June 9, 2025 • 33 mins
Pope Leo XIII sought to find a way forward for the Catholic church at a time when the world was rapidly changing and the church was often at odds with those changes.
Research:
- Aubert, Roger-François-Marie. "Leo XIII". Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-XIII
- “ELECTION OF POPE LEO XIII.” New York Times. Feb. 21, 1878. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1878/02/21/issue.html
- Jedin, Hubert and John Patrick Dolan. “History of the Church: The Church in the Industrial age.” Burns & Oates. 1981. https://books.google.com/books?id=h5LYAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- Masci, David. “A look at popes and their encyclicals.” Pew Research Center. June 9, 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/06/09/a-look-at-popes-and-their-encyclicals/
- Miller, James Martin. “The life of Pope Leo XIII : containing a full and authentic account of the illustrious pontiff's life and work.” G.H. Harr. Omaha, Nebraska. 1908. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/lifeofleo1300milluoft/page/n5/mode/2up
- O’Reilly, Bernard. “Life of Leo XIII, from an authentic memoir furnished by his order.” Sampson Low, Marston & Co. London. 1903. https://archive.org/details/lifeofleoxiiifro0000orei/page/n9/mode/2up
- Pope Leo XIII. “AETERNI PATRIS.” 1879. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_04081879_aeterni-patris.html
- Pope Leo XIII. “INSCRUTABILI DEI CONSILIO.” 1878. https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_21041878_inscrutabili-dei-consilio.html
- Pope Leo XIII. “RERUM NOVARUM.” https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
- Pope Leo XIII. “Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae.” 1899. https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13teste.htm
- “Religious.” Chicago Tribune. February 24, 1878. https://www.newspapers.com/image/349728621/?match=1&terms=Pope%20Leo%20XIII
- “Vatican country profile.” BBC. Nov. 17, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17994868
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Hey, there's a new pope.
There is surprisingly fast. I felt it was pretty darn quick.
(00:23):
This pope is Leo the fourteenth. That was his chosen name,
and that was an interesting choice. The selection of the
name that a person takes as pope is often an
indicator of that pope's intentions, and as pope, Leo the
thirteenth was invoked in this new pope's choice of name,
like specifically people speaking for the Vatican mentioned it in interviews.
(00:46):
It seemed like as good a time as any to
look at his life because there were a lot of like,
here's what the pope's name means, and it's like WHOA.
Leo the thirteenth actually had a pretty long run. So
we're obviously not going to hit a lot of the
minutia of his time as pope here. And I want
to just be very clear to level set, this is
(01:08):
not intended to be any kind of religious scholarship with
regards to the Catholic faith. We're looking at his biography
and how he sought to find a way forward for
the Catholic Church at a time when the world was
rapidly changing and the Church was often at odds with
those changes, which you could be said parallels what's going
on now with Poplio the fourteenth. Vincenzo Jocchino Pecci was
(01:31):
born on March second, eighteen ten, in the Carpineto Romano
municipality and Rome. This was during a period when the
Papal states were occupied by the French. Napoleon had taken
control of Italy in eighteen hundred, but then had agreed
through the Concorda of eighteen oh one, to allow the
(01:52):
Roman Catholic Church and specifically the Pope, to retain control
over the Papal states of Italy. The Concordat was not
just about this. It also outlined ways in which the
Catholic Church would be positioned in France, and it gave
Napoleon a lot of power within the Church. Yeah, we
won't get into all of the shifting of how Italy
(02:15):
once again regained control of the area, but the important
thing here is that he was born in the Papal
States and is considered today Italian Vincenzo's parents were Domenico
Lodovico Pecci, a colonel, and Anna Prosperi Buzzi, and Vincenzo
was their sixth child. He went by his middle name, Jacquino,
(02:37):
so that is what we will use to refer to
him going forward. His older siblings were Carlo, Anna, Maria Caterina,
Giovanni Battista, and Giuseppe. I will say, if you look
up his biography, because a pope becomes a global figure,
you will see those names, sometimes anglicized or written completely differently,
(02:58):
but those are their Italian names. And when Jacquino was born,
Domenico was forty one and Anna was thirty seven. They
had been parents already for sixteen years. At that point,
Carlo was sixteen years old, and then another child, Fernando,
was born three years after Giacchino. The family was financially comfortable.
The Pechies were said to have gained the favor of
(03:18):
the papacy by standing against the Mediciese, and they had
built their family's fortunes and social standing from there. In
his early childhood, Gacquino stayed at home, but at the
age of eight he was sent along with his brother
Giuseppe to be Terribo, Italy to be educated by the Jesuits. There.
Giuseppe would go on to become a professor at the
(03:40):
Jesuit Seminary, although he eventually resigned due to some disagreements
with the order. It was decided early on that Jacquino
would follow a life in the church. Yes, I read
one biography that made it clear that that was something
his mother had wanted from day one. He next moved
(04:04):
on to the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics in Rome, and
he studied law there and got his doctoral degree in
eighteen thirty seven. That same year, at the age of
twenty seven, he was ordained to the priesthood. He's often
said to have been made a domestic prelate in his
first year, meaning that he was given honorary inclusion in
(04:24):
the papal household, although that specific term didn't exist yet
it wouldn't until after Petchi's death, but he did have
mentors and champions at very high levels of the Catholic Church,
and his initial role as a priest was working in
a diplomatic function for the papal states, so it would
make sense that he would have had access to the
(04:45):
inner workings of the Vatican. He was made a delegate
to Benevento just a year into his career with the Church.
That was essentially a governor position, and Benevento was in
what was at the time the Papal states in the
Kingdom of Naples. This was an appointment that came with
some challenges. Benevento at the time was experiencing a large
(05:07):
amount of crime that was being carried out largely by
people in the employ of the landed gentry of Naples. Basically,
they all had money and they were trying to get more,
and they were willing to do illegal things to get it.
