for the Holy Father and the German Bishops to confer with each other, and
religion would suffer from the interruption of intercourse between the
Head and the members.

The interests of Christianity demand that the Vicar of the Prince of Peace
should possess one spot of territory which would be held inviolable, so
that all nations and peoples could at all times, in war, as well as in
peace, freely correspond with him. Nothing can be more revolting to our
feelings than that the spiritual government of the Church should be
constantly hampered by the hostile aggressions of ambitious rulers, an
eventuality always likely to occur so long as the Pope remains the subject
of any earthly potentate.(187)

But we are told that the Roman people, by a _plebiscitum_, or popular
vote, expressed their desire to be annexed to the Piedmontese Government.
To this I answer, in the first place, that we ought to know what
importance to attach to elections held under the shadow of the bayonet. It
is well known that the Roman _plebiscitum_ was undertaken by the authority
and guided by the inspiration of the Italian troops. It is equally
notorious that the numerous stragglers who accompanied the Italian army to
Rome legalized the gigantic fraud of their master, as well as their own
petty thefts, by voting in favor of annexation.

In the second place, the Roman people, even had they so desired, had no
right to transfer, by _their_ suffrage, the Patrimony of St. Peter to
Victor Emmanuel. They could not give what did not belong to them. The
Papal territory was granted to the Popes in trust, for the use and benefit
of the Church--that is, for the use and benefit of the Catholics of
Christendom. The Catholic world, therefore, and not merely a handful of
Roman subjects, must give its consent before such a transfer can be
declared legitimate. Rome is to Catholic Christendom what Washington is to
the United States. As the citizens of Washington have no power, without
the concurrence of the United States, to annex their city to Maryland or
Virginia, neither can the citizens of Rome hand over their city to the
Kingdom of Piedmont without the acquiescence of the faithful dispersed
throughout the world.

We protest, therefore, against the occupation of Rome by foreign troops as
a high-handed act of injustice, and a gross violation of the Commandment,
"Thou shalt not steal."

We protest against it as a royal outrage, calculated to shock the public
sen