ROMAN UNION (UNIONE ROMANA). – Association of Roman Catholic electors, active in the municipal elections of the City of Rome from 1872 to 1919.
When the Holy See forbade Italian Catholics from participating in national elections and parliamentary mandates, it permitted—and indeed recommended—active engagement in municipal administrations and opposition politics, provided that alliances were formed with men of other persuasions who could guarantee just and loyal relations between the represented bodies and respect for the religious conscience of the populace. Thus, in many cities, associations of Catholic electors arose, and the first alliances with the so-called moderate or conservative party yielded excellent results, freeing numerous municipalities from the dominance of the radical party, that is, liberalism enslaved to secularism.
In July 1872—almost simultaneously with the founding of the Opera dei Congressi (q.v.)—L’Osservatore Romano published an appeal from a Catholic electoral committee for the defense of the moral interests and religious sentiments of the Urbe. The promoters of this Roman Union were the directors of the Roman Catholic newspapers (L’Osservatore Romano, La Voce della Verità, Lo Squillo), namely the Marchese di Baviera, Pietro Pacelli, and Filippo Tolli. They were joined by Conte Francesco Vespignani, Monsignor Domenico Iacobini, the lawyer Jacoucci, the lawyer Jacometti, Professor Burri, the lawyer Benucci, and other leading figures of Catholic Action. The Roman Union aimed to bring to the Campidoglio men who would represent the Roman people and safeguard the interests of the Urbe.
Secularist newspapers raised the alarm against the so-called clerical enemies of the fatherland, but the new organization proved highly effective, and its first results were promising. The Catholics elected on the Union’s lists formed a minority group in which men of authority and great worth distinguished themselves, including, besides Vespignani, Tolli, and Pacelli, Soderini and Crispolti, De Rossi, Marucchi, and Aureli. They were fiercely opposed and branded as adversaries of the Kingdom’s constitution with Rome as its capital, even though on many difficult occasions they had demonstrated wise collaboration for civic interests and a sincere desire for a fair agreement between the Holy See and the Italian State. In 1895, in alliance with the moderate party, they won a majority and wisely maintained their position even in difficult circumstances, particularly during the administrations of Ruspoli and Torlonia.
In the general elections of November 1907, a so-called popular bloc was formed between radical socialists and leading figures of Freemasonry, with an anti-clerical political program that extended beyond the governance of the municipality, resulting in the election of Ernesto Nathan, Grand Master of Freemasonry, as mayor of Rome. The Roman Union had decided to abstain from voting and published a manifesto explaining its reasons to the citizenry, which did not fail to recognize the moral value and appropriateness of the act. Indeed, after a short interval, in the partial elections, Catholics returned in large numbers to the Council, achieving brilliant and subsequently repeated results. In August 1909, a commission composed of Commendatore Paolo Pericoli, Dr. Mario Cingolani, and Dr. L. Cocchetti was appointed to direct and reorganize the Union. In March 1912, Prince Don Giovanni Borghese was elected president. When the Italian People’s Party (Partito Popolare Italiano) was founded, the Roman Union dissolved (1919) and was reconstituted in 1924 under the National Center, though it lasted only briefly.