Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX (May 13, 1792-February 7, 1878) - born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti - was the Pope and leader of the Catholic church from June 16, 1846 to February 7, 1878 the longest reign in Church history. He convened the First Vatican Council, which declared the Pope was infallible under certain conditions. He encouraged the rapid growth of religiosity among lay people, which strengthened the Church; he especially promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as symbol of love.
He began his papacy as a liberal reformer, but quickly reversed directions in 1846-48 because of his inability to reconcile the demands of religious and temporal power. Metternich in Austria and conservative cardinals, in particular secretary of state Cardinal Pasquale Gizzi (1787-1849), feared a popular uprising, but could not restrain the reforming pope. Pius IX's ambivalent handling of the constitutional issue and his decision not to join a war of Italian national liberation against Austria in April 1848 sparked revolution in the Papal States and drove the pope from Rome.
He fought secularism in Italy and France, and helped the German Catholics defeat the Kulturkampf.
He was proclaimed a saint during the papacy of Pope John Paul II.
Further reading
- Chadwick, Owen. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914 (1998) online edition
- Hales, E. E. Y. Pio Nono. A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century (1954), on Pope Pius IX onl;ine edition