Everything about Pope Leo Xiii totally explained
Pope Leo XIII (
March 2 1810—
July 20 1903), born
Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th
Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding
Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the
oldest pope, and had the
third longest pontificate, behind
Pius IX and
John Paul II. He is known as the "Pope of the
Working Man" and "The
Social Pope".
Early life
Born in
Carpineto Romano, near
Rome, he was the sixth of the seven sons of Count Lodovico Pecci and his wife Anna Prosperi Buzi. He received his
doctorate in
theology in 1836 and doctorates of civil and
Canon Law in Rome also. While in the
minor orders, he was appointed domestic prelate to
Pope Gregory XVI in January 1837. He was ordained
priest on
31 December 1837 by the
Vicar of Rome, became
titular archbishop of Damietta in 1843, and
apostolic nuncio to
Belgium on
28 January 1843. In that country, the school question was then sharply debated between the Catholic majority and the
Liberal minority. Pecci encouraged the struggle for Catholic schools, yet he was able to win the good will of the Court, not only of the pious
Queen Louise, but also of
King Leopold I, strongly Liberal in his views. The new nuncio succeeded in uniting the Catholics. Upon his initiative, a
Belgian College in Rome was opened in 1844.
Pecci was named papal assistant in 1843. He first achieved note as the popular and successful
Archbishop of Perugia from 1846 till 1877, during which period he'd to cope, among others, with the
earthquake and subsequent
famine that hit
Umbria in 1854. In addition to his post in Perugia, he was appointed
Cardinal-Priest of
S. Crisogono in 1853.
In August 1877, on the death of
Cardinal De Angelis,
Pope Pius IX appointed him
camerlengo, so that he was obliged to reside in Rome. Pope Pius died
7 February 1878, and during his closing years the Liberal press had often insinuated that the
Italian Government should take a hand in the
conclave and occupy the
Vatican. However the
Russo-Turkish War and the sudden death of
Victor Emmanuel II (
9 January 1878) distracted the attention of the government, the conclave proceeded as usual, and after the three scrutinies Cardinal Pecci was elected by forty-four votes out of sixty-one.
Papacy
Leo XIII worked to encourage understanding between the Church and the
modern world, though he preferred a cautious view on freedom of thought, stating that "is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing or worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man", and rejected some forms of
egalitarianism: "People differ in capacity, skill, health, strength; and unequal fortune is a necessary result of unequal condition. Such inequality is far from being disadvantageous either to individuals or to the community."
He firmly re-asserted the
scholastic doctrine that science and religion co-exist, and required the study of
Thomas Aquinas and opened the
Vatican Secret Archives to qualified researchers, among whom was the noted historian of the Papacy
Ludwig von Pastor.
Leo XIII was also the first Pope to come out strongly in favour of the
French Republic, upsetting many French
monarchists. In his relations with the Italian state, Leo XIII continued the Papacy's self-imposed
incarceration in the Vatican stance, and continued to insist that Italian
Catholics shouldn't vote in Italian elections or hold elected office. In his first
consistory in 1879 he elevated his older brother
Giuseppe a cardinal.
Leo XIII was the first Pope of whom a
sound recording was made. The recording can be found on a compact disc of
Alessandro Moreschi's singing; a recording of his performance of the
Ave Maria is available on the web
. He was also the first Pope to be filmed on the
motion picture camera. He was filmed by its inventor,
W. K. Dickson, and blessed the camera afterward.
Leo XIII brought normalcy back to the Church after the tumultuous years of Pius IX. Leo's intellectual and diplomatic skills helped regain much of the prestige lost with the fall of the Papal States. He tried to reconcile the Church with the working class, particularly by dealing with the social changes that were sweeping Europe. The new economic order had resulted in the growth of an impoverished working class, with increasing anti-clerical and socialist sympathies. Leo helped reverse this trend.
Under Bismarck, the anti-Catholic
kulturkampf in Germany led to massive reprisals against the Church. Under Leo, the anti-Catholic measures subsided. The Centre Party in Germany was largely a Catholic creation and was a positive force for social change. It was encouraged by Leo's support for social welfare legislation and the rights of working people. Leo's forward-looking approach encouraged Catholic Action in other European countries where the social teachings of the Church were incorporated into the agenda of Catholic parties, particularly the Christian Democratic Parties, which became an acceptable alternative to socialist parties. Leo's social teachings were reiterated throughout the 20th century by his successors.