There was also a lot of smuggling that went through
the area. But Pechi was aggressive in reforming Benevento, and
within just a few years the subsidized crime problem there
(05:30):
had dwindled to just about nothing. After Benevetto, he was
moved into the same position in Perugia, although his title
remained the same. This was considered a promotion since Perugia
and Umbria was at a much more important spot in
the hierarchy of the Papal States. It also had its
share of problems, but once again Petchi was able to
(05:51):
get control of the situation in time for a visit
from Pope Gregory the sixteenth, which earned him both accolades
and the favor of the Pope. Jacquino continued his rapid
rise through the ranks of the Church when he was
promoted to the role of Nuncio to Brussels. This was
another diplomatic position of a very high rank, and it
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marked a point at which the young priest, just six
years into his priesthood, was considered a career member of
the papal states government. He became an archbishop not long
into his appointment in Belgium, where he spent the next
three years, and those three years are considered very influential
in the way Jacquino Pechi viewed the role of the
Church in the modernizing world. King Leopold the First of
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Belgium had started out on good terms with Pechi, but
that shifted drastically. Unlike his predecessors and Brussels, Pecchi did
not manage the careful maneuvering required to maintain the delicate
political balance of multiple factions that were attempting to assert
power and a dispute between the Church and the monarch
(06:58):
over education Petchi sided with the local bishop, and in
doing that he soured his relationship with Leopold. Frustrated at
not having the archbishop at his command, Leopold asked Rome
to recall Pechi. The church did exactly that, sending him
back to Perugia, this time as a bishop. While this
(07:20):
move to Perugia early in his career had been a
step up, in this instance it was very clearly a
step down. We will talk about the ways that Petchi
fell under suspicion for his views after we first take
a sponsor break. When the revolutions of eighteen forty eight
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began around Europe, Pechy did not help his standing in
the church. So this movement, which could be a future episode, was,
in the very briefest of terms, a series of uprisings
against increasingly conservative governments throughout the continent, and this was
catalyzed in the acute sense by a series of crop
failures that impacted a lot of countries and led to
(08:09):
food shortages. This also tied into world events that were
happening far beyond Europe. But in terms of how this
series of conflicts is Germane to Jacquino Pecci, he made
the politically dangerous move of speaking out about the way
the Papal States in particular handled it, although he was
also vehemently against the revolution. To make matters worse, as
(08:32):
Italy was seeking to unify all of its lands under
one national identity, which meant papal states being ceded to
Italian governance, Pecchi thought fighting in some of these cases
was going to be counter productive. This brought a lot
of suspicion on the bishop, as church authorities started to
think he was too liberal. The little hilarious uh. This
(08:58):
was a time of extreme shift in the Church's power,
as the vast majority of the land of the Papal
States was conquered by Italy, leaving the pope only a
tiny portion of what he had once controlled. So for
a man in the church's leadership to not take a
hard stance to fight to retain that control was seen
(09:18):
as inherently suspicious. He did speak out against the occupation
of papal land and against the Italian government secularizing aspects
of religious life such as marriage. Still, even though he
caused some controversy, Pecchy was not entirely disliked. In eighteen
fifty three, before the church lost so much territory. He
(09:40):
was promoted to the rank of cardinal, but he was
still relegated to a much less important area than he
had seemed destined for in his early career. But he
didn't really treat this like a demotion. He threw himself
into his work and he focused on the diocese that
he led. Among other efforts, he promoted a j tion,
(10:00):
and he established a hospital, and in his spare time,
Petchy engaged in his own intellectual and philosophical pursuits and
turned the decades that he spent away from Rome into
a time of personal growth. One of the conclusions that
Pechy came to through his self directed scholarship was that
the Church was hurting itself by working in opposition to
(10:22):
the changing world. He was interested in technology and thought
that an understanding of modern culture would help the Catholic
Church find a point of reconciliation with it. In eighteen
seventy seven, he was named as Camerlango, which came as
a surprise. Though he had not had the favor of
Pope Pious the ninth being named to this position showed
(10:43):
that the Pope did have some confidence in Pecchi. This
is a very important role and that it's the person
who assumes the administrative responsibilities of handling things when the
pope dies. This includes everything from ensuring that the body
of the deceased is handled properly to making arrangements for
(11:03):
the conclave that selects the next pope. It seems that
Pope Pious knew that a need for the camer Lingo
was coming, because less than a year after having been
named into that role, Pechi was called to the duties
of the job when Pope Pious the ninth died. So
you have probably seen lots of coverage of how a
conclave works between the recent Oscar winning film and the
(11:26):
passing of Pope Francis and the selection of Pope Leo
the fourteenth, but will do a quick refresher. So a
conclave is called after the sea is vacated by death
or resignation of the previous pope. It is a gathering
of cardinals at the Vatican who confer and vote on
who will be the next pope. The assembled cardinals have
no contact with the outside world during the conclave, and
(11:49):
there is no recording of the proceedings allowed. There is
a pretty strictly regimented way in which the schedule plays out,
although most of the rules about it were not officially
a established until well after the conclave that selected Pope
Leo the thirteenth. And here's a little surpriser in case
you didn't know it. Technically a person does not have
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to be a member of the priesthood to become pope.
They just have to be a baptized Catholic male. But
the last non cardinal who was chosen for the job
was Urban the sixth. That was in thirteen seventy eight
during the Western Schism when the Church was split in
two and there were two competing popes in Rome and Avignon,
and spoiler alert, Urban's time on the Holy See did
(12:31):
not go well, so they didn't really ever go back
to that plan again. Since the fourteenth century, every pope
has come from the pool of cardinals. Once the cardinals
are assembled, a schedule of voting and discussion begins and
continues until one of the possible successors receives a two
thirds majority. After each vote, the ballots are burned. That
(12:53):
is the smoke that everyone looks for to see if
the pope has been chosen. Black, of course, means that
the two thirds majority has not been reached in white
means that it has and that a new pope is selected.
In addition to being camer Lango, Petchi emerged as a
front runner to succeed Pious the Ninth. He was not
the prior Pope's personal pick, that was Cardinal Bilio, but
(13:16):
he had plenty of detractors. On the flip side was
liberal Cardinal Francie. In this mix, Pecchi was considered a moderate,
and the cardinals from outside of Italy really rallied around him.
They noted that because he had been living outside of
Rome for three decades at that point, he was unlikely
to be burdened by any kinds of machinations or gossip
(13:38):
or influence efforts that had been playing out at the Vatican.
He also had really gained a lot of respect for
having devoted himself to his work in Perusia. There was
one major factor working against him, and that was that
he had a long history of health problems. There were
concerns that he did not have the stress to lead,
(14:01):
or that he would not live long enough to accomplish
much if he were elected. Despite these concerns, though Petcha
carried out the needed two thirds of the votes on
the third round on the morning of February twentieth. The
conclave had convened late on the eighteenth, and it was
the shortest time for a papal election at that point
(14:22):
in history. Leo the thirteenth took his papal name in
reference to his Leo predecessor, Leo the twelfth. This was
also an interesting choice, as Leo the twelfth, who was
pope from eighteen twenty three to eighteen twenty nine, was
pretty ruthless. He was elected in the backlash to his
liberal predecessor, Pious the seventh. Leo the twelfth was an authoritarian,
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but he did eventually recognize that there needed to be
a way to work with opponents instead of always being
in conflict. This was not that dissimilar from Pious the ninth,
who Leo the thirteenth was replacing. Leo the twelfth was
also a proponent of education, which Leo the thirteenth wished
to also champion as a cause. The news of the
(15:08):
new pope was covered around the world. In the US,
the Chicago Tribune ran coverage of it that took up
two thirds of a page in a Sunday paper that
only ran sixteen pages. Readers could learn all about the
new pope, from his life story to the details of
the conclave. Similarly, The New York Times dedicated two full
front page columns to news of the new pope and
(15:32):
information about the previous pope. Leo I wanted to include
that because it's clear that this is not a new thing.
