Talleyrand saw the others stop walking and turned around as well. "The cost of war is only a minor issue.
"I must remind you that once those rioters surrender, the Holy See will soon return to Rome."
The Veronese Representative subconsciously licked his lips, nearly blurting out, If the troop-contributing nations partition the Papal States, the Holy See won't be able to come back. Still, he bitterly forced that thought down.
Once this precedent was set, whenever a riot broke out in any country in the future, other nations might partition it under the guise of suppressing the rebellion. Talleyrand signaled for everyone to continue walking. "So, in a sense, the rioters in the City of Rome have their value in existence." The representatives of the various nations all pondered this in silence.
The Italian states utterly loathed the Holy See's interference in their domestic religious affairs, and no one wanted the Holy See back.
However, the Florentine Minister of Foreign Affairs worriedly said, "Yet we cannot simply leave those rebels who overthrew their monarch alone, can we?"
Talleyrand smiled, first reciting a passage from the Gospel of Matthew: "Jesus said to Peter, 'You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.'"
He crossed himself on the chest. "The Pope is the representative of Christ's presence on earth, a spiritual sovereign rather than a worldly one.
"The Pope temporarily left the Quirinal Palace out of benevolence, to avoid conflicts with emotionally agitated protesters. Therefore, there is no such thing as 'overthrowing a monarch's rule.'"
According to Catholic doctrine, the Pope belonged to the Holy Spirit; if he became a worldly monarch, it would simply be an insult to his status as the "representative of Christ".
This