Rome, May 4, 1926
Dear Rocco,
I draw your attention to the letter that the Holy Father addressed to His Eminence Cardinal Gasparri, concerning the relations between the State and the Church, with regard to the planned reform of ecclesiastical legislation.
The letter, not only for the very high authority of who wrote it, but also for the things it contains, is of paramount importance, and forces us to meditate somewhat on that program of ecclesiastical policy that the Fascist Government has proposed ever since the early days of its advent to power.
Today's document was preceded by other manifestations of the Holy See, which make its meaning sufficiently clear. The Holy See, while appreciating the profound change in direction which the triumph of Fascism has marked in the religious policy of the Italian State, considers that a satisfactory arrangement of relations between the Catholic Church and the State in Italy can not be achieved except by way of a bilateral agreement, and that an agreement of this kind presupposes as resolved – in agreement between the two Powers – the problem of the juridical arrangement of the Holy See as a central organ, and therefore of the supranational nature of the Church, which, by decree of Divine Providence, is based in Italy.
The Fascist Regime, surpassing the prejudices of liberalism in this as in every other field, has thus repudiated the principle of religious agnosticism of the State, because the separation between Church and State is just as absurd as the separation between spirit and matter. With profound faith in the religious and Catholic mission of the Italian people, the Fascist Government has methodically proceeded with a series of administrative acts and legislative measures to restore to the State and to the Italian Nation that character of the Catholic State and the Catholic Nation that liberal politics had tried to eliminate for so many years. And the Fascist Regime has done this with full spontaneity and with absolute selflessness, without hesitations nor deviations, even when its efforts were misunderstood or poorly recognized, because we regard this as the fulfillment of a high duty, not as an instrument or, worse still, as a political maneuver.
It is therefore logical that the Fascist Government should judge the current manifestations of the Holy See with serenity, and consider them worthy of the most careful consideration.
One can certainly not deny a priori the possibility of a better juridical structure of the relations between the Holy See, considered as central and supranational organ of the Catholic Church, and the Italian State, in order to better guarantee its freedom and independence, even by way of bilateral agreements, and even if such a revision should result in a revision of the Law of Guarantees. This arrangement could not have prejudicial limits other than those of the exclusion of any foreign interference in the relations between the Holy See and Italy, and respect for national unity and the integrity of the State.
Things have reached the point where time has passed and historical progress has been made, and the spiritual and political evolution of the Italian people has occurred. I do not consider it useless therefore, with the means of information available to you, that you discreetly take the news of the Holy See's current point of view and draft forms that could assume a satisfactory legal arrangement of its relations with the Italian State.
MUSSOLINI
