Alessandro Gavazzi Quotes
Send the Pope into permanent retirement and to turn the Vatican into a museum.
He was greatly concerned that if the Pope were allowed to stay in the Vatican, he would again seek temporal power which was what the revolution was all about.
Alessandro Gavazzi, 1809-1889, Founder of the Protestant Evangelical Free Church of Italy, Spiritual Advisor to Garibaldi, Statement when the Garibaldi troops defeated the Pope’s legions, 1870
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
As a result of Henry VIII establishing himself as the head of the Church in England and Ireland in place of the Pope, Henry’s heirs also became head of the Church. And that was the role that Queen Elisabeth had inherited in addition to the Crown. Many of those loyal to the Pope found most offensive the fact that a woman was making decisions for men and women on matters of faith. A Papal representative travelled with FitzGerald and probably helped him compose this document of which this is but 2 sentences. He may have drafted it completely. The Pope was a factor in many of the Irish rebellions against the English, and this caused great suspicion of all English Catholics whose loyalty to the Queen was in conflict with their loyalty to the Pope who was plotting for a Catholic takeover of England and Ireland.
The struggle in the Catholic Church reached an amazing state. Just after a new pope, Martin V, had been elected the Council of Bishops at Constance came up with this notion which placed their views above those of the Pope under the theory that this particular council derived its power and authority directly from Christ while the pope was only God’s “vicar on earth.” The struggle was somewhat akin to the inevitable struggle for power between an executive branch and a legislative branch. The Council’s ascendancy didn’t last very long and was repudiated by successive popes.
Italy was in the midst of civil war with the rebels in Emila wanting its independence from the civil authority of the Pope who then controlled virtually all of Italy. The French emperor, Napoleon BonaparteII, advised that the only way to produce peace was to allow Emila to have its independence. He was the last Pope to hold temporal power. While it should not be surprising, the Pope’s statement is essentially the same position that every autocratic authority has taken when there has been some local success of the rebels.
Smith was the first Roman Catholic to run for President. He was very popular but there was a substantial amount of anti-Catholicism in America at the time. He lost, probably by the margin of the anti-Catholic vote.
Naples was an independent kingdom before the unification of Italy. This quotation illustrates one of the lowest periods of the Roman Catholic Church where the personal morality of the Pope and Cardinals was greatly at odds with the earlier and current positions of the Church. This hypocrisy, nepotism, and corruption was one of the major factors that led to the Reformation. Note that the Pope had an illegitimate son who he named a Cardinal and the Pope wanted his son to marry the daughter of the king. The king was not enthusiastic given the son’s status as a Cardinal of the Church.
His response was to being asked whether he could do something with Russian Catholics to help Laval win favor with the Pope, to counter the increasing threat of Nazism. This quotation is often used as an example of Stalin’s disrespect for the Papacy. However, in this case, the Pope was extremely weak politically and some argue spiritually for he did not oppose Hitler and the Nazis very much. Defenders of the Papacy argue that Hitler had overwhelming force and little respect for the Pope, and ironically this was what Stain was referring to. Ironically, another Pope, John Paul, had a major part in bring down the Soviet Union and he had no divisions.
The Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope were at odds. The Pope had issued an edict staking out the powers of the Pope. King Henry called a conclave of clerics and deposed Pope Leo VII. The Pope Excommunicated Henry and deposed him as king and emperor. Civil war ensued, and finally they reached a compromise and accommodation with each other." Saint Hildebrand
His positions presaged some of those of Protestants in the Reformation. In the great struggle of the time between the Pope and the Emperor, Marsilius was the leading advocate for the emperor’s superiority of authority. The Pope wrote a condemnation of these ideas.
1st Baron Macaulay
There are some who question the authenticity of this Bull. However, its existence was supported by John of Salisbury who claimed to be the emissary who arranged the Bull. See {611696}. However, those who are shocked that the Pope could have been so crass as to “give” a country to Henry II for money have claimed that the writing of John was also a forgery,
Alessandro Gavazzi was an Italian preacher and patriot. He at first became a monk (1825), and attached himself to the Barnabites at Naples, where he afterwards (1829) acted as professor of rhetoric. He left the church, and became best known as a provocative speaker against Catholicism, touring Europe and the United States. Protests against him broke out in Canada in 1853, causing numerous deaths in the Gavazzi Riots.