Where we all go, what is his name? What was
the previous one that was named that? Like, what's going
on here? That's how it's always been handled in the press.
From the outset. Leo the thirteenth found himself the leader
of a Catholic church at a time when there was
a lot of push and pull regarding the church's place
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in a modernizing world. In the book History of the Church,
The Church and the Industrial Age, published in nineteen authors
Hubert Jendon and John Patrick Dolan described the conflict this
way quote. The problem of relations between the Church and
the post revolutionary world articulated itself most strongly in the
Holy City. Festive illuminations stood in contrast to protest demonstrations.
(16:19):
Popelia the thirteenth actually had his coronation in the Sistine Chapel,
rather than the custom of having the ceremony in Saint
Peter's because there was believed to be a very real
danger to those present and the authorities didn't feel like
they could guarantee security. Next we will talk about encyclicals
and how Leo the thirteenth wrote a lot of them,
(16:40):
but first we will hear from some sponsors that keep
stuff you miss in history class. Going throughout his time
as Pope, Leo the thirteenth became well known for the
contents of his in cyclical letters, so that just means
(17:02):
letters that are sent to all of the church's bishops,
which often are about the church's official position on a
given topic or issue. The first encyclical was written in
seventeen forty by Pope Benedict the fourteenth. Not all popes
write them. For example, Pope John Paul, who was pope
briefly in nineteen seventy eight, did not write any, but
(17:24):
most popes in the last century and change have written
at least a couple of them. They have been favored
by some popes because they create an official record, whereas
personal letters would not. The recently deceased Pope Francis wrote
just four of them, including one about climate change and
conservation in twenty fifteen, but Pope Leo the thirteenth loved
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and encyclical according to the Pew Research Center as of
twenty fifteen, so they wrote this rite before that Climate
Change in cyclical from Francis. Leo the thirteenth had written
ninety in cyclicals, which made up a full one third
of the total number issued by all popes. So he
clearly saw this means of communication as a very effective tool.
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And so we're going to take a look at his
papacy by talking about just a few of the key ones.
The first of his encyclicals, on the Evils of Society,
outlines the many issues readily seen in the world at
the time of the writing, which was in eighteen seventy eight,
not long after Leo the thirteenth became pope. He notes
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the various problems the world faces, how there's bloodshed and
civil strife all around, and the reason for this letter
is the lack of religious devotion. Leo wrote, quote, now,
the source of these evils lies chiefly. We are convinced
in this that the Holy and venerable authority of the Church,
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which in God's neighborls mankind, upholding and defending all lawful
authority has been despised and set aside. The enemies of
public order, being fully aware of this, have thought nothing
better suited to destroy the foundations of society than to
make an unflagging attack upon the Church of God, to
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bring her into discredit and odium by spreading infamous calumnies
and accusing her of being opposed to genuine progress. As
the nineteenth century came to a close, Pope Leo the
thirteenth chose to address what many perceived as a growing
problem for the Catholic Church, and that was Americanism. This ideology,
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which actually remains controversial today, embraces the idea that social
mores of the Church need to change and adapt with
the social changes of the world, rather than create a
division or gap that could lose followers. A lot of
the language around this effort for reform in the eighteen
nineties invoked the phrase greater liberty, suggesting that Catholics might
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have more freedom in the ways they conducted their daily
lives than old world Catholicism might allow. Leo the thirteenth
response to Americanism was contained in his writing Testam benevolentier Nostre.
It was not favorable. This is a letter that is
addressed to the Archbishop of Baltimore at the time, James Gibbons,
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but as an encyclical copies were also sent to every
bishop in the US. It's a long document, but in
it he sums up the issue quote. The underlying principle
of these new opinions is that, in order to more
easily attract those who differ from her, the Church should
shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit of
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the age, and relax some of her ancient severity, and
make some concessions to new opinions. Many think that these
concessions should be made not only in regard to ways
of living, but even in regard to doctrines which belong
to the deposit of the faith. They contend that it
would be opportune, in order to gain those who differ
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from us, to omit certain points of her teaching which
are of lesser importance, and to tone down the meaning
which the Church has always attached to them. So Leo
the thirteenth makes the case that there is just no
way that the Church can soften any of its doctrines
in the pursuit of more followers, stating, quote, let it
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be far from anyone's mind to suppress for any reason
any doctrine that has been handed down. Such a policy
would tend rather to separate Catholics from the Church than
to bring in those who differ. There is nothing closer
to our heart than to have those who are separated
from the fold of Christ returned to it, but in
no other way than the way pointed out by Christ.
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Toward the end, he flatly denounces Americanism. Quote from the foregoing,
it is manifest, beloved son, that we are not able
to give approval to these views, which, in their collective sense,
are called by some Americanism. If this is to be
so understood, the doctrines which have been adverted to above
are not only indicated, but exalted. There can be no
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manner of doubt that our venerable brethren, the bishops of America,
would be the first to repudiate and condemn it as
being most injurious to themselves and to their country, For
it would give rise to the suspicion that there are
among you some who conceive and would have the Church
in America to be different from what it is in
(22:30):
the rest of the world. So this was a hot
button issue and The reason this idea of some Catholics
wanting to appeal to a wider range of followers had
gained so much attention is tied to the loss of
political power for the Church. So starting in the late
eighteenth century, Catholicism had started losing a lot of its
political power. But as various countries changed their religious affiliations,
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and as the papal states had been taken over by Italy,
it became an increasing concern that the Church was going
to need to bolster its standing in its numbers somehow,
and the Church recognized well before Leo's time is Pope
that tying so much of their identity and power to
being the national religion for various countries was only going
to become problematic, and for some that meant they needed
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to reform to gain numbers at the individual level in
an effort to regain some of that lost dominance. But
as Leo's letter indicated, the Holy See was not in
agreement with that. There was also ongoing work on Leo's
part to reconcile the ideas of the Church with philosophy
and science. As early as eighteen seventy nine, Leo was
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writing about this potential reconciliation, suggesting that philosophy could actually
enhance faith. In an encyclical titled on the Restoration of
Christian Philosophy, he wrote of science, quote, Divine providence itself
requires that in calling back the people to the paths
of faith and salvation, advantage should be taken of human science,
(24:05):
also unapproved and wise practice, which history testifies was observed
by the most illustrious fathers of the Church. In that
same in cyclical, he wrote of philosophy quote, In the
first place, philosophy, if rightly made use of by the
wise in certain way, tends to smooth and fortify the
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road to true faith, and to prepare the souls of
its disciples for the fit reception of revelation, for which
reason it is well called by ancient writers, sometimes a
stepping stone to the Christian faith, sometimes the prelude and
help of Christianity, sometimes the Gospel teacher. The writing of
Leo the thirteenth that has gotten the most attention recently
(24:49):
is his work Rerum Novarum, which he wrote in May
of eighteen ninety one. So that name literally translates from
the Latin to new things, but it has often been
translated into English ra as revolutionary change. And this was
an open letter with the heading Rights and Duties of
Capital and Labor. And this document opens with this paragraph quote,
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that the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been
disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond
the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in
the cognate sphere of practical economics. Is not surprising. The
elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable in the
vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science.
