Pope Pius XI: The First Vatican Council

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Vatican 1 Pope Pius XI was liked by the bishops as a fair and charming man, but when he called the first Vatican Council in 1869 it was politics which were in the ascendant. The movement for Italian unity and the establishment of the Italian state, threatened the position of the Pope as the primary authority in Rome, for the new army was about to occupy the city. So although the Council had a broad agenda, its main work was the affirmation of the Pope’s position. This was made plain in the dogma on infallibility. It is best to note the actual wording:
‘’That the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, (that is when – fulfilling the office of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians – on his supreme Apostolic authority he defines

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