Papal reunification

I don't know if this has been done or not,but what would have happened if the pope decided to unite Italy instead of Garibaldi? What would Italian history be like because of this? Which Pope would have the best chance of success?
 
Best chance for it to happen is if Pius IX decides that liberalism would be a useful tool to improve the Papal standing instead of a threat to Church authority.

And Garibaldi was an unwitting pawn of the Piedmont house - he was reportedly bemused with their decision to give his home city Nice to the French to secure their help in uniting Italy.
 
Best chance for it to happen is if Pius IX decides that liberalism would be a useful tool to improve the Papal standing instead of a threat to Church authority.

And Garibaldi was an unwitting pawn of the Piedmont house - he was reportedly bemused with their decision to give his home city Nice to the French to secure their help in uniting Italy.

I wouldn't say Garibaldi was unwitting... more that he cared more so about the unification of Italy than the exact politics of said unified Italy. He simply thought that the Savoyards were, at least after 1848, the most likely entity to unite the Italian peoples. He certainly had no love for them personally, and he definitely wasn't unaware or uncaring of how they used him for their own ends.
 
That's a more accurate way of putting it, yes...

So for Papal Italy to happen the Savoys must not be able to present their pitch for a unified Italy to be what Garibaldi wanted.
 
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