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In the changed relations between masters and workmen, in the
enormous fortunes of some few individuals and the utter poverty
of the masses, the increased self reliance and closer mutual
combination of the working classes, as also finally, in the
prevailing moral degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of
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things now obtaining fills every mind with painful apprehension. Wise
men are discussing it, Practical men are proposing schemes, popular meetings,
legislatures and rulers of nations are all busied with it. Actually,
there is no question which has taken deeper hold on
the public mind. From there, Leo the thirteenth walks through
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the issues of economic disparity and suffering, and noted quote,
that some opportune and remedy must be found quickly for
the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority
of the working class. For the ancient workingmen's guilds were
abolished in the last century, and no other protective organization
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took their place. He also states his issues with various
reform movements and notes that the contentions of socialism quote
are so clearly powerless to end the controversy, that where
they carried into effect, the working man himself would be
among the first to suffer. They are moreover emphatically unjust,
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for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions
of the state, and create utter confusion in the community.
But then he does make the case for labor unions,
writing quote to sum up, then we may lay it
down as a general and lasting law, that working men's
associations should be so organized and governed as to furnish
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the best and most suitable means for attaining what is
aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual
member to better his condition to the utmost in body, soul,
and property. It is clear that they must pay special
and chief attention to the duties of religion and morality,
and that social betterment should have this chiefly in view.
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Otherwise they would lose wholly their special character and end
by becoming little better than those societies which take no
account whatever of religion. What advantage can it be to
a workingman to obtain by means of a society material
well being if he endangers his soul lack of spiritual food.
So the legacy of Poplio the thirteenth isn't exactly as
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open minded in all aspects of his philosophy as some
accounts might make it seem. He didn't exactly make a
lot of change within the Church, although he certainly inherited
it at a time when change was all around it.
In a lot of ways, he was a staunch defender
of the Church's traditions, even when those traditions had lost
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their cultural relevancy in the eyes of a lot of Christians.
But he was also a scholar, and he was able
to view the world through that lens, which meant that
he could be open minded when seeking for a relationship
between the Church and a changing world, and he recognized
that not everyone in the world was or ever would
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be Catholic. He was willing to develop relationships with non
Catholic and even non Christian countries, and he was able
to wield a great deal of political power because of
his ability to connect with a wide range of leaders.
In the early spring of nineteen oh three, Leo the
thirteenth twenty five year Jubilee was celebrated, something that most
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people had never expected of a man that was perceived
as being extremely frail when he first became pope. Pope
Leo the thirteenth died on July twentieth, nineteen oh three.
He had developed pneumonia earlier in the month and never recovered.
As he neared the end of his life, he told
the Secretary of Apostolic Briefs, Cardinal Mackie, quote, I am
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near the end. I do not know if all I
have done has been good, but I have obeyed my
conscience and our holy faith. In the book History of
the Church The Church in the Industrial Age, which we
mentioned earlier in this episode, there is a really great
passage in the description of his time as Pope which
I think sums things up nicely, so that is where
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we will lead it leave it. It is quote Pope Leo
the thirteenth led the Catholic Church into a world which
had risen from real with an attitude which can only
adequately be termed optimistic. He attempted to reconcile an uncompromised
tradition with the modern spirit. There we go. That is
(30:13):
Pope Leo tweak talk about a lot behind the scenes,
guess and listener mail I do. This is a listener
mail that is in reference to our recent episode on
the Meiji Shrine. It's from our listener Brian, who writes, Hello,
Holly and Tracy. I have been a longtime listener, but
I have never felt I could offer enough to write in.
(30:33):
You know what, You don't have to ever feel like
you owe us anything. If you just want to write
and say hey, people can don't feel obligated to have
a thing. Brian writes, I am an Australian working in
Japan as an English instructor and have a deep love
for Japanese history and culture. The festivals are some of
the most fun, chaotic events you will ever attend. Unfortunately,
there has been a bit of poor behavior by tourists
(30:56):
at shrines as of late, with one tourist carving their
name into the tour eGate at Meiji Shrine and others
doing pull ups on the gates at other shrines. The
way I blanched when I first read this email, Brian continues, Holly,
I actually live near where Star Wars celebration was held
and had many friends come to Japan for it, so
I'm glad you had a great time. If you get
(31:17):
a chance to come back. There is a district in
Tokyo called Nippori, but it is also called Fabric Town.
It has many shops selling fabric buttons, buckles and other
things related to sewing, which I know is right up
your alley. It is also where I work. Well see
you soon, Brian. He continue is I don't have my
own pets, so I am including pictures of my nephew Dmitri.
He is a big Russian blue who loves chicken so
(31:39):
much he has taught himself how to undo cling wrap
and even open cooler boxes. Eski's in Australia. Love the
work and the different views you provide. He also writes, PS,
thank you for the message about working on the weekends,
as I am one of those people that has to
work weekends. This cat is so funny to me. There's
one particular picture of the cat stand on the counter
(32:01):
rifling through the cupboard, and it fills my soul with
bliss because I've had cats that do that and they're
terribly naughty. But I just adore it. Thank you so much, Brian.
I'm horrified that people are misbehaving. It shrines, as I
said in our behind the scenes, and I think during
the episode, I found that visit incredibly moving. Yeah, and
really lovely. So it troubles me that people behave like jerks.
(32:23):
Stop it. But thank you for writing us and sharing that.
And also I had heard whispers about fabric Town, but
I was scared. Oh yeah, listen. I did Russian nesting
suitcases where I pack one suitcase and put it inside
other suitcases. But even so, we were pushing the limit
when we actually checked our bags. Yeah. Yeah, got on
(32:46):
the flight, and I didn't want to make it any scarier.
