Pope Saint Pius X. Pope Of The Blessed Sacrament. (Part Five).

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unless otherwise stated.

Deutsch: Papst Pius X. (eigentlich Giuseppe Sarto,

* 2. Juni 1835 in Riese (Provinz Treviso);

† 20. August 1914 in Rom) war als Nachfolger Leo XIII.

Papst von 1903 bis 1914.

English: Pope Saint Pius X, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto,

(2 June 1835 - 20 August 1914)

was Pope from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII.

Français: Pape Pie X, né Giuseppe Sarto à Riese (Italie)

le 2 juin 1835 - mort à Rome, au Vatican le 20 août 1914),

succéda le 4 août 1903 à Léon XIII, et fut suivi par le Pape Benoît XV.

Italiano: Papa Pio X, al secolo Giuseppe Sarto

(Riese, 2 giugno 1835 - Roma, Vaticano, 20 agosto 1914),

succedette il 4 agosto 1903 a Leone XIII.

Português do Brasil: Papa São Pio X.

Photo: 22 October 2011.

Source: Vaticano.

Author: Não sei.

This image (or other media file)

is in the public domain

because its Copyright has expired.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Pius X reversed the accommodating approach of Pope Leo XIII towards secular governments, appointing Rafael Merry del Val as Cardinal Secretary of State (Rafael Merry del Val would later have his own cause opened for Canonisation in 1953, but still has not been beatified). When the French President, Émile Loubet, visited the Italian Monarch, Victor Emmanuel III (1900–46), Pope Pius X, still refusing to accept the annexation of the Papal Territories by Italy, reproached the French President for this visit and refused to meet him. This led to a diplomatic break with France and, in 1905, France issued a Law of Separation, which separated Church and State, and which the Pope denounced. The effect of this separation was the Church’s loss of its government funding in France. Two French Bishops were removed by the Vatican for recognising the Third Republic. Eventually, France expelled the Jesuits and broke off diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

The Pope adopted a similar position toward secular governments in other parts of the world: In Portugal, Ireland, Poland, Ethiopia, and a number of other States with large Catholic populations. His actions and statements against international relations with Italy angered the secular powers of these countries, as well as a few others, like England and Russia. In Ulster, Protestants were increasingly worried that a proposed Home Rule Ireland, run by Catholics inspired by Pius X, would result in Rome Rule.

English: His Eminence, the Most Reverend Lord Rafael María José, 

Cardinal Merry del Val y de Zulueta.

Appointed by Pope Pius X as Cardinal Secretary of State.

Français: Son Excellence Monseigneur Merry Del Val.

Photo: 1897.

Source: This image is available from Library and Archives Canada 

under the reproduction reference number PA-028855 

and under the MIKAN ID number 3357232.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1908, the Papal Decree, Ne Temere, came into effect, which complicated mixed marriages. Marriages not performed by a Roman Catholic Priest were declared legal but Sacramentally invalid, worrying some Protestants that the Church would counsel separation for couples married in a Protestant Church or by civil service. 

Priests were given discretion to refuse to perform mixed marriages or lay conditions upon them, commonly including a requirement that the children be raised Roman Catholic. The Decree proved particularly divisive in Ireland, which has a large Protestant minority, contributing indirectly to the subsequent political conflict there and requiring debates in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

As secular authority challenged that of the Papacy, Pope Pius X became more aggressive. He suspended the Opera dei Congressi, which co-ordinated the work of Catholic Associations in Italy, as well as condemning Le Sillon, a French Social Movement, that tried to reconcile the Church with liberal political views. He also opposed trades unions that were not exclusively Catholic.

Pope Pius X partially lifted Decrees prohibiting Italian Catholics from voting; however, he never recognised the Italian Government.

Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias.

Issued a Decree promising religious freedom for the Catholic Church.

This File: 29 May 2013.

Source: File:Nicholas II in Spala.jpg

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Initially, Pope Pius X maintained his prisoner in the Vatican stance, but, with the rise of Socialism, he began to allow the Non Expedit to be relaxed. In 1905, in his Encyclical, Il Fermo Proposito, he allowed Catholics to vote, when they were "help[ing] the maintenance of Social order" by voting for Deputies who were not Socialist.

Under Pope Pius X, the traditionally difficult situation of Polish Catholics in Russia did not improve. Although Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issued a Decree, 22 February 1903, promising religious freedom for the Catholic Church, and, in 1905, promulgated a Constitution, which included religious freedom, the Russian Orthodox Church felt threatened and insisted on stiff interpretations. Papal Decrees were not permitted and contacts with the Vatican remained outlawed.

In 1908, Pope Pius X lifted the United States out of its Missionary status, in recognition of the growth of the American Church. Fifteen new Dioceses were created in the U.S. during his Pontificate, and he named two American Cardinals. He was very popular among American Catholics, partly due to his poor background, which made him be seen as an ordinary person who was on the Papal Throne.

Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States.

Was refused an Audience by Pope Pius X.

Date: Copyright 1915.

Source: This image is available from the United States 

Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs 

division under the digital ID cph.3f06209.

Author: Pach Brothers (photography studio).

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1910, the Pope refused an Audience with former Vice-President, Charles W. Fairbanks, who had addressed the Methodist Association in Rome, as well as with former President, Theodore Roosevelt, who intended to address the same Association.

On 8 July 1914, Pope Pius X approved the request of Cardinal James Gibbons to invoke the Patronage of the Immaculate Conception for the construction site of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

Other than the stories of Miracles performed through the Pope's intercession after his death, there are also stories of Miracles performed by the Pope during his lifetime. On one occasion, during a Papal Audience, Pope Pius X was holding a paralyzed child, who wriggled free from his arms and then ran around the room. On another occasion, a couple (who had made Confession to him while he was Bishop of Mantua), with a two-year-old child with meningitis, wrote to the Pope and the Pope then wrote back to them to hope and Pray. Two days later, the child was cured.

Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini (later Archbishop of Palermo) had visited the Pope, after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and the Pope had told him to go back to the Seminary and that he would be fine. Ruffini gave this story to the investigators of the Pontiff's cause for canonisation.

PART SIX FOLLOWS.