Pacca, Bartolommeo

PACCA, pa'ca, BARTOLOMMEO: Cardinal; b. at Benevento Dec. 15, 1756; d. at Rome Apr. 19, 1844. At the Congress of Ems (see EMS, CONGRESS OF), in 1786, when certain princes of the Church in western Germany endeavored to secure for themselves a last vestige of ecclesiastical independence, Rome's answer was already framed in the founding of a papal nunciature at Munich, together with the despatch of the young diplomat, Pacca, to Cologne as nuncio. Thus every attempt in the Febronian direction (see HONTHEIM, JOHANN NICOLAUS VON) was nullified by Rome. And though the Rhenish prelates refused to receive the new nuncio, he nevertheless exercised an unrestricted authority of jurisdiction at Cologne, where he took skilful advantage of the discord between the citizens and the archbishop. In the Prussian districts on the left bank of the Rhine, he gained no less prompt recognition than in the dioceses of Hildesheim, Paderborn, Speyer, Liege, and the Bavarian domains. The Prussian diplomacy, then as afterward, proved all too accommodating in relation to the Curia. Indeed, Frederick William II. thereby reaped the advantage of having recognized by the Curia the royal title which the Prussian monarchs had borne since 1701.

The clever diplomatist Pacca was already in a very fair way to stifle all impulses of ecclesiastical independence in western Germany, when the French Revolution (q.v.) broke out. Its army, invading the German border in 1794, interrupted further proceedings. His experiences acquired at Cologne availed Pacca, in the next place, as nuncio at Lisbon, 1795-1800. His method was to assume the appearance of concession, yet prosecute his demands to their utmost limits by presenting them repeatedly in diversified form. His "Memoirs," which belong to the most interesting state papers of his time, cover his sojourn in both Germany and Portugal, and have appeared in various languages and editions (Pesaro, 1830, Orvieto, 1843, Paris, 1883, 1884, etc.). Returning to Rome in 1801, Pacca took his place at the front of the radical party, and, in 1808, thrust out the temporizing Consalvi (q.v.) from the leadership of affairs of State. On July 6, 1809, he was abducted in the same carriage with Pope Pius VII. (q.v.) and continued in French custody until 1813. In 1814 he accompanied the pope in his triumphal entry into Rome. Though the subsequent course of events restored his opponent Consalvi to the leading place, Pacca nevertheless remained the effective influence to which the papacy owed its restoration.

K. BENRATH.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Consult Pacca's Memorie Storiche del Ministero . . . del Card. B. Pacca, 2 vols., Orvieto, 1843, Eng. transl., Notes on the Ministry of Cardinal B. Pacca, Dublin, 1843; and his Historical Memoirs, 2 vols., London, 1850; M. Brosch. Geschichte des Kirchenstaates, vol. ii., Gotha, 1882; F. Nippold, The Papacy in the 18th Century, pp. 22, 26, 36, New York, 1900.