My bigger thing was not even the flight. It was
the car ride from the hotel to the airport because
there were three of us and we all had multiple things. Yeah,
and it had been dicey coming in before, or the
Russian nesting suitcases had exploded, right, So I was like,
I don't think this is the trip to go to Fabrictown.
But next time I'll just show up with nothing but
(33:09):
one pair of pants and a dream. Yeah. Buy everything
in Fabrictown, wash everything in the sink every night. Yeah.
If you would like to write to us, you can
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(33:32):
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Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Hey, there's a new pope.
There is surprisingly fast. I felt it was pretty darn quick.
(00:23):
This pope is Leo the fourteenth. That was his chosen name,
and that was an interesting choice. The selection of the
name that a person takes as pope is often an
indicator of that pope's intentions, and as pope, Leo the
thirteenth was invoked in this new pope's choice of name,
like specifically people speaking for the Vatican mentioned it in interviews.
(00:46):
It seemed like as good a time as any to
look at his life because there were a lot of like,
here's what the pope's name means, and it's like WHOA.
Leo the thirteenth actually had a pretty long run. So
we're obviously not going to hit a lot of the
minutia of his time as pope here. And I want
to just be very clear to level set, this is
(01:08):
not intended to be any kind of religious scholarship with
regards to the Catholic faith. We're looking at his biography
and how he sought to find a way forward for
the Catholic Church at a time when the world was
rapidly changing and the Church was often at odds with
those changes, which you could be said parallels what's going
on now with Poplio the fourteenth. Vincenzo Jocchino Pecci was
(01:31):
born on March second, eighteen ten, in the Carpineto Romano
municipality and Rome. This was during a period when the
Papal states were occupied by the French. Napoleon had taken
control of Italy in eighteen hundred, but then had agreed
through the Concorda of eighteen oh one, to allow the
(01:52):
Roman Catholic Church and specifically the Pope, to retain control
over the Papal states of Italy. The Concordat was not
just about this. It also outlined ways in which the
Catholic Church would be positioned in France, and it gave
Napoleon a lot of power within the Church. Yeah, we
won't get into all of the shifting of how Italy
(02:15):
once again regained control of the area, but the important
thing here is that he was born in the Papal
States and is considered today Italian Vincenzo's parents were Domenico
Lodovico Pecci, a colonel, and Anna Prosperi Buzzi, and Vincenzo
was their sixth child. He went by his middle name, Jacquino,
(02:37):
so that is what we will use to refer to
him going forward. His older siblings were Carlo, Anna, Maria Caterina,
Giovanni Battista, and Giuseppe. I will say, if you look
up his biography, because a pope becomes a global figure,
you will see those names, sometimes anglicized or written completely differently,
(02:58):
but those are their Italian names. And when Jacquino was born,
Domenico was forty one and Anna was thirty seven. They
had been parents already for sixteen years. At that point,
Carlo was sixteen years old, and then another child, Fernando,
was born three years after Giacchino. The family was financially comfortable.
The Pechies were said to have gained the favor of
(03:18):
the papacy by standing against the Mediciese, and they had
built their family's fortunes and social standing from there. In
his early childhood, Gacquino stayed at home, but at the
age of eight he was sent along with his brother
Giuseppe to be Terribo, Italy to be educated by the Jesuits. There.
Giuseppe would go on to become a professor at the
(03:40):
Jesuit Seminary, although he eventually resigned due to some disagreements
with the order. It was decided early on that Jacquino
would follow a life in the church. Yes, I read
one biography that made it clear that that was something
his mother had wanted from day one. He next moved
(04:04):
on to the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics in Rome, and
he studied law there and got his doctoral degree in
eighteen thirty seven. That same year, at the age of
twenty seven, he was ordained to the priesthood. He's often
said to have been made a domestic prelate in his
first year, meaning that he was given honorary inclusion in
(04:24):
the papal household, although that specific term didn't exist yet
it wouldn't until after Petchi's death, but he did have
mentors and champions at very high levels of the Catholic Church,
and his initial role as a priest was working in
a diplomatic function for the papal states, so it would
make sense that he would have had access to the
(04:45):
inner workings of the Vatican. He was made a delegate
to Benevento just a year into his career with the Church.
That was essentially a governor position, and Benevento was in
what was at the time the Papal states in the
Kingdom of Naples. This was an appointment that came with
some challenges. Benevento at the time was experiencing a large
(05:07):
amount of crime that was being carried out largely by
people in the employ of the landed gentry of Naples. Basically,
they all had money and they were trying to get more,
and they were willing to do illegal things to get it.
There was also a lot of smuggling that went through
the area. But Pechi was aggressive in reforming Benevento, and
within just a few years the subsidized crime problem there
(05:30):
had dwindled to just about nothing. After Benevetto, he was
moved into the same position in Perugia, although his title
remained the same. This was considered a promotion since Perugia
and Umbria was at a much more important spot in
the hierarchy of the Papal States. It also had its
share of problems, but once again Petchi was able to
(05:51):
get control of the situation in time for a visit
from Pope Gregory the sixteenth, which earned him both accolades
and the favor of the Pope. Jacquino continued his rapid
rise through the ranks of the Church when he was
promoted to the role of Nuncio to Brussels. This was
another diplomatic position of a very high rank, and it
(06:14):
marked a point at which the young priest, just six
years into his priesthood, was considered a career member of
the papal states government. He became an archbishop not long
into his appointment in Belgium, where he spent the next
three years, and those three years are considered very influential
in the way Jacquino Pechi viewed the role of the
Church in the modernizing world. King Leopold the First of
(06:37):
Belgium had started out on good terms with Pechi, but
that shifted drastically. Unlike his predecessors and Brussels, Pecchi did
not manage the careful maneuvering required to maintain the delicate
political balance of multiple factions that were attempting to assert
power and a dispute between the Church and the monarch
(06:58):
over education Petchi sided with the local bishop, and in
doing that he soured his relationship with Leopold. Frustrated at
not having the archbishop at his command, Leopold asked Rome
to recall Pechi. The church did exactly that, sending him
back to Perugia, this time as a bishop. While this
(07:20):
move to Perugia early in his career had been a
step up, in this instance it was very clearly a
step down. We will talk about the ways that Petchi
fell under suspicion for his views after we first take
a sponsor break. When the revolutions of eighteen forty eight
(07:47):
began around Europe, Pechy did not help his standing in
the church. So this movement, which could be a future episode, was,
in the very briefest of terms, a series of uprisings
against increasingly conservative governments throughout the continent, and this was
catalyzed in the acute sense by a series of crop
