Pope Pius IX (Italian:Pio IX; bornGiovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti;[a] 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of theCatholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of anypope in history and second only toSaint Peter according to Catholic tradition. He was notable for convoking theFirst Vatican Council in 1868 which defined the dogma ofpapal infallibility before taking a break in summer of 1870. The council never reconvened. At the same time, France started theFrench-Prussian War and removed the troops that protected thePapal States, which allowed theCapture of Rome by theKingdom of Italy on 20 September 1870. Thereafter, he refused to leaveVatican City, declaring himself a "prisoner in the Vatican".
At the time of his election, he was a liberal reformer, but his approach changed after theRevolutions of 1848. When his prime minister,Pellegrino Rossi, was assassinated and Pius himself was made prisoner in his own palace, he fledRome andexcommunicated all participants in the short-livedRoman Republic. After its suppression by the French army and his return in 1850, his policies and doctrinal pronouncements became increasingly conservative. He was responsible for thekidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, a six-year-old taken by force from his Jewish family who went on to become a Catholic priest in his own right and unsuccessfully attempted to convert his Jewish parents.
His appeal for financial support revived global donations known asPeter's Pence. He strengthened the central power of theHoly See andRoman Curia over the worldwide Catholic Church, while also formalizing the pope's ultimate doctrinal authority (the dogma ofpapal infallibility defined in 1870).Pope John Paul II beatified him in 2000.
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born on 13 May 1792 inSenigallia. He was the ninth child born into the noble family of Girolamo dei Conti Mastai-Ferretti (1750–1833), grandnephew ofPietro Girolamo Guglielmi, and wife Caterina Antonia Maddalena Solazzei di Fano (1764–1842).[3] He was baptized on the day of his birth with the names Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro. He was educated at thePiarist College inVolterra and in Rome. An unreliable account published many years later suggests that the young Count Mastai was engaged to the daughter of the ProtestantChurch of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore,William Foster.[4] If there was ever any such engagement, it did not proceed.
Illustration showing Mastai-Ferretti at his first Holy Mass in 1819
In 1814, as a theology student in his hometown of Senigallia, he metPope Pius VII, who had returned from French captivity. In 1815, he entered the PapalNoble Guard but was soon dismissed after an epileptic seizure.[5] He threw himself on the mercy of Pius VII, who elevated him and supported his continued theological studies.
Fr. Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti teaching to orphans
Mastai-Ferretti was ordained a priest on 10 April 1819. The Pope had originally insisted that another priest should assist Mastai-Ferretti during Holy Mass, but rescinded the stipulation after the seizures became less frequent.[6] He initially worked as the rector of the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome.
Shortly before his death, Pius VII – following Chilean leaderBernardo O'Higgins' wish to have the Pope reorganize the Catholic Church of the new republic – named himauditor to assist theapostolic nuncio, Monsignore Giovanni Muzi, in the first mission to post-revolutionary South America.[7] The mission had the objective to map out the role of theCatholic Church in Chile and its relationship with the state, but when it finally arrived inSantiago in March 1824, O'Higgins had been overthrown and replaced by GeneralRamón Freire, who was less well-disposed toward the Church and had already taken hostile measures such as the seizure of Church property. Having ended in failure, the mission returned to Europe.[8] Nevertheless, Mastai-Ferretti had been the first future pope ever to have been in the Americas. Upon his return to Rome, the successor of Pius VII,Pope Leo XII, appointed him head of the hospital ofSan Michele a Ripa in Rome (1825–1827) andcanon ofSanta Maria in Via Lata.
Leo XII appointed the 35-year-old Mastai-FerrettiArchbishop of Spoleto in 1827.[6] In 1831, theabortive revolution that had begun inParma andModena spread toSpoleto; the Archbishop obtained a general pardon after it was suppressed, gaining him a reputation for being liberal. During an earthquake, he made a reputation as an efficient organizer of relief and great charity.[6] The following year he was moved to the more prestigiousDiocese of Imola, was made acardinalin pectore in 1839, and in 1840 was publicly announced ascardinal-priest ofSanti Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano. As in Spoleto, his episcopal priorities were the formation of priests through improved education and charities. He became known for visiting prisoners in jail and for programs for street children.[9] Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti was considered a liberal during his episcopate in Spoleto and Imola because he supported administrative changes in thePapal States and sympathized with the nationalist movement in Italy.
