Pope Leo XIII
was born Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci in Carpineto Romana of Italian nobility on
March 2, 1810. Having studied with the Jesuits, Pope Leo XIII was
ordained a priest in 1837, became Archbishop of Damietta and Perugia, cardinal
in 1957, and was installed as pope on March 3, 1878.
Pope Leo XIII
was part of the Italian intelligencia and opened the archives of the Vatican
Library to scholars. He was opposed to naturalism and communism and
wanted the world to know that the Holy See was at the mercy of an Italian
anticlerical government.
Pope Leo XIII
wanted the papacy to be involved in Italy's economic, social, and political
affairs. He successfully prevented the Italian government from passing divorce
laws.
French novelist and naturalism proponent
Emile Zola's description of Pope Leo XIII:
"[Pope Leo] is more intellectual than sentimental, with unbounded pride,
having from his youth had the highest ambitions, demonstrating everywhere and
in everything he did, the determination, once pope, to rule, to rule at all
costs, to rule as an absolute..."
Pope Leo XIII
died July 20, 1903.
Pope Leo XIII Coat of Arms »»»
