Law of Guarantees

The Law of Guarantees (Italian: Legge delle guarentigie), sometimes also called the Law of Papal Guarantees, was the name given to the law passed by the senate and chamber of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, 13 May 1871, concerning the prerogatives of the Holy See, and the relations between state and church in the Kingdom of Italy. It guaranteed sovereign prerogatives to the pope, who had been deprived of the territory of the Papal States. The popes refused to accept the law, as it was enacted by a foreign government and could therefore be revoked at will, leaving the popes without a full claim to sovereign status. In response, the popes declared themselves prisoners of the Vatican. The ensuing Roman Question was not resolved until the Lateran Pacts of 1929.

After the 1870 Capture of Rome, tensions in Italy between church and state ran high. The Italian government maintained that it had invaded Rome in order to safeguard the person of the pope and the independence of the Holy See.

A circular of the minister Emilio Visconti Venosta, addressed to all major Catholic powers, hinted at ensuring these intentions by means of an international congress. The international reaction was, however, generally one of disinterest, and the Italian government instead chose to pass a domestic law.

In a letter from his cardinal vicar dated 2 March 1871, Pope Pius IX protested against the law, saying that "it was no easy task to decide whether absurdity, cunning, or contempt played the largest part" in its passage.

Parliament passed in 1871 the famous Law of Papal Guarantees, which proposed to solve the question on Cavour's principle of a free church in a free state. The pope was declared an independent sovereign and, as such, was entitled to receive and to send ambassadors and to conduct diplomatic affairs without any interference from the Italian government. His territory, however, was limited to the district in Rome known as the "Leonine City", over which floated the Papal flag, and into which no Italian officer could enter without permission from the Papal authorities. The palaces, churches, museums, offices, villas, and gardens in the Leonine City were to be exempt from taxation, and the Papal government was to have free use of the Italian railway, postal, and telegraph systems. The church was guaranteed full freedom of self-government, and the old interference by the state in church affairs was declared terminated.

The principal stipulations of the law may be summed up as follows:

The popes refused to recognize the fait accompli which was supported by the Law of Guarantees, and refused in principle to recognize in the Italian government any right to grant them prerogatives, or to make laws for them, a position that lasted until the resolution of the Roman Question in 1929.

Pius IX indignantly refused to accept the terms of the "sub-Alpine" Government, as he termed the House of Savoy, whom he regarded as the despoiler of "God's vicar." Parliament regularly voted the annuity from 1871 onward, but the popes never accepted it, as to do so would be to recognize the Kingdom of Italy as a legitimate government, which no pope from 1871 to 1929 was willing to do. Pius IX shut himself in his tiny domain and refused to leave it under any circumstances, regarding himself as the "Prisoner of the Vatican"; his successors to 1929 followed the policy and never set foot outside the Vatican once they were elected pope.