Pope Pius IX (jun 16, 1846 – feb 7, 1878)

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Pope Pius IX in 1869 extended punishment of excommunication for the abortion of an embryo at any age.

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In September 2000, Pope John Paul II proceeded with the beatification of Pius IX (pope, 1846-78). In the Catholic daily La Croix, French historian René Rémond mentioned that Pius IX made “decisions that shock an evangelical mind—such as allowing the execution of Italian patriots sentenced to death for questioning his power as head of State.” Calling him the “last European absolute monarch,” the newspaper Le Monde noted the intolerance of this pope-king and especially his fight against “freedom of conscience, human rights, and the emancipation of the Jews.” The paper added that Pius IX “condemned democracy, freedom of religion, and separation of Church and State” as well as “freedom of the press, thought, and association.” It was Pius IX who in 1869 opened the first Vatican council where the doctrine of papal infallibility in matters of faith and morals was defined.

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Thirty-two years later, Pope Pius IX published his Syllabus of Errors, in which he condemned the idea that “every man is free to embrace and to profess the religion which, by the light of reason, he believes to be true.”

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