Let us not set down to religion that which is the necessary consequence of a particular form of government.
The Papacy has its root in Heaven, not in the country.

It is not the Italian people who ask for a Pope,--it is Heaven that chooses him, the Sacred College that nominates him, diplomacy that maintains him, and the French army that imposes him upon the nation.

The Sovereign Pontiff and his staff constitute a foreign body, introduced into Italy like a thorn into a woodcutter's foot.
What is the mission of the Pontifical Government?
To what end did Europe bring Pius IX.

from Gaeta to re-establish him at the Vatican?
Was it for the sake of giving three millions of men an active and vigorous overseer?
The merest brigadier of gendarmerie would have done the work better.

No; it was in order that the Head of the Church might preside over the interests of religion from the elevation of a throne, and that the Vicar of Jesus Christ might be surrounded with royal splendour.