Theconclave of 1846, following the death ofPope Gregory XVI (1831–1846), took place in an unsettled political climate within Italy. The conclave was steeped in a factional division between right and left. The conservatives on the right favoured the hardline stances andpapal absolutism of the previous pontificate, while liberals supported moderate reforms.[10] The conservatives supportedLuigi Lambruschini, the late pope'sCardinal Secretary of State. Liberals supported two candidates:Tommaso Pasquale Gizzi and the then 54-year-old Mastai Ferretti.[11]
Illustration of Pope Pius IX soon after his election to the papacy in 1846
During the first ballot, Mastai-Ferretti received 15 votes, the rest going to Lambruschini and Gizzi. Lambruschini received a majority of the votes in the early ballots but failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority. Gizzi was favoured by theFrench government but failed to get further support from the cardinals, and the conclave ended up ultimately as a contest between Lambruschini and Mastai-Ferretti.[12] In the meantime, CardinalTommaso Bernetti reportedly received information that CardinalKarl Kajetan von Gaisruck, the Austrian Archbishop of Milan, was on his way to the conclave toveto the election of Mastai-Ferretti on behalf of theAustrian Empire andPrince Metternich.[13] According to historian Valérie Pirie, Bernetti realized that he had only a few hours in which to stop Lambruschini's election.
Faced with a deadlock and urgently persuaded by Bernetti to reject Lambruschini, liberals and moderates decided to cast their votes for Mastai-Ferretti, in a move that contradicted the general mood throughout Europe. On the evening of the second day of the conclave, 16 June 1846, Mastai-Ferretti was elected pope. "He was a glamorous candidate, ardent, emotional with a gift for friendship and a track-record of generosity even towards anti-Clericals andCarbonari. He was a patriot, known to be critical of Gregory XVI."[11] Because it was night, no formal announcement was given, just the signal of white smoke.
On the following morning, the Cardinalprotodeacon,Tommaso Riario Sforza, announced the election of Mastai Ferretti before a crowd of faithful Catholics. When Mastai-Ferretti appeared on the balcony, the mood became joyous. He chose the name of Pius IX in honour ofPope Pius VII, who had encouraged his vocation to the priesthood despite his childhood epilepsy. However, the new pope had little diplomatic experience and no curial experience at all. Pius IX was crowned on 21 June 1846.
The election of the liberal Pius IX created much enthusiasm in Europe and elsewhere. "For the next twenty months after the election, Pius IX was the most popular man on the Italian peninsula, where the exclamation "Long life to Pius IX!" was often heard.[14]English Protestants celebrated him as a "friend of light" and a reformer ofEurope towards freedom and progress.[15] He was elected without secular political influences and in the full vigor of life. He was pious, progressive, intellectual, decent, friendly, and open to all.[16] While his political views and policies were hotly debated in the coming years, his personal lifestyle was above reproach, a model of simplicity and poverty in everyday affairs.[17]
Cardinal Mastai Ferretti entered the papacy in 1846, amidst widespread expectations that he would be a champion of reform and modernization in the Papal States, which he ruled directly, and in the entire Catholic Church. Admirers wanted him to lead the battle for Italian independence. His later turn toward profound conservatism shocked and dismayed his original supporters, while surprising and delighting the conservative old guard.[18]
The most notable event in Pius IX's long pontificate was the end of thePapal States, which lay in the middle of the "Italian boot" around the central area ofRome. In contrast, he led the worldwide Church toward an ever-increasing centralization and consolidation of power in Rome and the papacy. More than his predecessors, Pius used the papal pulpit to address the bishops of the world. TheFirst Vatican Council (1869–1870), which he convened to consolidate papal authority further, was considered a milestone not only in his pontificate but also in ecclesiastical history through its defining of the dogma ofpapal infallibility.[20]
After theFirst Vatican Council concluded, an emissary of the Roman Curia was dispatched to secure the signatures of PatriarchGregory II Youssef and the rest of theMelkite delegation who had votednon placet at the general congregation and left Rome prior to the adoption of the dogmatic constitutionPastor aeternus onpapal infallibility. Gregory and the Melkite bishops ultimately subscribed to it, but added the qualifying clause used at theCouncil of Florence: "except the rights and privileges of Eastern patriarchs."[21] This earned Gregory the enmity of Pius IX; during his next visit to thepontiff, before leaving Rome, when Gregory was kneeling, Pius placed his knee on the patriarch's shoulder, just saying to him:Testa dura! (You obstinate man!).[22][23] In spite of this event, Gregory and theMelkite Greek Catholic Church remained committed to their union with the Holy See.
Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, Pius IX's Secretary of State
The ecclesiastical policies of Pius IX were dominated by defence of the rights of the church and the free exercise of religion for Catholics in countries such asRussia and theOttoman Empire. He also fought against what he perceived to be anti-Catholic philosophies in countries such asItaly,Germany, andFrance. The German Empire sought torestrict and weaken the Church for a decade after theFranco-Prussian War.[24]
Pius IX celebrated several jubilees including the 300th anniversary of theCouncil of Trent. Pius celebrated the 1,800th anniversary of the martyrdom of theApostle Peter andApostle Paul on 29 June 1867 with 512 bishops, 20,000 priests and 140,000 lay persons in Rome.[25] A large gathering was organized in 1871 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his papacy. Though the Italian government in 1870 outlawed many popular pilgrimages, the faithful ofBologna organized a nationwide "spiritual pilgrimage" to the pope and the tombs of the apostles in 1873.[26] In 1875, Pius declared aHoly Year that was celebrated throughout the Catholic world. On the 50th anniversary of his episcopal consecration, people from all parts of the world came to see the old pontiff from 30 April 1877 to 15 June 1877. He was a bit shy, but he valued initiative within the church and created several new titles, rewards, and orders to elevate those who in his view deserved merit.[27]
Pius IX created 122 new cardinals, of whom 64 were alive at his death; at the time membership in theCollege of Cardinals was limited to 70. Noteworthy elevations included Vincenzo Pecci (his eventual successorLeo XIII);Nicholas Wiseman of Westminster; the convertHenry Edward Manning; andJohn McCloskey, the first American cardinal.[28]
According to Bishop Cipriano Calderón, the pope intended to make theBishop of Michoacán,Juan Cayetano Gómez de Portugal y Solís, a cardinal in 1850 and even had CardinalGiacomo Antonelli send a letter to him to express his intentions. He would have been the first Latin American cardinal had he not died before the next consistory. According to theBenedictine monk Guy-Marie Oury, a letter addressed byProsper Guéranger to his Benedictine colleague Léandre Fonteinne on 6 March 1856 indicated that Guéranger had learned that Pius IX wanted to name him a cardinal in November 1855, but he refused the honor because he did not want to live in Rome. As a result, Pius IX made theBishop of La Rochelle Clément Villecourt a cardinal instead.[29]
On 22 August 1861, the pope informed thePatriarch of VeniceAngelo Ramazzotti that he would name him a cardinal, however, Ramazzoti died three days before the consistory. Also in 1861, thedean of the Sacred Rota Ignazio Alberghini declined the pope's offer of nomination into the Sacred College. In December 1863, Pius IX intended to elevate theArchbishop of Gniezno and PoznańLeon Michał Przyłuski to the cardinalate, but he died before the consistory took place. In 1866, Pius IX wanted to nominate aBarnabite to the College of Cardinals before he opened the First Vatican Council. While the pope originally decided on appointingCarlo Vercellone, a noted biblical scholar, Vercellone refused due to his precarious health, instead proposing that Pius IX instead nominateLuigi Bilio. In 1868, Pius IX nominated Andre Pila to the cardinalate, however, he died the day before he would have been elevated as the only person for elevation in that April consistory. Also in 1868, Pius IX offered the cardinalate to the Bishop of ConcepciónJosé Hipólito Salas whom he had met during the First Vatican Council, inviting him to join the Roman Curia. However, the bishop preferred to live in Chile and declined the offer, while Pius IX did not offer it again in the future.[29]
In 1875, Pius IX intended to nominate the papalalmonerXavier de Mérode to the Sacred College, however, he died just eight months before the consistory was to be held. Pius IX also decided to nominateAugusto Negroni [pl], a longtime Curial official, but he declined and instead joined theSociety of Jesus in mid-1874.[29]
Pius IX named three newDoctors of the Church:Hilary of Poitiers (13 May 1851, naming him "Doctor divinitatem Christi" or "Doctor of the Divinity of Christ"),Alphonsus Liguori (23 March 1871, naming him "Doctor zelantissimus" or "Most Zealous Doctor"), andFrancis de Sales (19 July 1877, naming him "Doctor caritatis" or "Doctor of Charity").
Pius IX was not only pope but, until 1870, also the lastsovereign ruler of thePapal States. As a secular ruler he was occasionally referred to as "king",[30] though it is unclear whether theHoly See ever accepted this title.Ignaz von Döllinger, a fervent critic of Pius' infallibility dogma, considered the political regime of the pope in the Papal States "wise, well-intentioned, mild-natured, frugal and open for innovations".[31] Yet there was controversy. In the period before the1848 revolutions, Pius was a most ardent reformer advised by such innovative thinkers asAntonio Rosmini (1797–1855), who reconciled the new free-thinking concerning human rights with the classicalnatural law tradition of the church's political and economic teaching onsocial justice.[32] After the revolution, his political reforms and constitutional improvements were minimal, remaining largely within the framework of the 1850 laws mentioned above.[33]
The centre of Rome showing theColosseum andRoman Forum around 1870. Almost rural in character, it was known as the "Campo Vaccino" or "cattle field"
Pius IX's liberal policies initially made him very popular throughout Italy. He appointed an able and enlightened minister,Pellegrino Rossi, to administer the Papal States. He also showed himself hostile toAustrian influences, delighting Italian patriots, who hailed him as the coming redeemer of Italy. He once declared, "They want to make a Napoleon of me who am only a poor country parson."[34]
In Pius' early years as pope, the government of the Papal States improved agricultural technology and productivity via farmer education in newly created scientific agricultural institutes. It abolished the requirements forJews to attend Christian services and sermons and opened the papal charities to the needy amongst them. The new pope freed all political prisoners by giving amnesty to revolutionaries, which horrified the conservative monarchies in the Austrian Empire and elsewhere.[11] "He was celebrated inNew York City,London andBerlin as a model ruler."[11]
In 1848, Pius IX released a new constitution titled the "Fundamental Statute for the Secular Government of the States of the Church". The governmental structure of the Papal States reflected the dual spiritual-secular character of the papacy. The secular or laypersons were strongly in the majority with 6,850 persons versus 300 members of the clergy. Nevertheless, the clergy made key decisions and every job applicant had to present a character evaluation from his parishpriest to be considered.[35][full citation needed]
Financial administration in the Papal States under Pius IX was increasingly put in the hands of laymen. The budget and financial administration in the Papal States had long been subject to criticism even before Pius IX. In 1850, he created a government finance body ("congregation") consisting of four laymen with finance backgrounds for the 20 provinces. After joining theLatin Monetary Union in 1866, the oldRoman scudo was replaced by the newpapal lira.
