We, as a people of God, are so blessed. Our dear God knows what we need, when we need it, and who can do the job. He knows when we are in crisis, or about to be attacked fiercely, and then He gives us the right person to handle the situation. Pope Pius IX was beloved by all Christendom, and he was truly a Saint. That has been proven true by his being raised to the level of Blessed in the Process for Canonization by another Saintly Pope, John Paul II. But that is not to say he was loved by the whole world, especially not by the political powers of the world. There are even those who did not appear grief-stricken when he passed to his Heavenly reward. Remember, he was the Pope who had the Papal States taken away from him, and exiled himself in the for the rest of his life. Until the end of his life, he did battle with , , and all those countries that were bound and determined to take away all Papal power in Europe.
So the Lord had His work cut out for Him to find a man who would not only carry on the legacy left by Pope Pius IX, but could also calm the political storm which was left behind in the wake of the Pope's battle to maintain the Patrimony of Peter, also known as the Papal States. Realizing he was not able to handle all of the required political formalities of his office, due to the tensions he was constantly under, Pius IX had handed over most of the diplomatic chores of his Papacy to Cardinal Antonelli, but he died in 1877, and Pope Pius IX died the following winter. It is fair to say that the was in a diplomatic shambles after the death of Pope Pius IX. So who was the Lord going to choose to put in the hot seat of the Papacy? He chose a very strong, but very peace-loving Cardinal from , Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci, to be known for all time as Pope Leo XIII, God's diplomat.
God chooses the right man for the job
God is so amazing. He knows what He has to do before He has to do it. He knows who He has to send into battle before the battle has even begun. But then, God is God. Nine years before Pope Pius IX was even ordained, the Lord gave us a new fighter for all that He holds dear in the birth of Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci, on March 2, 1810. He was to be the successor to Pope Pius IX. Gioacchino was born in the little district, south of , in the vicinity of Frosinone. His parents were originally Sienese, or related to the Pecci's of , but as was the case in many noble families of that period, they had fallen on hard times. He was the sixth of seven boys born to Count Lodovico Pecci and Anna Prosperi Buzzi.
Gioacchino and his older brother Giuseppe both had a desire from early childhood to devote their lives to God through the ministry of the priesthood. When Gioacchino was 8, and his brother Giuseppe was 10, they entered into a Jesuit academy in Viterbo, which was the beginning of their career in religious life. In addition to becoming learned in the spiritual life, Gioacchino took to the social skills which would have a great effect on the quality of his papacy, in particular, the use of Latin and classic Italian. He enjoyed learning and becoming extremely proficient in those skills. In later years, when he wrote sacred poetry, this perception and refinement would come into play. The Pecci brothers remained close throughout their lives. Giuseppe was elevated to the rank of Cardinal in 1879, after his brother Gioacchino became Pope, and in 1884, was named Prefect of Studies in the Roman Curia. Sadly, though he was only two years older, he died in 1890, thirteen years before his famous younger brother. He had just turned 82 years old.
The Road to theVatican
Every one knew that Gioacchino was destined to be a priest, and to accomplish great things in the Church, every one except Gioacchino. He wasn't sure. He studied at the for eight years, considering the possibilities of a public life, but he managed to include theology and canon law in his studies. By the time he was ready for the next step in his development, he either knew, or was guided from above to enroll in the Ecclesiastical Nobles in in 1832. There's a cute aside to his enrollment in the well-accredited of You had to be a nobleman to gain entrance. He knew he was a noble, but the enrollment committee wasn't sure. It was at that juncture that he wrote a history of his family, a family tree, in which he connected his family to the Pecci's of All's well. He entered the Academy, where he excelled, and in 1836, was awarded a degree in theology from the Academy, as well as a degree in civil and canon law at the in Rome.
It's almost as if the Lord whispered in the ears of important people in the that here was a young man who would go far in the Church, and so they had better jump-start his career. As it turned out, even before he was ordained a priest in 1837, he was appointed Domestic Prelate to the Pope on February 6, 1837. By the time he was ordained on New Year's Eve 1837, he had already served in that position, and also on the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace. Two months after his ordination, he began his career as Apostolic delegate. First, he was Apostolic delegate to , and then in 1843, after having been ordained bishop, he was named Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium.
