How could Napoleon III resolve the Roman Question?

**In 1870 Emperor Napoleon III was caught in a catch 22 like situation.** Here's a little brain teaser;

He knew war with Prussia was coming and he knew that France was not in a good situation to fight it, victory was unlikely and even if he won it would be hard fought and leave the country in a bad place. The solution to this problem was to improve his odds in a war by finding an ally.

A perfect ally against Prussia would be Austria-Hungary. Humiliated by the Prussians only a few years prior they were itching for a fight to settle the score and regain their lost influence over the German states. Habsburg involvement would also guarantee the neutrality of the south German states. Austria-Hungary was willing to fight but they wanted a guarantee that Italy would not attack them while they were distracted with Prussia like they were during the Third War of Italian Independence.

Italy wanted war against Austria-Hungary to regain more ethnic Italian land from them but they were willing to guarantee their neutrality if as compensation they gained Rome which was still controlled by the Papal States.

The Papal States were at the time protected by a French garrison which blocked the Italians from invading so all Napoleon would have to do would be to pull out his garrison and the Italians would seize Rome.

However, domestically Napoleons largest support base came from the French Catholics whose support was predicated on the continued protection of Rome. If Napoleon unilaterally pulled out the garrison then the Catholics would drop their support and he'd quickly lose his crown. It also didn't help that his wife Empress Eugenie was an ultramontanist who supported the Pope.

Perhaps a compromise that could satisfy all parties could be found, however, Pope Pius IX was very uncompromising and opposed Italian Nationalism. Any sort of compromise that would satisfy Pius would be extremely difficult to negotiate if not impossible.

And as the icing on this cake the French people were demanding War with Prussia because of their strong sense of nationalism and paranoia from their rapid expansion which if unanswered could be turned against Napoleon.

To quote a contemporary observer, Raffaele De Cesare:

>"The Roman question was the stone tied to Napoleon's feet—that dragged him into the abyss. He never forgot, even in August 1870, a month before Sedan that he was a sovereign of a Catholic country, that he had been made emperor, and was supported by the votes of the conservatives and the influence of the clergy; and that it was his supreme duty not to abandon the pontiff.... For twenty years Napoleon III had been the true sovereign of Rome, where he had many friends and relations.... Without him the temporal power would never have been reconstituted, nor, being reconstituted, would have endured."

**So given all of this, was there any possible solution for Napoleon III? Could he have saved his crown or is this situation impossible to resolve?**