Pius IX is credited with systematic efforts to improve manufacturing and trade by giving advantages and papal prizes to domestic producers ofwool, silk and other materials destined for export. He improved the transportation system by building roads, viaducts, bridges andseaports. A series of new railway links connected the Papal States to northern Italy. It soon became apparent that the Northern Italians were more adept at economically exploiting the modern means of communication than the inhabitants in central and Southern Italy.[36]
The justice system of the Papal States was subject to much criticism, not unlike the justice systems in the rest of Italy. Legal books were scarce, standards inconsistent, and judges were often accused of favoritism. In the Papal States and throughout Italy, organized criminal gangs threatened commerce and travelers, engaging in robbery and murder at will.[37]
The two papal universities inRome andBologna suffered much from revolutionary activities in 1848 but their standards in the areas of science, mathematics, philosophy and theology were considered adequate.[39] Pius recognized that much had to be done and instituted a reform commission in 1851. During his tenure, Catholics andProtestants collaborated to found a school in Rome to study international law and train international mediators committed to conflict resolution.[40] There was one newspaper,Giornale di Roma, and one periodical,La Civiltà Cattolica, run byJesuits.[39]
Like most of his predecessors, Pius IX was a patron of the arts. He supported architecture, painting, sculpture, music,goldsmiths,coppersmiths, and more, and handed out numerous rewards to artists.[41] Much of his efforts went to renovate and improve churches in Rome and the Papal States.[42] He ordered the strengthening of theColosseum, which was feared to be on the verge of collapse.[43] Huge sums were spent in the excavation of the ChristianCatacombs of Rome, for which Pius created a new archaeological commission in 1853.
The Papal States were atheocracy in which the Catholic Church and its members had far more rights than other religions. Pius IX's religious policies became increasingly reactionary over time. At the beginning of his pontificate, together with other liberal measures, Pius opened up theJewish ghetto in Rome, freeing Jews to reside elsewhere. In 1850, after French troops defeated the revolutionaryRoman Republic and returned him from exile, the Pope reversed the Republic's religious freedom laws and issued a series of anti-liberal measures, including re-instituting the Jewish ghetto.[44]
In a highly publicizedcase from 1858, the police of the Papal States seized a 6-year-old Jewish boy,Edgardo Mortara, from his parents. A Christian servant girl unrelated to the family claimed she had informallybaptized him during an illness six years prior, fearing he would die. This had made the child legally a Christian convert, and Papal law forbade Christians from being raised by Jews, even their own parents. The incident provoked widespread outrage amongst liberals, both Catholic and non-Catholic, and contributed to the growing anti-papal sentiment in Europe. The boy was raised in thepapal household, and was eventually ordained a priest at age 21.[45]
Pius IX was the last pope who also functioned as a secular ruler and the monarch of thePapal States, ruling over some 3 million subjects from 1846 to 1870, when the newly foundedKingdom of Italy seized the remaining areas of the Papal States by force of arms. Contention between Italy and the Papacy was only resolved legally by the 1929Lateran Treaty (Lateran Pacts orLateran Accords) between the Kingdom of Italy underMussolini and theHoly See, the latter receiving financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States and recognition of the Vatican City State as the sovereign independent territory of the Holy See.
Two paintings byKarl Bryullov showing the political situation of the time. (Left): Manifestation in Rome (Speech of Pope Pius IX from the balcony of the Papal Palace); (right): Demonstration in Rome in 1846
Though he was well aware upon his accession of the political pressures within thePapal States, Pius IX's first act was a generalamnesty forpolitical prisoners, despite the potential consequences. The freed revolutionaries resumed their previous political activities, and his concessions only provoked greater demands as patriotic Italian groups sought not only a constitutional government – to which he was sympathetic – but also theunification of Italy under his leadership and awar of liberation to free the northern Italian provinces from the rule of Catholic Austria.[46]By early 1848, all of Western Europe began to be convulsed in variousrevolutionary movements.[47] The Pope, claiming to be above national interests, refused to go to war with Austria, which reversed Pius' popularity in his native Italy.[46] In a calculated, well-prepared move,Prime Minister Rossi was assassinated on 15 November 1848, and in the days following, theSwiss Guards were disarmed, making the Pope a prisoner in his palace.[48] However, he succeeded in escaping Rome several days later.