failures that impacted a lot of countries and led to
(08:09):
food shortages. This also tied into world events that were
happening far beyond Europe. But in terms of how this
series of conflicts is Germane to Jacquino Pecci, he made
the politically dangerous move of speaking out about the way
the Papal States in particular handled it, although he was
also vehemently against the revolution. To make matters worse, as
(08:32):
Italy was seeking to unify all of its lands under
one national identity, which meant papal states being ceded to
Italian governance, Pecchi thought fighting in some of these cases
was going to be counter productive. This brought a lot
of suspicion on the bishop, as church authorities started to
think he was too liberal. The little hilarious uh. This
(08:58):
was a time of extreme shift in the Church's power,
as the vast majority of the land of the Papal
States was conquered by Italy, leaving the pope only a
tiny portion of what he had once controlled. So for
a man in the church's leadership to not take a
hard stance to fight to retain that control was seen
(09:18):
as inherently suspicious. He did speak out against the occupation
of papal land and against the Italian government secularizing aspects
of religious life such as marriage. Still, even though he
caused some controversy, Pecchy was not entirely disliked. In eighteen
fifty three, before the church lost so much territory. He
(09:40):
was promoted to the rank of cardinal, but he was
still relegated to a much less important area than he
had seemed destined for in his early career. But he
didn't really treat this like a demotion. He threw himself
into his work and he focused on the diocese that
he led. Among other efforts, he promoted a j tion,
(10:00):
and he established a hospital, and in his spare time,
Petchy engaged in his own intellectual and philosophical pursuits and
turned the decades that he spent away from Rome into
a time of personal growth. One of the conclusions that
Pechy came to through his self directed scholarship was that
the Church was hurting itself by working in opposition to
(10:22):
the changing world. He was interested in technology and thought
that an understanding of modern culture would help the Catholic
Church find a point of reconciliation with it. In eighteen
seventy seven, he was named as Camerlango, which came as
a surprise. Though he had not had the favor of
Pope Pious the ninth being named to this position showed
(10:43):
that the Pope did have some confidence in Pecchi. This
is a very important role and that it's the person
who assumes the administrative responsibilities of handling things when the
pope dies. This includes everything from ensuring that the body
of the deceased is handled properly to making arrangements for
(11:03):
the conclave that selects the next pope. It seems that
Pope Pious knew that a need for the camer Lingo
was coming, because less than a year after having been
named into that role, Pechi was called to the duties
of the job when Pope Pious the ninth died. So
you have probably seen lots of coverage of how a
conclave works between the recent Oscar winning film and the
(11:26):
passing of Pope Francis and the selection of Pope Leo
the fourteenth, but will do a quick refresher. So a
conclave is called after the sea is vacated by death
or resignation of the previous pope. It is a gathering
of cardinals at the Vatican who confer and vote on
who will be the next pope. The assembled cardinals have
no contact with the outside world during the conclave, and
(11:49):
there is no recording of the proceedings allowed. There is
a pretty strictly regimented way in which the schedule plays out,
although most of the rules about it were not officially
a established until well after the conclave that selected Pope
Leo the thirteenth. And here's a little surpriser in case
you didn't know it. Technically a person does not have
(12:10):
to be a member of the priesthood to become pope.
They just have to be a baptized Catholic male. But
the last non cardinal who was chosen for the job
was Urban the sixth. That was in thirteen seventy eight
during the Western Schism when the Church was split in
two and there were two competing popes in Rome and Avignon,
and spoiler alert, Urban's time on the Holy See did
(12:31):
not go well, so they didn't really ever go back
to that plan again. Since the fourteenth century, every pope
has come from the pool of cardinals. Once the cardinals
are assembled, a schedule of voting and discussion begins and
continues until one of the possible successors receives a two
thirds majority. After each vote, the ballots are burned. That
(12:53):
is the smoke that everyone looks for to see if
the pope has been chosen. Black, of course, means that
the two thirds majority has not been reached in white
means that it has and that a new pope is selected.
In addition to being camer Lango, Petchi emerged as a
front runner to succeed Pious the Ninth. He was not
the prior Pope's personal pick, that was Cardinal Bilio, but
(13:16):
he had plenty of detractors. On the flip side was
liberal Cardinal Francie. In this mix, Pecchi was considered a moderate,
and the cardinals from outside of Italy really rallied around him.
They noted that because he had been living outside of
Rome for three decades at that point, he was unlikely
to be burdened by any kinds of machinations or gossip
(13:38):
or influence efforts that had been playing out at the Vatican.
He also had really gained a lot of respect for
having devoted himself to his work in Perusia. There was
one major factor working against him, and that was that
he had a long history of health problems. There were
concerns that he did not have the stress to lead,
(14:01):
or that he would not live long enough to accomplish
much if he were elected. Despite these concerns, though Petcha
carried out the needed two thirds of the votes on
the third round on the morning of February twentieth. The
conclave had convened late on the eighteenth, and it was
the shortest time for a papal election at that point
(14:22):
in history. Leo the thirteenth took his papal name in
reference to his Leo predecessor, Leo the twelfth. This was
also an interesting choice, as Leo the twelfth, who was
pope from eighteen twenty three to eighteen twenty nine, was
pretty ruthless. He was elected in the backlash to his
liberal predecessor, Pious the seventh. Leo the twelfth was an authoritarian,
(14:46):
but he did eventually recognize that there needed to be
a way to work with opponents instead of always being
in conflict. This was not that dissimilar from Pious the ninth,
who Leo the thirteenth was replacing. Leo the twelfth was
also a proponent of education, which Leo the thirteenth wished
to also champion as a cause. The news of the
(15:08):
new pope was covered around the world. In the US,
the Chicago Tribune ran coverage of it that took up
two thirds of a page in a Sunday paper that
only ran sixteen pages. Readers could learn all about the
new pope, from his life story to the details of
the conclave. Similarly, The New York Times dedicated two full
front page columns to news of the new pope and
(15:32):
information about the previous pope. Leo I wanted to include
that because it's clear that this is not a new thing.
Where we all go, what is his name? What was
the previous one that was named that? Like, what's going
on here? That's how it's always been handled in the press.
From the outset. Leo the thirteenth found himself the leader
of a Catholic church at a time when there was
a lot of push and pull regarding the church's place
(15:54):
in a modernizing world. In the book History of the Church,
The Church and the Industrial Age, published in nineteen authors
Hubert Jendon and John Patrick Dolan described the conflict this
way quote. The problem of relations between the Church and
the post revolutionary world articulated itself most strongly in the
Holy City. Festive illuminations stood in contrast to protest demonstrations.
