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Name:
Pope Pius IX
Born: Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti
Preceded by: Gregory XVI (1831 - 1846)
Succeeded by: Leo XIII (1878 - 1903)
Roman Catholic Pope #256
Dates:
Born: May 13, 1792 (Italy)
Died: February 7, 1878
Pope: June 16, 1846 - February 7, 1878 (31 years, 7 months)
Syllabus of Errors: 1864
First Vatican Council: 1869
Biography:
The longest reigning pope to date, Pius IX ruled during a time of growing nationalism
througout Europe and increasing political upheaval. One consequence of these forces
was the creation of the Roman Republic in 1849 with Rome as its capital, thus
eliminating the temporal papal estates except for the Vatican and it's immediate
surroundings - a situation which has continued through today. This changed the papacy
back to a solely religious / spiritual office, much as it was at the beginning.
As desirable as that might sound today, it was not what Pius wanted and he was personally offended by the anti-clerical undertones he saw in the Italian political unification. Out of spite towards the leaders, he declared himself their prisoner and confined himself to the Vatican from 1871 until he died. Part of his problem was that his popularity among the Italian people had pretty much disappeared.
Italy and Austria had been at odds with each other and Pius refused to take sides in what was a nationalistic dispute - this effort at neutrality cost him dearly, forcing him actually flee Rome in 1850. Italians came to regard the papal estates and the papacy itself as direct obstacles to Italian national unification - these estates straddled the peninsula, preventing a geographic and, hence, political union between northern and southern Italy. Pius felt personally betrayed and refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Italian state; he even prohibited Italian Catholics from participating in state politics, lest that give the government legitimacy.
Ironically, even as Pius experienced problems with the growing centralization of power in secular governments, he worked to centralize power within the Catholic hierarchy. As part of his effort to combat unorthodox beliefs, he published his infamous Syllabus of Errors in 1864, a document condemning all manner of modern and liberal beliefs like religious freedom and free speech. It even rejected modernity itself, condeming those who argue that "the Roman pontiff can and should reconcile and harmonize himself with progress, with liberalism, and with recent civilization."
In 1869 Pius summoned the First Vatican Council which would condemn various forms of materialism and atheism. The most famous - or infamous - result of this Council was, however, the declaration of Papal Infallibility. This represented a victory for conservatives who had long been promoting ultramontanism as an antidote for the ills of modernity and liberalism.
Not all Catholics accepted Pius' new status. Austria renounced its concordat with the Vatican and a number of diocese broke away completely to form the Old Catholic Church. In Germany it unleashed the church-state dispute known as the Kulturkampf ("battle of cultures"). Anti-church liberals joined with Catholic liberals and conservative chancellor Otto von Bismark in an assault on the power of the Catholic Church in matters like education and marriage.
One other important church dogma which came out of Pius' reign as pope was that of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, something he defined on his own authority in 1854. It provided significant support to the Marian movement in the church and formed a basis for Marian devotion throughout the twentieth century.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
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