ARoman Republic was declared in February 1849. Pius responded from his exile by excommunicating all participants.[49] After the suppression of the republic later that year, Pius appointed a conservative government of three cardinals known as theRed Triumvirate to administer the Papal States until his return to Rome in April 1850.[50] He visited the hospitals to comfort the wounded and sick, but he seemed to have lost both his liberal tastes and his confidence in the Romans, who had turned against him in 1848.[citation needed] Pius decided to move his residence from theQuirinal Palace inside Rome to the Vatican, where popes have lived ever since.[31]
Illustration of the inside of Saint Peter's Basilica in the 1870s, published byJohn Gilmary Shea
After defeating the Papal army on 18 September 1860 at theBattle of Castelfidardo, and on 30 September atAncona,Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia took all the Papal territories exceptLatium with Rome and took the titleKing of Italy. Rome itself wasinvaded on 20 September 1870 after a few-hours siege.[51] Italy instituted theLaw of Guarantees (13 May 1871) which gave the Pope the use of the Vatican but denied him sovereignty over this territory, nevertheless granting him the right to send and receive ambassadors and a budget of 3.25 millionlira annually. Pius IX officially rejected this offer (encyclicalUbi nos, 15 May 1871), since it was a unilateral decision which did not grant the papacy international recognition and could be changed at any time by the secular parliament.
Pius IX refused to recognize the new Italian kingdom, which he denounced as an illegitimate creation of revolution. He excommunicated the nation's leaders, including King Victor Emmanuel II, whom he denounced as "forgetful of every religious principle, despising every right, trampling upon every law," whose reign over Italy was therefore "a sacrilegious usurpation."[52]
Obelisk in honor of Pope Pius IX inJamay, Jalisco, Mexico
In response to the upheavals faced by the Papal States during the 1848 revolutions, theMexican government offered Pope Pius IX asylum, which the pope responded to by considering the creation of a Mexican cardinal and granting an award to PresidentJosé Joaquín de Herrera.[53] With French EmperorNapoleon III'smilitary intervention in Mexico and establishment of theSecond Mexican Empire underMaximilian I in 1864, the church sought relief from a friendly government after the anti-clerical actions ofBenito Juárez, who had suspended payment on foreign debt and seized ecclesial property.[54][55][56]
Pius blessed Maximilian and his wifeCharlotte of Belgium before they set off for Mexico to begin their reign.[57] But the friction between the Vatican and Mexico would continue with the new emperor when Maximilian insisted on freedom of religion, which Pius opposed. Relations with the Vatican would only be resumed when Maximilian sent the recently converted American Catholic priest Father Agustin Fischer to Rome as his envoy.[citation needed]
Contrary to Fischer's reports back to Maximilian, the negotiations did not go well and the Vatican would not budge.[58] Maximilian sent his wife Charlotte to Europe to plead with Napoleon III against the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico. After unsuccessful meetings with Napoleon III, Charlotte travelled to Rome to plead with Pius in 1866. As the days passed, Charlotte's mental state deteriorated.[59] She sought refuge with the pope, and she would eat and drink only what was prepared for him, fearful that everything else might be poisoned. The pope, though alarmed, accommodated her, and even agreed to let her stay in the Vatican one night after she voiced anxiety about her safety. She and her assistant were the first women to stay the night inside the Vatican.[60]
England for centuries was considered missionary territory for the Catholic Church.[20] In the wake ofCatholic emancipation in theUnited Kingdom (which included all of Ireland), Pius IX changed that with the bullUniversalis Ecclesiae (29 September 1850). He re-established the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, under the newly appointed Archbishop and CardinalNicholas Wiseman with 12 additional episcopal seats:Southwark,Hexham,Beverley,Liverpool,Salford,Shrewsbury,Newport,Clifton,Plymouth,Nottingham,Birmingham, andNorthampton.[61] Some violent street protests against the "papal aggression" resulted in the passage of theEcclesiastical Titles Act 1851, which forbade any Catholic bishop to use an episcopal title "of any city, town or place, or of any territory or district (under any designation or description whatsoever), in the United Kingdom".[62] The law was never enforced and wasrepealed twenty years later.[63]
The Dutch government instituted religious freedom for Catholics in 1848.[65] In 1853, Pius erected theArchdiocese of Utrecht and four dioceses inHaarlem,Den Bosch,Breda, andRoermond under it. As in England, this resulted in a brief popular outburst of anti-Catholic sentiment.[66]
Traditionally Catholic Spain offered a challenge to Pius IX as anti-clerical governments came to power in 1832, resulting in the expulsion of religious orders; the closing of convents, Catholic schools and libraries; the seizure and sale of churches and religious properties; and the inability of the church to fill vacant dioceses.[67] In 1851, Pius IX concluded a concordat with QueenIsabella II stipulating that unsold ecclesial properties were to be returned, while the church renounced properties that had already passed to new owners. This flexibility of Pius led to Spain guaranteeing the freedom of the church in religious education.[67]
