessary condition of Italian unity, gave the movement a prophetic dimension that distinguished it from both the moderate party and the materialist tendencies of the age.
The book is also significant for its critique of Protestantism from a revolutionary Italian perspective. Mazzini addresses Protestant England not as an ally but as a fellow traveller who has lost its way. He argues that Protestantism, by dividing faith from works and thought from action, has become incapable of understanding or supporting the Italian struggle.
