Pope Pius IX

Rare card · No. 18330

Pope Pius IX (Italian: Pio IX; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 16 June 1846 until his death in February 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in history and second only to Saint Peter according to Catholic tradition. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican Council in 1868, which defined the dogma of papal infallibility before taking a break in the summer of 1870. The council never reconvened. At the same time, France started the Franco-Prussian War and removed the troops that protected the Papal States, which allowed the capture of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy on 20 September 1870. Thereafter, he refused to leave Vatican City, declaring himself a "prisoner in the Vatican". At the time of his election, he was a liberal reformer, and during his early papacy, he notably eased restrictions on Jewish movement and granted an amnesty to revolutionaries...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Public domain