Edgardo Mortara - Pope Pius IX's Relationship With Jews

Pope Pius IX's Relationship With Jews

Civil law in the Papal States did not permit baptized Christians to be raised by non-Christians. Pope Pius IX, who had partially emancipated the Jews living in the Papal States, found himself in a quandary. The Mortara case was the catalyst for far-reaching political changes; its repercussions are still being felt within the Catholic Church and in relations between the Church and some Jewish organizations. The incident, in its briefest outline: Mortara was taken from his home, raised a Catholic, ordained a priest, and remained a priest for the rest of his life. In §1672 of his testimony for the beatification of Pius IX, Mortara stated "I greatly desire the beatification and canonization of the Servant of God (Pius IX)."

The Mortara affair increased discontent with the temporal power of the papacy within Italy and produced calls from around the world, including Emperor Franz Josef and Napoleon III, for Mortara to be returned to his parents, including 20 editorials in The New York Times.

The Mortara case attracted new attention around the turn of the 21st century because of the campaign to secure canonisation for Blessed Pius IX. Jewish groups and others, led by several descendants of the Mortara family, protested the Vatican's beatification of Pius in 2000. In 1997 David Kertzer published The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, which brought the case back to public attention.

The story became the subject of a play, Edgardo Mine by Alfred Uhry, and an opera, "Il Caso Mortara" by Francesco Cilluffo, premiered February 25, 2010, by Dicapo Opera in New York City. An Irish film titled Edgardo Mortara, based on the play and Kertzer's book, was planned to begin production via Miramax in October 2002 but the project was halted for lack of funds.