16
June 1846 A.D. Pope
Pius IX Has Longest Pontificate
The longest papacy in history
began on this day June 16, 1846 when
Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti became Pope Pius IX. Well might he ponder
Christ's words, "In this world you will have many troubles, but be of good
cheer, for I have overcome the world." His thirty-two years as pontiff
were troubled indeed.
Pius IX's predecessor, Gregory
XVI had estranged Italians through oppressive measures. The popes were still
sovereign over large sections of Italy and were harsh landlords. Pius was
elected because of his reputation as one who favored granting liberties to
people. He won an immediate enthusiastic response by releasing thousands of
political prisoners and drawing up a constitution that would grant
representative government to Italians. But all of this quickly soured. Long
before his death he was considered a reactionary and once uttered the memorable
words: "Tradition--I am tradition!"
When he took office, the Popes
ruled vast lands. The papacy was strong and the people called for him to head a
coalition to rule Italy. Yet when he refused to condone the revolution that
aimed to drive the Austrians out of Italy, the people turned on him. He had to
flee for his life. Although the French restored him to Rome in 1849, he became
virtually a "prisoner of the Vatican." One by one, the papal lands
were stripped away.
After his humiliating flight and
restoration, Pius achieved a number of notable successes. He restored papal
hierarchies in the Protestant nations of England and the Netherlands and
negotiated concordats with Spain, Russia and Austria. Pius also created many
sees in the United States. Some years after he returned to Rome, he called the
First Vatican Council. The council was harshly criticized because there were
more Italian bishops than bishops from all other European nations combined.
Nonetheless, Vatican I made important
decisions. The tumultuous events of Pius IX's reign seemed to call for a
dramatic response by the beleaguered church. Perhaps that explains why this
time was chosen to declare the doctrine of papal infallibility, which says that
the pope cannot err when speaking ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals.
By ex cathedra is meant speaking in his authority as head of the church to
interpret such matters. A pope's ordinary comments and remarks are fallible, of
course. This teaching is rejected by Protestants, Orthodox and even some
Catholics, who find plenty of historic examples when the pope was not
infallible in his religious pronouncements.
Vatican I also denounced false
beliefs known as Modernism. Pius issued a Syllabus of Errors against such
developments as Rationalism, Communism, Naturalism, interfaith marriages and
latitudinarianism (a too wide and easy belief system)--but also against Bible
societies. He also announced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which
teaches that Mary was excluded from original sin from the moment of her
conception, entirely through the merits of Jesus Christ. Various theologians
(such as St. Ephrem) had held this view through the centuries. Among the
notables who did not were St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a devotee of Mary, and St.
Thomas Aquinas. Protestants and Orthodox reject the idea, pointing out that it
is not even hinted at in scripture, which they hold to be the final authority
in such matters.
Whispering, "Guard the
church I love so well," Pius IX died in 1878. His long papacy had finally
ended when he succumbed to a form of dropsy.
Bibliography:
1. Barry, William. Story of the
Nations: Papal Monarchy. Putnam, 1902.
2. Brusher, J. Popes Through the
Ages. Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand, 1964.
3. Montor, Chevalier Artaud de.
Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: Catholic Publication Society of
America, 1909.
4. "Pius IX." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
5. Sugrue, Francis. Popes in the
Modern World. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1961.
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