Luciano Malusa

The fortune of the Vincenzo Gioberti’s thought was alternating. Exalted for his encouragement positions with national aspirations of the Italians, he was then regarded with suspicion in the Church for his philosophical positions accused of pantheism, and finally he was ‘forgotten’ after the Italian Unity. ‘Rediscovered’ thanks to Gentile’s studies, he was considered one of the greatest Italian thinkers of the nineteenth century...

Nel corso degli anni 1848-1849 Antonio Rosmini-Serbati elaborò alcune idee rilevanti sul ruolo del papato, al fi ne di favorire un nuovo assetto politico per l’Italia. La sua teorizzazione fu stimolata dalle aspirazioni all’indipendenza ed all’unità nazionale che il fi losofo espresse nel periodo tra il 1846 ed il 1849. Durante un periodo piuttosto breve, dall’agosto all’ottobre 1848, Rosmini fece un’esperienza di trattative diplomatiche uffi ciali ad altissimo livello, in Roma: egli poté affrontare vari problemi relativi al papato universale, ed al ruolo del principato ecclesiastico nei confronti delle aspirazioni degli italiani. Mediante un accordo tra gli Stati Rosmini sperava di porre in atto in breve tempo una Confederazione italiana, con capitale in Roma, gestita da una Giunta nazionale. Il papa sarebbe stato il presidente della Confederazione, ma la Giunta avrebbe preso le decisioni per tutti gli Stati, anche relativamente alla guerra per l’indipendenza nazionale, nel nome quindi e per conto del papa come capo dello Stato pontifi cio. Con questo progetto, che cadde per molteplici motivazioni, ma che rimase la prospettiva più realistica per il raggiungimento dell’unità presentata in quel periodo, Rosmini intendeva preservare, trasformandolo radicalmente, il potere temporale dei papi, rendendolo consono all’unifi cazione politica dell’Italia. In 1848-1849, Antonio Rosmini-Serbati conceived some important ideas on the role of the papacy, in order to promote a new political structure in Italy. His theory was stimulated by the aspirations to independence and national unity that the philoso pher expressed in the period between 1846 and 1849. During a rather short period, since August till October 1848, Rosmini gained experience in offi cial diplomatic negotiations at the highest level in Rome: he was able to address various issues related to universal papacy, and to the role of the ecclesiastical principality towards the aspirations of the Italians. Through an agreement between the States, Rosmini hoped to realize in a short time an Italian Confederation, with Rome as its capital city, managed by a “National Board”. The pope had to be the President of the Confederation, but the Board would take the decisions for all the States, including with regard to the war for national independence, so in the name and on behalf of the pope as head of the Papal State. With this project, which, even if it fell for various reasons, remained the most realistic prospect to achieve national unity proposed at that time, Rosmini intended to preserve radically transforming the temporal power of popes, radically transformed and made suitable for the political Italian unifi cation.