68. The true guaranties of liberty, in no way injurious, but on the contrary of incalculable benefit to Italy, which Divine Providence, the ruler and arbiter of mankind, has conferred upon the sovereignty of the Vicar of Christ here below, these guaranties which for centuries have fitted in so marvelously with the divine designs in order to protect the liberty of the Roman Pontiff, neither Divine Providence itself has manifested nor human ingenuity has as yet discovered any substitute which would compensate for the loss of these rights; these guaranties We declare have been and are still being violated. Whence it is that there has been created a certain abnormal condition of affairs which has grievously troubled and, up to the present hour, continues to trouble the consciences of the Catholics of Italy and of the entire world.