For much of its 2,000-year history, the Roman Catholic Church was a
formidable political and military power, in contrast to its pacifist
origins and its present concentration on spiritual matters. The period
of political and military activism can be dated to roughly between 410,
when Pope Innocent I vainly tried to avert the sack of Rome by the
Visigoths, and about 1870, when Pope Pius IX was abandoned by his
protectors, the French Army, and forced to submit to the new Italian
state by surrendering any political power the Vatican had left.
During those centuries, the popes employed every means at their
disposal, including direct military action, to maintain their domains
centred on Rome. Some pontiffs, such as Alexander VI, Julius II (15th
century), plus the energetic Borgia popes later, built the Papal States
into a power in their own right. In the following century and a half,
Europe's destructive religious wars almost always had a papal component,
with the Lateran and later Vatican fielding their own armies. Climaxing
the story are the little-known yet bitter late-nineteenth century
battles between the papal volunteers from all over Europe and America,
and the Italian nationalists who ultimately prevailed. John Carr
narrates the story of Papal military clout with engaging verve.