While Leo was no radical in either theology or politics, his papacy did move the Church back to the mainstream of European life. Given the challenge he faced when he succeeded Pius IX, this was a significant accomplishment.
His favorite poets were Virgil and Dante.
Canonizations and beatification
He canonized the following saints:
In addition, he beatified
Gerard Majella in 1893 and
Edmund Campion in 1886.
Papal teachings and publications
social teaching, in which he argued that both
capitalism and
communism are flawed. His encyclical
Rerum Novarum focused on the rights and duties of
capital and
labour, and introduced the idea of
subsidiarity into Catholic social thought. A full list of all of Leo's encyclicals can be found in the
List of Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII.
In his 1893
encyclical Providentissimus Deus, Leo gave new encouragement to
Bible study while warning against rationalist interpretations which deny the inspiration of Scripture:
"For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the
Holy Ghost: and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it's impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which isn't true." (
Providentissimus Deus)
The 1896
bull Apostolicae Curae declared the
ordination of
deacons,
priests, and
bishops in
Anglican churches (including the
Church of England) invalid, while granting recognition to ordinations in the
Eastern Orthodox and
Oriental Orthodox churches although they were considered illicit.
His 1899
apostolic letter Testem Benevolentiae condemned the heresy called
Americanism.
Relations with the United Kingdom and the Americas
Among the activities of Leo XIII that were important for the English-speaking world we might certainly count the encyclical "Apostolicæ Curæ" of 1896 on the non-validity of the Anglican orders. Furthermore, Leo
restored the Scottish hierarchy in 1878. In British
India, he established a Catholic hierarchy in 1886, and regulated some long-standing conflicts with the Portuguese authorities.
The United States at many moments in time attracted the attention and admiration of Pope Leo. He confirmed the decrees of the
Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884), and raised to the cardinalate
Archbishop Gibbons of that city in 1886. Leo wasn't present at Washington on the occasion of the foundation of
The Catholic University of America. His role in South America will also be remembered, especially the
First Plenary Council of Latin America held at
Rome in 1899, and his encyclical of 1888 to the bishops of
Brazil on the
abolition of slavery.
American newspapers criticized Pope Leo because they claimed that he was attempting to gain control of American public
schools. One cartoonist drew Leo as a
fox unable to reach
grapes that were labeled for American schools; the caption read "Sour grapes!"
Death
Leo XIII was the first Pope to be born in the 19th century. He was also the first to die in the 20th century: he lived to the age of 93, making him the longest-lived Pope. At the time of his death, Leo XIII was the second-longest reigning successor of Peter, exceeded only by his immediate predecessor, Pius IX. Leo's regnal length was subsequently exceeded by that of
Pope John Paul II on
March 14,
2004.
Leo wasn't entombed in
St. Peter's Basilica, as all popes after him were, but instead at
St. John Lateran, a church in which he took a particular interest.
Audiences
While on a pilgrimage with her father and sister in 1887, the future Saint Thérèse of Lisieux during a general audience with Pope Leo XIII, asked him to allow her to enter the Carmelite order. Even though she was strictly forbidden to speak to him because she was told it would prolong the audience too much, in her autobiography, Story of a Soul, she wrote that after she kissed his slipper and he presented his hand, instead of kissing it, she took it in her own hand and said through tears, "Most Holy Father, I've a great favor to ask you. In honor of your Jubilee, permit me to enter Carmel at the age of 15!" Pope Leo XIII answered, "Well, my child, do what the superiors decide." Thérèse replied, "Oh! Holy Father, if you say yes, everybody will agree!" Finally, the Pope said, "Go... go... You will enter if God wills it" [italicshers] after which time two guards lifted Thérèse (still on her knees in front of the Pope) by her arms and carried her to the door where a third gave her a medal of the Pope. Shortly thereafter, the Bishop of Bayeux authorized the prioress to receive Thérèse, and in April 1888, she entered Carmel at the age of 15.
While known for his cheerful personality, Leo also had a gentle sense of humor as well. During one of his audiences, a man claimed to have had the opportunity to see Pius IX at one of his last audiences before his death in 1878. Upon hearing the remarkable story, Leo smiled and replied, "If I'd known that you were so dangerous to popes, I'd have postponed this audience further".
He played chess to a fairly high level, although a game attributed to him 1875(External Link) seems not to be genuine as it duplicates an earlier game Ilya Shumov vs Carl Friedrich Von Jaenisch.(External Link)Further Information
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