Syllabus of Errors

In this, and in subsequent statements, Pius defined the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary, mother of Jesus, and was able to get 500 Italian, Spanish and Portuguese bishops to go along with him. To some, Pius IX, by getting these bishops to agree to this doctrine in 1854, established the canon of papal infallibility, a concept of infallibility that most up to that time had agreed rested with the church, not the Pope.

Although a personable and amiable man, it is generally agreed that Pius IX proved to be one of the most autocratic leaders of the Catholic church since the Middle Ages. The definition of the immaculate conception was only the start. Ten years later Pius IX published perhaps his most famous encyclical letter Quanta Cura, and accompanied it with his Syllabus of Errors. This document, published when it was and containing what it did, set off a violent reaction around the world. Even Abraham Lincoln was scandalized.

For nineteen years Pius had fumed about the increasing degrees of freedom people were obtaining throughout the world, from the Americans in America, to the French after their revolution to the rest of Europe after the amazing events of 1848. Pius firmly and absolutely believed that the Roman church was the only institution that fully grasped the truth of how the world should be run, and had, therefore a divine mandate to point all of this out. He entered a concordat with the right wing President of Ecuador in which it was agreed that Catholicism would be the only religion tolerated in Ecuador, and that the church was to be in complete and sole control of education and many other aspects of daily life. For Pius, this was the perfect situation.

In his Syllabus of Errors, Pius condemned almost everything the 19th century had been working towards. He said in no uncertain terms that, freedom of religion was wrong: the church must use physical force where necessary: the church must be immune from civil law: the Catholic religion was absolute and should be the only religion of the state: all persons coming to a Catholic state must become Catholics.

Outside of Italy, the reaction was predictable and some of the mildest criticisms spoke of "disgust and derision" at the Popes statements. The Times of London said it best, "There is scarcely a political system in Europe, except for the Papal Government, that does not rest on principles which are here declared to be damnable errors".

In 1852 Pius IX persuaded Tuscany to forbid Jewish doctors from practicing medicine, he rejected the new Austrian constitution outright and condemned Protestants and Jews for trying to set up their own schools. The lasting impression was one of intolerance for freedom in any form. This had the backlash effect of fueling anticlericalism throughout Italy and beyond, where Pius was becoming universally disliked. In good conscience Catholic citizens of the emerging republics backed their Pope, and were thus distrusted and often seen as unpatriotic. It was a bad time for a pontiff to claim to be 'infallible'.