Law of Guarantees

Law of Guarantees, (May 13, 1871), attempt by the Italian government to settle the question of its relationship with the pope, who had been deprived of his lands in central Italy in the process of national unification. The first section of the law sought to ensure the freedom of the pope to fulfill his spiritual functions despite the loss of his temporal power. It gave the pope special status as a sovereign person, assured him the right to receive ambassadors and to communicate freely with Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world, granted him a substantial annual income, and allowed him perpetual use of the Lateran and Vatican palaces in Rome and of the villa of Castel Gandolfo. The second section, dealing with church–state relations, was a compromise between Count Cavour’s principle of a “free church in a free state” and the demands of the more radical left. Thus the state retained the power to prevent bishops from taking full control of their sees until their appointments had been approved by royal decree.

The Law of Guarantees was one of the main issues that split the Right and the Left in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of the legislature). The Right generally favoured the law as a way to reach a genuine reconciliation with the pope and to placate world public opinion. The liberal, anticlerical Left, however, opposed the concessions to the papacy and favoured the state’s retaining a greater degree of control over ecclesiastical affairs in Italy.

Pius IX (pope 1846–78) adamantly refused to accept the loss of his temporal power and rejected the Law of Guarantees, although he and his successors continued, in fact, to enjoy many of the privileges it granted. The popes were formally reconciled with Italy only with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, which specifically abrogated the Law of Guarantees.