(16:19):
Popelia the thirteenth actually had his coronation in the Sistine Chapel,
rather than the custom of having the ceremony in Saint
Peter's because there was believed to be a very real
danger to those present and the authorities didn't feel like
they could guarantee security. Next we will talk about encyclicals
and how Leo the thirteenth wrote a lot of them,
(16:40):
but first we will hear from some sponsors that keep
stuff you miss in history class. Going throughout his time
as Pope, Leo the thirteenth became well known for the
contents of his in cyclical letters, so that just means
(17:02):
letters that are sent to all of the church's bishops,
which often are about the church's official position on a
given topic or issue. The first encyclical was written in
seventeen forty by Pope Benedict the fourteenth. Not all popes
write them. For example, Pope John Paul, who was pope
briefly in nineteen seventy eight, did not write any, but
(17:24):
most popes in the last century and change have written
at least a couple of them. They have been favored
by some popes because they create an official record, whereas
personal letters would not. The recently deceased Pope Francis wrote
just four of them, including one about climate change and
conservation in twenty fifteen, but Pope Leo the thirteenth loved
(17:46):
and encyclical according to the Pew Research Center as of
twenty fifteen, so they wrote this rite before that Climate
Change in cyclical from Francis. Leo the thirteenth had written
ninety in cyclicals, which made up a full one third
of the total number issued by all popes. So he
clearly saw this means of communication as a very effective tool.
(18:08):
And so we're going to take a look at his
papacy by talking about just a few of the key ones.
The first of his encyclicals, on the Evils of Society,
outlines the many issues readily seen in the world at
the time of the writing, which was in eighteen seventy eight,
not long after Leo the thirteenth became pope. He notes
(18:30):
the various problems the world faces, how there's bloodshed and
civil strife all around, and the reason for this letter
is the lack of religious devotion. Leo wrote, quote, now,
the source of these evils lies chiefly. We are convinced
in this that the Holy and venerable authority of the Church,
(18:50):
which in God's neighborls mankind, upholding and defending all lawful
authority has been despised and set aside. The enemies of
public order, being fully aware of this, have thought nothing
better suited to destroy the foundations of society than to
make an unflagging attack upon the Church of God, to
(19:11):
bring her into discredit and odium by spreading infamous calumnies
and accusing her of being opposed to genuine progress. As
the nineteenth century came to a close, Pope Leo the
thirteenth chose to address what many perceived as a growing
problem for the Catholic Church, and that was Americanism. This ideology,
(19:33):
which actually remains controversial today, embraces the idea that social
mores of the Church need to change and adapt with
the social changes of the world, rather than create a
division or gap that could lose followers. A lot of
the language around this effort for reform in the eighteen
nineties invoked the phrase greater liberty, suggesting that Catholics might
(19:55):
have more freedom in the ways they conducted their daily
lives than old world Catholicism might allow. Leo the thirteenth
response to Americanism was contained in his writing Testam benevolentier Nostre.
It was not favorable. This is a letter that is
addressed to the Archbishop of Baltimore at the time, James Gibbons,
(20:16):
but as an encyclical copies were also sent to every
bishop in the US. It's a long document, but in
it he sums up the issue quote. The underlying principle
of these new opinions is that, in order to more
easily attract those who differ from her, the Church should
shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit of
(20:37):
the age, and relax some of her ancient severity, and
make some concessions to new opinions. Many think that these
concessions should be made not only in regard to ways
of living, but even in regard to doctrines which belong
to the deposit of the faith. They contend that it
would be opportune, in order to gain those who differ
(20:59):
from us, to omit certain points of her teaching which
are of lesser importance, and to tone down the meaning
which the Church has always attached to them. So Leo
the thirteenth makes the case that there is just no
way that the Church can soften any of its doctrines
in the pursuit of more followers, stating, quote, let it
(21:20):
be far from anyone's mind to suppress for any reason
any doctrine that has been handed down. Such a policy
would tend rather to separate Catholics from the Church than
to bring in those who differ. There is nothing closer
to our heart than to have those who are separated
from the fold of Christ returned to it, but in
no other way than the way pointed out by Christ.
(21:45):
Toward the end, he flatly denounces Americanism. Quote from the foregoing,
it is manifest, beloved son, that we are not able
to give approval to these views, which, in their collective sense,
are called by some Americanism. If this is to be
so understood, the doctrines which have been adverted to above
are not only indicated, but exalted. There can be no
(22:08):
manner of doubt that our venerable brethren, the bishops of America,
would be the first to repudiate and condemn it as
being most injurious to themselves and to their country, For
it would give rise to the suspicion that there are
among you some who conceive and would have the Church
in America to be different from what it is in
(22:30):
the rest of the world. So this was a hot
button issue and The reason this idea of some Catholics
wanting to appeal to a wider range of followers had
gained so much attention is tied to the loss of
political power for the Church. So starting in the late
eighteenth century, Catholicism had started losing a lot of its
political power. But as various countries changed their religious affiliations,
(22:55):
and as the papal states had been taken over by Italy,
it became an increasing concern that the Church was going
to need to bolster its standing in its numbers somehow,
and the Church recognized well before Leo's time is Pope
that tying so much of their identity and power to
being the national religion for various countries was only going
to become problematic, and for some that meant they needed
(23:19):
to reform to gain numbers at the individual level in
an effort to regain some of that lost dominance. But
as Leo's letter indicated, the Holy See was not in
agreement with that. There was also ongoing work on Leo's
part to reconcile the ideas of the Church with philosophy
and science. As early as eighteen seventy nine, Leo was
(23:40):
writing about this potential reconciliation, suggesting that philosophy could actually
enhance faith. In an encyclical titled on the Restoration of
Christian Philosophy, he wrote of science, quote, Divine providence itself
requires that in calling back the people to the paths
of faith and salvation, advantage should be taken of human science,
(24:05):
also unapproved and wise practice, which history testifies was observed
by the most illustrious fathers of the Church. In that
same in cyclical, he wrote of philosophy quote, In the
first place, philosophy, if rightly made use of by the
wise in certain way, tends to smooth and fortify the
(24:25):
road to true faith, and to prepare the souls of
its disciples for the fit reception of revelation, for which
reason it is well called by ancient writers, sometimes a
stepping stone to the Christian faith, sometimes the prelude and
help of Christianity, sometimes the Gospel teacher. The writing of
Leo the thirteenth that has gotten the most attention recently
(24:49):
is his work Rerum Novarum, which he wrote in May
of eighteen ninety one. So that name literally translates from
the Latin to new things, but it has often been
translated into English ra as revolutionary change. And this was
an open letter with the heading Rights and Duties of
Capital and Labor. And this document opens with this paragraph quote,
(25:11):
that the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been
disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond
the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in
the cognate sphere of practical economics. Is not surprising. The
elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable in the
vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science.
