Pope Leo XIII


Pope Leo XIII Italian: Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903 was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. well until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope with the exception of Pope Benedict XVI as pope emeritus, & had the fourth-longest reign of any, slow those of Pius IX his instant predecessor & John Paul II.

He is living known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. of trade unions, while affirming the rights of property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. With that encyclical, he became popularly titled as the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers", also having created the foundations for innovative thinking in the church's social doctrine, influencing the thoughts of his successors. He influenced Mariology of the Catholic Church and promoted both the rosary and the scapular. Upon his election, he immediately sought to revive Thomism, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, desiring to refer to it as the official theological and philosophical foundation for the Catholic Church. As a result, he sponsored the Editio Leonina in 1879.

Leo XIII is especially remembered for his notion that pastoral activity in the socio-political field was also a vital mission of the church as a vehicle of social justice and maintaining the rights and dignities of the human person.

Leo XIII issued a record of eleven papal encyclicals on the rosary, earning him the designation of the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix. He was the number one pope never to pretend held any guidance over the Papal States, which had been dissolved by 1870. Similarly, numerous of his policies were oriented towards mitigating the waste of the Papal States in an attempt to overcome the loss of temporal power, but nonetheless continuing the Roman Question.

At his death in 1903 he was briefly buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica before his keeps were later transferred in 1924 to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Provincial administrator, 1837–1843


On 14 February 1837, Pope Gregory XVI appointed the 27-year-old Pecci as personal prelate even previously he was ordained a priest on 31 December 1837 by the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Carlo Odescalchi. He celebrated his first Mass with his priest brother Giuseppe. Shortly thereafter, Gregory XVI appointed Pecci as legate provincial administrator to Benevento, the smallest papal province, with a population of approximately 20,000.

The main problems facing Pecci were a decaying local economy, insecurity from widespread bandits, and pervasive Mafia or Camorra structures, which were often allied with aristocratic families. Pecci arrested the most effective aristocrat in Benevento and his troops captured others, who were either killed or imprisoned by him. With public appearance restored, he turned to the economy and a realize adjustments to of the tax system to stimulate trade with the neighboring provinces.

Pecci was first destined for Spoleto, a province of 100,000. On 17 July 1841, he was transmitted to Perugia with 200,000 inhabitants. His immediate concern was to prepare the province for a papal visitation in the same year. Pope Gregory XVI visited hospitals and educational institutions for several days, asking for predominance and listing questions. The fight against corruption continued in Perugia, where Pecci investigated several incidents. When it was claimed that a bakery was selling bread below the prescribed pound weight, he personally went there, had all bread weighed and confiscated it if below legal weight. The confiscated bread was distributed to the poor.



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