Pope Pius IX approved on 7 February 1847 the unanimous request of the American bishops that theImmaculate Conception be invoked as thePatroness of the United States. Beginning in October 1862, the Pope began sending public letters to Catholic leaders in the United States calling for an end to the "destructiveCivil War."[68] According to historianDon H. Doyle, however, "During the American Civil War, the pope ... urged American bishops to call for peace at a time when peace meant separation, and privately he expressed strong sympathies with the South. The Confederacy sent envoys to enlist Pio Nono in their cause and came away boasting the most powerful pontiff in Europe had recognized the Confederacy. The pope said nothing to refute such claims...."[69]
The Vatican never recognized theConfederate States of America or sent any diplomats to it. However, in 1863 the pope did meet privately with a Confederate envoy and suggested gradual emancipation.[70] A letter of Pius IX toJefferson Davis in December 1863, addressing him as "Praesidi foederatorum Americae regionum" (President of the federated regions of America), was not seen as recognition of the Confederacy, even by its own officials: Confederate Secretary of StateJudah P. Benjamin interpreted it as "a mere inferential recognition, unconnected with political action or the regular establishment of diplomatic relations" without the weight of formal recognition.[71] Pius IX elevated ArchbishopJohn McCloskey of New York as the first American to theCollege of Cardinals on 15 March 1875.[72]
The1848 revolution had mixed results for the Catholic Church inAustria-Hungary. It freed the church from the heavy hand of the state in its internal affairs, which was applauded by Pius IX. Similar to other countries, Austria-Hungary had significant anti-Catholic political movements, mainlyliberals, which forced the emperorFranz-Joseph I in 1870 to renounce theConcordat of 1855 with the Vatican. Austria had already in 1866 nullified several of its sections concerning the freedom of Catholic schools and prohibition of civil marriages.[74] After diplomatic approaches failed, Pius responded on 7 March 1874 with the encyclicalVix dum a nobis, demanding religious freedom and freedom of education.[citation needed] Despite these developments, there was no equivalent to the GermanKulturkampf in Austria, and Pius created new dioceses throughout Austria-Hungary.[75]
Expulsion of the Russian envoy Felix von Meyendorff by Pope Pius IX for insulting the Catholic faith
InGermany, the state ofPrussia, under the leadership ofOtto von Bismarck, saw Catholicism as a dangerous foreign influence, and in 1872–1878 fought hard to reduce the power of the pope and the bishops. After years of struggle in theKulturkampf, the Catholics fought back by mobilising their voters in Prussia and in Germany as a whole. After Pius died, Bismarck came to terms with the newPope Leo XIII. He dropped his alliance with the anti-Catholic Liberals and instead formed a political coalition with the CatholicCentre Party.[76]
ThePontificate of Pius IX began in 1847 with an "Accomodamento", a generous agreement, which allowed Pius to fill vacantepiscopal sees of the Latin rites both in Russia (specifically the Baltic countries) and in the Polish provinces of Russia.[citation needed] The short-lived freedoms were undermined by theRussian Orthodox Church,[citation needed] Polish political aspirations in the occupied lands,[citation needed] and the tendency of imperial Russia to act against any dissent. Pius first tried to position himself in the middle, strongly opposing revolutionary and violent opposition against the Russian authorities and appealing to them for more ecclesiastical freedom.[77] After the failure of thePolish uprising in 1863, Pius sided with the persecuted Poles, protesting against their persecutions, and infuriating the Tsarist government to the point that all Catholic dioceses were eliminated by 1870.[78] Pius criticized the Tsar – without naming him – for expatriating whole communities to Siberia, exiling priests, condemning them tolabour camps and abolishing Catholic dioceses.[citation needed] He pointed to Siberian villagesTounka andIrkout, where in 1868, 150 Catholic priests were awaiting death.[79]
Pius IX in a papal train, 1862. He was the first pope to be photographed.[80]
Pius IX in the inauguration of the "Ponte dell'Industria" railway bridge, September 1863
Blessing of the Pontifical Troops, 1870
Several times during his pontificate, Pius IX considered moving from Rome. On 24 November 1848, facing a rebellion by Italian nationalists, he fled toGaeta in theKingdom of the Two Sicilies, returning in 1850. On 26 July 1862, whenGiuseppe Garibaldi and his volunteers marching in Rome were stopped atAspromonte, Pius IX asked the British envoyOdo Russell if he would be granted political asylum in England after the Italian troops had marched in. Russell assured him of asylum if the need arose, but said that he was sure that the Pope's fears were unfounded.[81] In 1870, after theCapture of Rome and the suspension of theFirst Vatican Council,Otto von Bismarck confided that Pius IX had asked whether Prussia could grant him asylum. Bismarck did not object, adding "it would be very useful to us to be recognised by Catholics as what we really are, that is to say, the sole power now existing that is capable of protecting the head of their Church. ... But the King (Wilhelm I) will not consent. He is terribly afraid. He thinks all Prussia would be perverted and he himself would be obliged to become a Catholic. I told him, however, that if the Pope begged for asylum he could not refuse it."[82]
Pius was adamant about his role as the highest teaching authority in the church,[83] as expressed in the dogma ofPapal infallibility defined by theFirst Vatican Council in 1870.
