The First Vatican Council In The 1860's

Causes for the calling the Council. The First Vatican Council was called by Pope Pius IX in 1869. This was largely in response to the process of Italian Unification that started in the early 1860’s. The Church had lost the Papal States to King Victor Emmanuel II which sufficiently weakened them and the political power of the Pope. For a few centuries, it became obvious that the Church was losing power. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment promoted secular rule and established the Church as the opponent of reason. The Church had lost control over education during this time and therefore had lost much of their authority. Also, the rule of Napoleon had turned the Church into servants of the king. The First Vatican Council

Although France and Britain were naturally enemies from the Napoleonic Wars, they tried to maintain the balance of power and aided the Ottomans in combatting the Russian army. In 1854, both countries officially got involved in the conflict. Russia was extremely surprised that their fellow countries in the Holy Alliance, Prussia and Austria refused to help them in the war. This caused the relations of these countries to weaken significantly. The war concluded with the Russians surrendering to the coalition that supported the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1856 which the Russians gave back the Ottomans that land they had annexed and Russia renounced its claims on Orthodox Russians. This war deeply strained the cooperation of the European powers that existed before this event and was used to suppress a myriad of nationalistic revolutions that occurred in 1848. Had this cooperation continued, the process of Italian Unification could’ve been easily suppressed and the First Vatican Council probably would not have been called by Pope Pius

Cavour supplied France with troops in the Crimean War which made Piedmont and France close allies. France and Piedmont then attacked Austria and in their surrender, Austria gave Piedmont many territories that identified as Italian. While Cavour’s troops unified modern day northern Italy, the troops of Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered modern day southern Italy. Cavour persuaded to give the land he conquered to Victor Emmanuel II and conquered the Papal States, but spared an area around Rome as it was still under the control of their French allies. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed as the king of Italy, but clericals were appalled by the conquest of the Papal States. The Church’s disappointment in the new Italian country grew once Italy was given Rome after the Franco-Prussian war for their alliance with Prussia. The hierarchy was now confined to Vatican City and the treatment of the Church compelled Pope Pius IX to call the First Vatican Council. The papacy would always be cautious of Italy until the Lateran Accord of 1929 where Benito Mussolini recognized the pope as the temporal ruler of Vatican