It is announced that when King Humbert visited a few
days ago the ironworks at Terni,—where the water-power is furnished by the famous waterfall,—the Bishop of Terni paid his respects to the Ring, along with the other civil authorities. This is the first time that any Bishop of a diocese formerly pontifical has recognised the change of Sovereignty, and it is inferred that the event indicates a change of Papal policy which may have the most important results. Perhaps the event is not the less significant that it was almost contemporary with the publica- tion of a letter by the Pope to the Cardinal Rampolla, the new Pontifical Secretary of State, dated June 15th, in which the Pope reiterates his claim to independence, and intimates that the necessary independence can only be assured to him by the grant of some secular sovereignty, and points out how much the Papacy may do by reconciling itself to the Governments of civilised States in Italy, France, Spain, Austria, and Germany, to pro- mote the welfare of those States. In terms, no doubt, this letter reads like the old assertions of the indefeasible rights of the Papacy. But theoretic statements should never be read apart from the acts which serve to interpret their drift, and if the Pope is willing to recognise the Royal authority in a diocese of which, as he considers, the Church has been robbed, he must wish Italy to understand that he contends for the recognition of an abstract principle which may be adequately satisfied by the Italian State on very easy terms indeed. The incident is very important, for Italy with a heartily friendly Pope behind her would become a very powerful factor indeed in the inter- national politics of Europe.
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