Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI reigned from 1831 to 1846 and set the Church firmly against the age. Born Bartolomeo Cappellari at Belluno in 1765, he entered the Camaldolese order at eighteen, spent decades as a monk and scholar, published a defence of papal authority against secular governments, and became abbot and then a cardinal in 1826. He was the last pope who was not a bishop at his election. He was elected in February 1831 during a revolt in the Papal States, and immediately called in Austrian troops to suppress it — as he did again in 1832, which made him dependent on Vienna and deeply unpopular among Italian nationalists. His domestic government resisted almost every modern development. He refused to permit railways in the papal territories, reportedly calling them chemins d'enfer, roads of hell, and blocked gas lighting and suspension bridges, on the reasoning that they would spread revolutionary ideas. Mirari Vos in 1832 condemned freedom of conscience as an absurdity and freedom of the press as detestable, and was directed at Lamennais and the liberal Catholic movement. His record abroad is markedly better. Singulari Nos followed in 1834. In 1839 he issued In Supremo Apostolatus, condemning the slave trade and forbidding Catholics to take part in it — a strong statement that American bishops interpreted as applying only to the trade and not to ownership. He revitalised the missions, appointing nearly two hundred bishops in mission territories and encouraging indigenous clergy, and founded the Etruscan and Egyptian museums. He died in 1846.
- Lived: 1765 CE – 1846 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: pope, cleric
