The Roman pontiff can and ought to reconcile and harmonize himself with progress, with liberalism, and with modern
civilization.

Roman citizens gathered to vote at legislative assembly

Explanation:

In the old Roman states, people have certain rights , such as voting the magistrates, carrying out of capital punishment, declaration of war.

Rome practiced Direct Democracy, where people only have have right to vote for the assemblies, but the ultimate right lies with the magistrate. Rome has two types of assembly, comitia { representing the entire Romans} and concilium {representing particular set or class}