This week in Christian history: Pope Pius IX flees Rome; St. John the Divine consecrated

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, November 24, 2024

Pope Pius IX flees Rome – Nov. 24, 1848

Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as head of the Roman Catholic Church from June 1846 to his death in 1878. He convened the First Vatican Council. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when Pope Pius IX was forced to flee Rome due to the revolutionary upheavals taking place across Europe in 1848.

Pius IX was consecrated pope in 1846 and oversaw not only the Roman Catholic Church but also the Papal States, a political body that comprised a portion of the Italian peninsula.

Although Pius IX was initially supportive of liberalism, the violence caused by the radical uprisings in 1848 forced him to flee Rome and seek safe haven in the Kingdom of Naples.

In his absence, an effort was made to enact numerous political reforms in Rome. However, interventions on the part of France and Austria led to Pius’ restoration in 1850.

“Most of the administrative reforms carried out immediately after Pius’s accession remained, and the papal territories benefited from the general increase in European prosperity after 1850,” noted Britannica.

“But constitutional government was never restored; the amnesty granted on the pope’s return was riddled with exceptions; and to all expressions of national sentiment the papacy proved hostile.”