Unlike popes in the 20th century, Pius IX did not use encyclicals to explain the faith, but to condemn what he considered errors. He was the first pope to popularize encyclicals on a large scale to foster his views.
After prior consultation of the hierarchy inUbi primum (see above), Pius decisively acted on the century-old disagreement betweenDominicans andFranciscans regarding theImmaculate Conception of Mary, deciding in favour of the Franciscan view.[87] However, his defining this infallibledogma raised a question: Can a pope make such decisions without the authority of the bishops? This doctrine ofpapal infallibility, enhancing the role of the papacy and decreasing the role of the bishops, became a topic of the First Vatican Council convened in 1869.[87]
Pius IX approved 74 new religious congregations for women alone. In France, he created over 200 new dioceses and created new hierarchies in several countries.[88] He supported Catholic associations such as the Ambrosian Circle in Italy, the Union of Catholic Workers in France, and the Pius Verein and the Deutsche Katholische Gesellschaft in Germany, whose purpose was to bring the fullness of Catholic faith to people outside the church.[89]
Since 1868, the pope had been plagued first by facialerysipelas and then by open sores on his legs.[90] Nevertheless, he insisted on celebrating daily Mass. The extraordinary heat of the summer of 1877 worsened the sores to the effect that he had to be carried. He underwent several painful medical procedures with remarkable patience.[91] He spent most of his last few weeks in his library, where he received cardinals and heldpapal audiences.[92] On 8 December, the Feast of theImmaculate Conception, his situation improved markedly to the point that he could walk again.
Illustration of the funeral of Pius IX at Saint Peter's Basilica, published byCurrier and Ives in 1878
By February, he could say Mass again on his own in a standing position, enjoying the popular celebration of the 75th anniversary of hisFirst Communion.Bronchitis, a fall to the floor, and rising temperature worsened his situation after 4 February 1878. He continued joking about himself: when theCardinal Vicar of Rome ordered bell-ringing and non-stop prayers for his recuperation, the pope asked, "Why do you want to stop me from going to heaven?" He told his doctor that his time had come.[93]
Pius IX lived just long enough to witness the death of his old adversary,Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, in January 1878. As soon as he learned about the seriousness of the situation of the king, he absolved him of allexcommunications and other ecclesiastical punishments. Pius IX died one month later on 7 February 1878 at 5:40 pm, aged 85, while saying therosary with his staff. The cause of death wasepilepsy, which led to a seizure and a suddenheart attack.[94] His last words were, "Guard the Church I loved so well and sacredly", as recorded by the cardinals kneeling beside his bedside.[95] His death concluded the second-longest pontificate in papal history, after that ofSaint Peter, who tradition holds had reigned for 37 years.
His body was originally buried in theVatican Grottoes, but was moved in a night procession on 13 July 1881 to theBasilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls. When the cortege approached the Tiber River, a group of anticlerical Romans screaming "Long live Italy! Death to the Pope! Death to the Priests!" threatened to throw the coffin into the river but a contingent ofCarabinieri arrived to prevent this.[96] The simple grave of Pius IX was changed by his successorJohn Paul II after hisbeatification.
The process for hisbeatification, which in the early stages was strongly opposed by the Italian government, was begun on 11 February 1907, and recommenced three times.[97] The Italian government had since 1878 strongly opposed beatification of Pius IX. Without Italian opposition,Pope John Paul II declared Pius IX to beVenerable on 6 July 1985 (upon confirming his life ofheroic virtue), and beatified him on 3 September 2000 (his annual liturgical commemoration is 7 February, the date of his death). The beatification of Pius IX was controversial, and was criticized by some Jews and Christians because of what was perceived as his authoritarian and reactionary politics; the accusation of abuse of episcopal powers; andantisemitism (most specifically the case ofEdgardo Mortara but also his reinstituting the Roman ghetto).[98]
Pius IX celebrated hissilver jubilee in 1871, going on to have thelongest reign in the history of the post-apostolic papacy, 31 years, 7 months, and 23 days. As his temporal sovereignty was lost, the Church rallied around him, and the papacy became more centralized, encouraged by his personal habits of simplicity.[99] Pius IX's pontificate marks the beginning of the modern papacy: from his time on, it has become increasingly a spiritual rather than temporal authority.
