The French Revolution

The pope, who had great diplomatic gifts, endeavoured to es tablish good relations with all countries. He obtained the insti tution of a Russian embassy to the Vatican, and even estab lished diplomatic relations with Japan. A council of bishops of all the South American States was held in Rome in 1899. The Catholic hierarchy, which now extended over all parts of the world, was increased by nearly 30o dioceses and vicariates. Leo XIII. was a born ruler, and was inspired as a teacher by abun dant knowledge of the world and of life.

Pius X., 1903-14.

The new pope, Giuseppe Sarto, who took the name of Pius X., had no diplomatic experience, but was a shining example of the ideal virtues of a shepherd of souls. His motto was Instaurare omnia in Christ° ; and he addressed him self with determination to the task of fortifying the inner life of the Church in every possible way, and filling both clergy and people with the true spirit of the Gospel. While Leo XIII. had been above all the pope of kings, courts and bishops, Piux X. was the pope of the poor and humble, of the minor clergy and of theology and the practical cure of souls. Before he became pope, while he was bishop of Mantua and patriarch of Venice, he had won universal sympathy by his deeply religious nature and his activity in social and charitable affairs. As a result of what had taken place in the last conclave, when Austria had exercised its veto against the candidature of Cardinal Rampolla, he published two constitutions, which prohibited the exercise of the secular veto and reformed the method of papal elections (19o4). He reformed the Roman Curia, laid down rules concerning officials in order to check the evil of patronage, and defined the respective spheres of competence of the Congregations and the various other authorities of the Curia, which had become somewhat vague. There was a reduction of the number of fees charged for vari ous purposes. Rome was redivided into parishes. A reduction was made in the excessive number of seminaries for priests in Italy, and Pius instituted a uniform curriculum for the training of the clergy in theology and ascetic discipline. Like his predecessors, he laid stress on the study of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Bible. The Bible Institute was set up in Rome in 1909; it was organized by Fonck on the most modern scientific principles.

The Vatican library and archives were developed on the lines adopted by Leo XIII., and the new picture gallery was created. The Italian bishops were given instructions for the care of ecclesiastical archives and the preservation of monuments. Pius also undertook the reform of Church music, and encouraged the use of the old Gregorian chants.

The pope, as bishop of Rome, frequently preached sermons; he recommended frequent communion as a means of develop ing spiritual life, and suggested that children should be admitted to communion as early as possible. He carried out a number of liturgical reforms, and laid down rules for the secular and regu lar clergy, who were instructed to interest themselves in social questions. Pius did important work in connection with the codifi cation of ecclesiastical law. Under his instructions, the rules which remained valid for the present day were extracted in a clear and definite form from the chaotic mass of laws which had accumulated in the course of centuries, some of which no longer corresponded to modern requirements. He did not live to see the completion of this work, the new Codex iuris ecclesiastici, but certain of its provisions, including those relating to marriage, were put into force during his life-time.

A great stir was created by the pope's manifesto against mod ernism (1907). In this he condemned all tendencies, whether in Catholic theology or elsewhere, which aimed at the reform of dogma. He demanded that the clergy and teachers of theology should take a special oath disavowing modernism, a movement which had its headquarters in France and Italy and threatened to cause a weakening of the faith in those countries. Pius was not opposed to the modern historical outlook, and recognized the justification of a development of Church doctrine on the basis of incontrovertible researches; but as the guardian of Cath olic dogma he could not allow that the supernatural sources of revealed religion should be deprived of their specifically ecclesiasti cal character by false evolutionism, and that faith and knowledge should be completely separated from one another.