You Hear It Said With Intimations Of
Special Authority In The Matter, That Both King And Pope Are Well
Content
With the situation, and it is clearly explained how and why they
are so; but I did not understand how
Or why at the moment of the
explanation, or else I have now forgotten whatever was clear in it. I
believe, however, it was to the effect that the pope willingly remained
self-prisoned in the Vatican because, if he came out, he might not only
invalidate a future claim upon the sovereign dignity which the Italian
occupation had invaded, but he might incur risks from the more
unfriendly extremists which would at least be very offensive. On his
part, it was said that the king used the embarrassment occasioned by the
pope's attitude as his own defence against the anti-Clericals, who
otherwise would have urged him to far more hostile measures with the
Church. The king and the pope were therefore not very real enemies, it
was said by those who tried to believe themselves better informed than
others.
To the passing or tarrying stranger the situation does not offer many
dramatic aspects. When you are going to St. Peter's, if you will look up
at the plain wall of the Vatican palace you will see two windows with
their shutters open, and these are the windows of the rooms where Pius
X. lives, a voluntary captive; the closed blinds are those of the rooms
where Leo XIII.
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