Having started as a liberal, Pius IX turned conservative after being chased from Rome. Thereafter, he was considered politically conservative, but a restless and radical reformer and innovator of Church life and structures. Church life, religious vocations, new foundations and religious enthusiasm all flourished at the end of his pontificate.[100] Politically, he suffered the isolation of the papacy from most major world powers: "the prisoner of the Vatican" had poor relations withRussia,Germany, the United States, and France, and open hostility with Italy. Yet he was most popular with the remaining Catholic faithful in all these countries, in many of which Pope Pius associations were formed in his support.[citation needed] He made lasting ecclesiastical history with his 1854infallible decision of theImmaculate Conception, which was the basis for the later dogma on theAssumption. His other lasting contribution is the invocation of theFirst Vatican Council, which promulgated the definition of Papalinfallibility. With his advice he helpedJohn Bosco found theSalesian Society, for which reason he is also called "don Bosco's Pope".[101]
In two nights after his 1846 pardon freeing all political prisoners, thousands of Romans with torches roamed to theQuirinal Palace, where Pius IX lived, celebrating the pope withEvvivas, speeches and music through both nights. The Pope went several times to the balcony to give his blessing. On the third day, when his horse-drawn carriage left the Palace to move to the Vatican, Romans unhitched the horses and pulled the papal carriage on their own.[102]
On 16 November 1848, a crowd of revolutionaries moved to the Quirinal and the Parliament to present to the Pope their demands, especially war against Austria. The Pope reportedly replied, his dignity as head of state and of the church does not permit him to fulfill conditions of rebels. Following this, the Quirinal was covered by cannon fire, which caused several deaths. After that, to save lives, the Pope agreed to a list of proposed ministers, although stating that he would abstain from any cooperation with them.[103]
After the French troops, who had previously protected the Papal States, left Rome, an Italian army with 60,000 men approached the city, which was defended by only 10,000 Papal soldiers. The Pope instructed his hopelessly outnumbered soldiers to give only token resistance and to enter an armistice after the first defeat because the Deputy of Christ does not shed blood. When the oldPorta Pia was bombarded, opening a huge hole for the invaders, the Pope asked the white flag to be shown. It was his last act as ruler of thePapal States.[104] The last Papal shot at the Porta Pia was fired by an Austrian alumnus of theStella Matutina.[105]
Pius IX was lampooned in a pun on the Italian version of his name (Pio Nono –Nono meaning "Ninth"), asPio No No.[citation needed]
One enduring popular touch lies in Pius IX's artistic legacy as author of the Italian-language lyrics of Italy's best-known indigenous Christmas carol, "Tu scendi dalle stelle" ("From starry skies descended"), originally aNeapolitan language song written byAlphonsus Liguori.
During his stay in theKingdom of Two Sicilies, on 8 September 1849, Pope Pius IX had the experience of a train trip fromPortici toPagani, so he became enthusiastic about this modern invention. When he went back to his seat in Rome, he promoted the growth of a railroad network, starting in 1856 with theRome and Frascati Rail Road. By 1870, the length of railway lines built in thePapal States was 317 kilometres (197 mi). He also introducedgas lighting and theElectrical telegraph to the Papal States.
^In den nächsten zwanzig Monaten war Pius IX. der populärste Mann der Halbinsel; des Rufes "Evviva Pio nono!" war kein Ende mehr. (Seppelt –Löffler:Papstgeschichte, München 1933, p. 408). Seearchive.org (download)
^Schapiro, J. Salwyn, Ph.D.,Modern and Contemporary European History (1815-1921) (Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1921, Revised Edition), pp. 204–205
^Kertzer, David I. (2006).Prisoner of the Vatican: The Popes, the Kings, and Garibaldi's Rebels in the Struggle to Rule Modern Italy. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 57.ISBN0618619194.
^Schapiro, J. Salwyn, Ph.D.,Modern and Contemporary European History (1815-1921) (Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1921, Revised Edition), p. 218
^Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1879).History of Mexico volume V: 1824-1861. p. 591.
^Doyle, Don H.The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War (2015), p. 261.
^Doyle, Don H.,The Age of Reconstruction: How Lincoln's New Birth of Freedom Remade the World. Princeton, NJ, and Oxford, UK: Princeton University Press (2024), p. 264.
^Doyle, Don H.The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War (2015), p. 264.
^Ronald J. Ross, "Enforcing the Kulturkampf in the Bismarckian state and the limits of coercion in imperial Germany."Journal of Modern History (1984): 456-482.online
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