Papal Independence and Italian Authority
By Sel.
Victor Emanuel is likely to find that the guaranties of papal independence in Rome are unsafe to his own government. Already fugitives from justice are taking refuge in the Vatican. Rome is just now excited about an affair of this sort. Padre Curci, a notable Jesuit preacher, who had flagrantly transgressed the privileges of the pulpit by assailing the family of Victor Emanuel, and more especially by calumniating Princess Margherita, Italy’s future queen, when prosecuted for his libel, crossed the Tiber, and under the broad wing of the spiritual independence, continues to defy the civil sword. The pope’s counselors are too rash to suffer him to dwell quietly in the holy city under Italian rule. Collisions of authority are inevitable, and the end will be the banishment of the papal court from the soil of Italy.—Sel.