Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
Person 1792-1878 · about 86 years old · show in timeline

Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti)

Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, born in Senigallia in 1792, was Pope Pius IX from 1846 to 1878 and ruler of the Papal States until 1870. After his return with the help of French troops in 1850 his tribunals, according to the Britannica, extorted testimony by flogging, deprivation of food and similar methods of torture; death sentences were often carried out although guilt was never established, and any suspect could be imprisoned without trial. In the Mortara case he refused to return a secretly baptised Jewish boy to his parents. In 1864 he condemned freedom of faith and conscience in the Syllabus; in 1870 he had papal infallibility proclaimed a dogma.

Life dates
1792-1878 (about 86 years old)
Country
Italy, Vatican City
Institutions
Papal States
Category
Anti-Judaism, Torture, Censorship
Level of evidence
B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. In the Mortara case a Jewish boy had been torn from his parents after being baptised without their knowledge or consent. According to the Britannica Pius flatly refused to restore the "Christian" to his Jewish parents and turned a deaf ear to public protest and to the diplomatic representations of France and England. See the entry Mortara case 1858.
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „A Jewish boy of this name had been torn from his parents in Rome and the rite of baptism performed on him without their knowledge or consent. The pope flatly refused to restore the “Christian” to his Jewish parents, and turned a deaf ear both to the protest of public opinion and the diplomatic representations of France and England.“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. On 12 April 1850 Pius returned to Rome supported by foreign arms, according to the Britannica embittered and hostile to every form of political liberalism. He sought vengeance for the events of the revolution. The tribunals extorted testimony from witnesses by flogging, deprivation of food and similar methods of torture. In many cases the death sentence was executed at their instance, though the guilt of the accused was never established. Through so-called precautionary arrest anyone could be imprisoned without trial or verdict. The priests who had usurped the judicial function displayed such cruelty on several occasions that officers of the Austrian army recorded a protest.
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „On the 12th of April 1850 Pius returned to Rome, supported by foreign arms, embittered, and hostile henceforward to every form of political liberalism or national sentiment.“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „He even sought to exact vengeance for the events of that period“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „The tribunals extorted declarations on the part of witnesses by flogging, deprivation of food, and like methods of torture. In many cases the death sentence was executed at their instance, though the guilt of the accused was never established.“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „rendered it possible for any man to be thrown into prison, without trial and without verdict, simply on the ground that he lay under suspicion of plotting against the government“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „The priests, who usurped the judicial function, displayed such cruelty on several occasions that officers of the Austrian army were compelled to record a protest.“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy

Background

Course of events

  1. Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born in Senigallia on 13 May 1792. He was pope from 1846 to 1878 and died in Rome on 7 February 1878.
    Evidence: Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 12 (1911), Wikisource-Ausgabe 1913, Absatz 1
    „Pope from 1846-78; born at Sinigaglia, 13 May, 1792; died in Rome, 7 February, 1878.“
    Pope Pius IX, Absatz 1. Original · Archive copy

Who received the assets, who profited?

  1. According to the Britannica corruption was rampant among the officials, and the system of taxation was calculated to relieve the Church and the clergy and impose the main burden on the laity.
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „Corruption was rampant among the officials“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „The system of taxation was calculated with a view to relieving the Church and the clergy, and imposing the main burden upon the laity.“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy

Response of the Church

  1. On 8 December 1864, together with the encyclical Quanta cura, he published the Syllabus, a list of eighty condemned propositions. According to the Britannica he claimed in it for the Church the control of all culture, all science and the whole educational system and rejected the liberty of faith, conscience and worship of other creeds. On 18 July 1870 the Vatican Council made papal infallibility a dogma.
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt Pius IX.
    „In this Pius claimed for the Church the control of all culture and all science, and of the whole educational system. He rejected the liberty of faith, conscience and worship enjoyed by other creeds“
    Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), Abschnitt Pius IX.. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 12 (1911), Wikisource-Ausgabe 1913, Abschnitt Syllabus
    „In his Encyclical "Quanta Cura" of 8 December, 1864, he condemned sixteen propositions touching on errors of the age.“
    Pope Pius IX, Abschnitt Syllabus. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 12 (1911), Wikisource-Ausgabe 1913, Abschnitt Syllabus
    „a table of eighty previously censured propositions“
    Pope Pius IX, Abschnitt Syllabus. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 12 (1911), Wikisource-Ausgabe 1913, Abschnitt Vatikanisches Konzil
    „on 18 July, 1870, the papal infallibility was made a dogma of the Church“
    Pope Pius IX, Abschnitt Vatikanisches Konzil. Original · Archive copy

See also

Scholarly literature and reference works

  1. Reference work
    Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911): Pius (Abschnitt Pius IX.), 1 January 1911. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  2. Reference work
    Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 12 (1911), Wikisource-Ausgabe 1913: Pope Pius IX, 1 January 1913. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
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