Abstract

The Italian Government and the Law of Guarantees

The question that was so much discussed before Italy's declaration of war against Austria, as to what would be the effect of such a declaration on the relations of the Holy See with Austria and Germany, has been answered in a way that, in part, had been foreseen by many. It was hardly to be believed that in this event the presence of the Prussian, Bavarian and Austrian Ambassadors to the Vatican would be tolerated in Rome, Italy. But the prediction that the Pope would ask the entire diplomatic corps to absent itself during the war has not been verified. During the agitations that preceded the declaration of war, certain Austrian and German prelates and-laymen in Rome exerted all kinds of pressure, direct and indirect, upon the Vatican authorities and upon the Pope himself to induce him to transfer his court to some neutral country, preferably Switzerland, on the ground that his liberties and those of the Church would be violated if he stayed in Rome.