(25:34):
In the changed relations between masters and workmen, in the
enormous fortunes of some few individuals and the utter poverty
of the masses, the increased self reliance and closer mutual
combination of the working classes, as also finally, in the
prevailing moral degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of
(25:56):
things now obtaining fills every mind with painful apprehension. Wise
men are discussing it, Practical men are proposing schemes, popular meetings,
legislatures and rulers of nations are all busied with it. Actually,
there is no question which has taken deeper hold on
the public mind. From there, Leo the thirteenth walks through
(26:18):
the issues of economic disparity and suffering, and noted quote,
that some opportune and remedy must be found quickly for
the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority
of the working class. For the ancient workingmen's guilds were
abolished in the last century, and no other protective organization
(26:39):
took their place. He also states his issues with various
reform movements and notes that the contentions of socialism quote
are so clearly powerless to end the controversy, that where
they carried into effect, the working man himself would be
among the first to suffer. They are moreover emphatically unjust,
(27:00):
for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions
of the state, and create utter confusion in the community.
But then he does make the case for labor unions,
writing quote to sum up, then we may lay it
down as a general and lasting law, that working men's
associations should be so organized and governed as to furnish
(27:21):
the best and most suitable means for attaining what is
aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual
member to better his condition to the utmost in body, soul,
and property. It is clear that they must pay special
and chief attention to the duties of religion and morality,
and that social betterment should have this chiefly in view.
(27:42):
Otherwise they would lose wholly their special character and end
by becoming little better than those societies which take no
account whatever of religion. What advantage can it be to
a workingman to obtain by means of a society material
well being if he endangers his soul lack of spiritual food.
So the legacy of Poplio the thirteenth isn't exactly as
(28:06):
open minded in all aspects of his philosophy as some
accounts might make it seem. He didn't exactly make a
lot of change within the Church, although he certainly inherited
it at a time when change was all around it.
In a lot of ways, he was a staunch defender
of the Church's traditions, even when those traditions had lost
(28:27):
their cultural relevancy in the eyes of a lot of Christians.
But he was also a scholar, and he was able
to view the world through that lens, which meant that
he could be open minded when seeking for a relationship
between the Church and a changing world, and he recognized
that not everyone in the world was or ever would
(28:47):
be Catholic. He was willing to develop relationships with non
Catholic and even non Christian countries, and he was able
to wield a great deal of political power because of
his ability to connect with a wide range of leaders.
In the early spring of nineteen oh three, Leo the
thirteenth twenty five year Jubilee was celebrated, something that most
(29:09):
people had never expected of a man that was perceived
as being extremely frail when he first became pope. Pope
Leo the thirteenth died on July twentieth, nineteen oh three.
He had developed pneumonia earlier in the month and never recovered.
As he neared the end of his life, he told
the Secretary of Apostolic Briefs, Cardinal Mackie, quote, I am
(29:30):
near the end. I do not know if all I
have done has been good, but I have obeyed my
conscience and our holy faith. In the book History of
the Church The Church in the Industrial Age, which we
mentioned earlier in this episode, there is a really great
passage in the description of his time as Pope which
I think sums things up nicely, so that is where
(29:52):
we will lead it leave it. It is quote Pope Leo
the thirteenth led the Catholic Church into a world which
had risen from real with an attitude which can only
adequately be termed optimistic. He attempted to reconcile an uncompromised
tradition with the modern spirit. There we go. That is
(30:13):
Pope Leo tweak talk about a lot behind the scenes,
guess and listener mail I do. This is a listener
mail that is in reference to our recent episode on
the Meiji Shrine. It's from our listener Brian, who writes, Hello,
Holly and Tracy. I have been a longtime listener, but
I have never felt I could offer enough to write in.
(30:33):
You know what, You don't have to ever feel like
you owe us anything. If you just want to write
and say hey, people can don't feel obligated to have
a thing. Brian writes, I am an Australian working in
Japan as an English instructor and have a deep love
for Japanese history and culture. The festivals are some of
the most fun, chaotic events you will ever attend. Unfortunately,
there has been a bit of poor behavior by tourists
(30:56):
at shrines as of late, with one tourist carving their
name into the tour eGate at Meiji Shrine and others
doing pull ups on the gates at other shrines. The
way I blanched when I first read this email, Brian continues, Holly,
I actually live near where Star Wars celebration was held
and had many friends come to Japan for it, so
I'm glad you had a great time. If you get
(31:17):
a chance to come back. There is a district in
Tokyo called Nippori, but it is also called Fabric Town.
It has many shops selling fabric buttons, buckles and other
things related to sewing, which I know is right up
your alley. It is also where I work. Well see
you soon, Brian. He continue is I don't have my
own pets, so I am including pictures of my nephew Dmitri.
He is a big Russian blue who loves chicken so
(31:39):
much he has taught himself how to undo cling wrap
and even open cooler boxes. Eski's in Australia. Love the
work and the different views you provide. He also writes, PS,
thank you for the message about working on the weekends,
as I am one of those people that has to
work weekends. This cat is so funny to me. There's
one particular picture of the cat stand on the counter
(32:01):
rifling through the cupboard, and it fills my soul with
bliss because I've had cats that do that and they're
terribly naughty. But I just adore it. Thank you so much, Brian.
I'm horrified that people are misbehaving. It shrines, as I
said in our behind the scenes, and I think during
the episode, I found that visit incredibly moving. Yeah, and
really lovely. So it troubles me that people behave like jerks.
(32:23):
Stop it. But thank you for writing us and sharing that.
And also I had heard whispers about fabric Town, but
I was scared. Oh yeah, listen. I did Russian nesting
suitcases where I pack one suitcase and put it inside
other suitcases. But even so, we were pushing the limit
when we actually checked our bags. Yeah. Yeah, got on
(32:46):
the flight, and I didn't want to make it any scarier.
My bigger thing was not even the flight. It was
the car ride from the hotel to the airport because
there were three of us and we all had multiple things. Yeah,
and it had been dicey coming in before, or the
Russian nesting suitcases had exploded, right, So I was like,
I don't think this is the trip to go to Fabrictown.
But next time I'll just show up with nothing but
(33:09):
one pair of pants and a dream. Yeah. Buy everything
in Fabrictown, wash everything in the sink every night. Yeah.
If you would like to write to us, you can
do that at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. If
you haven't subscribed to the show and you think that
sounds like a good time, you can do that really
easily on the iHeart app, or you can also do
(33:32):
that wherever else you listen to podcasts. It's super easy, peasy.
Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
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Stuff You Missed in History Class News
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Tracy Wilson
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