It is alleged by the Annales Regni Francorum, and held by most historians to be the case, that in 749 Pope St Zacharias taught that it is better for the title of king to be held by the one who exercises the power of government than one who merely holds the name of ‘king’ and promptly deposed the King of the Franks and made Pepin the Short, the Mayor of the Palace, King of the Franks instead. Should this be in Denzinger?!
[749] DCCXLVIIII. Burghardus Wirzeburgensis episcopus et Folradus capellanus missi fuerunt ad Zachariam papam, interrogando de regibus in Francia, qui illis temporibus non habentes regalem potestatem, si bene fuisset an non. Et Zacharias papa mandavit Pippino, ut melius esset illum regem vocari, qui potestatem haberet, quam illum, qui sine regali potestate manebat; ut non conturbaretur ordo, per auctoritatem apostolicam iussit Pippinum regem fieri. [English]
It should be remembered that the Church, according to Leo XIII, has the authority to pronounce on such issues. In general however, as a matter of prudence, she does not.
Various political governments have succeeded one another in France during the last century, each having its own distinctive form: the Empire, the Monarchy, and the Republic. By giving one’s self up to abstractions, one could at length conclude which is the best of these forms, considered in themselves
Leo XIII, Au Milieu Des Sollicitudes, 16th February 1892. §14
Of course no great weight can be placed upon a papal pronouncement the text of which we do not possess and which may even have never happened. However, for what its worth this decision (if authentic) would seem to indicate that it is inappropriate for a head of state not to be also the head of government. We might put it more mildly and say that if he is not to be head of government the head of government should at least be genuinely answerable to him. I think there is a lot of wisdom in this. I think Parliament’s genuine independence and genuine utility as a body representative of the nation before the Crown has been almost completely obscured by its usurpation of the Crown’s powers of initiative. It is now merely an electoral college for the office of Prime Minister who exercises the prerogatives of the Crown. There is no longer a balance between the two or proper scrutiny of one by the other.