Now, all those titles sound really great, and it would seem like he was just whisked from one position to the next. However, the truth be known, he jumped from one frying pan into another fire. But the Lord knew he had the ability to put out fires.
His first assignment, Apostolic Delegate to went like this. was a city subject to the Papal States, but situated in the middle of the , which was not subject to the Holy See. Fr. Pecci's first assignment proved to be a difficult one. He had to actually go outside the security of the There were remnants of Napoleon's mercenaries all throughout the countryside. In addition, there were common bandits and highwaymen roaming the cities and villages, robbing and killing people. After a short time off for having contracted typhoid fever, he went into his assignment full force. He began cleaning up the area. Remember, by now he was only 28 years old, and he cracked the whip. He was able to enlist the support of the police to help stamp out crime; he helped the people with taxes and generally did an excellent job for the Holy See.
So much so that his next assignment was another one where a strong hand was necessary, only this time there was a different problem, which would require great diplomacy. It was the Archdiocese of Spoleto, but this responsibility was ominous, as well as difficult. It was a new challenge for the now 31 year old. The problem was not so much thieves and brigands, as had been the case in , but a strong, anti-clerical and anti-papal sentiment, which abounded. The enemy had been much easier to identify in However, he rolled up his sleeves, pitched in and within three years, turned the entire situation around. He was able to wipe out a scourge which had been a blight on the people for centuries, usury, the charging of unreasonable or relatively high rates of interest, making it difficult, almost impossible to pay back the loan.. The people loved him for this. He also, very wisely, fought usury by creating a savings bank which would give loans at reasonable interest rates to the local people, farmers, trades people and the like. He focused his efforts on making the lot of the common man better, and in this way, was able to eliminate the bad feelings towards the Church and the Pope. He used a brilliant attack in this assignment. And while his main goal was to accomplish better relations between the region and the , he accomplished this and more by helping out the common man. He was truly being prepared for his role as God's Diplomat.
Two years later, the powers that be inside the Vatican, felt the time was right, and our priest was properly groomed by his previous assignments, to give him a really big job, that of Papal Nuncio to Brussels, Belgium. But in order for him to be properly disposed, they ordained Fr. Pecci to the rank of Bishop, or actually Archbishop. This was a situation which tested his ability to use his diplomatic skills to put down a potential hot spot. There was a strong animosity going on between the Catholic majority, and the Liberal minority. Bishop Pecci found himself smack in the middle of the controversy. However, he was able to use his God-given gift of diplomacy to befriend the Queen who was a good Catholic, and her husband, the king, who was liberal. At the same time as he was ingratiating himself to them, he was encouraging the bishops of to push on for Catholic Schools.
Bishop Pecci was able to unite the Catholics in the country, and fostered the building of a Belgian college in He became involved indirectly with a schismatic group from called the "German Catholics", founded by Fr. Johannes von Ronge. Ronge attacked the bishop of , in a local magazine, in 1844 with regard to the exposition of the Holy Coat of Trier. Tradition has it that this Holy Coat was the seamless robe of Our Lord Jesus, or the Holy Shroud. The tradition affirms that this relic was sent to that city by the Empress St. Helena. For some time the holders of this opinion based their claim on a document in the ancient archives of the city, the Sylvester Diploma, sent by Pope Sylvester to the Church of Trier. The exposition was an event which drew vast numbers of pilgrims. Fr. Ronge, a school teacher, gave the article to a news magazine, which published it. There was a great deal of antagonism; the priest was excommunicated, and a sympathetic movement began almost immediately, spreading all over that part of Europe, including many states in , and encroaching It appealed to the common man, embracing a simple form of worship, basically belief in the Bible, and rejecting the supremacy of the Pope. Bishop Pecci did the almost impossible; he blocked the revolution from spreading into Belgium.
Archbishop Pecci was a good negotiator, an excellent mediator. This would do him well in the twenty five years he was to serve at the helm of the Church as Pope. But his amicable ways, and flare for diplomacy aided him in handling some other explosive situations during his time in One incident in particular for which he received the praise and thanks of King Leopold was in negotiating and resolving a controversy between the Jesuits and theUniversity of Louvain.
The above article is taken from our New Mini-book series on the Popes, "BK402 - Pope Leo XIII"
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