ABSTRACT
Leo XIII was almost sixty-eight years of age when elected Pope in 1878. He was a complete contrast, in character and experience, to his predecessor. Though he had been Bishop of Perugia since 1846, his early training had been in papal administration and diplomacy. Being less simple and warmhearted, less Italian in his outlook than Pius IX, he had disapproved both of the latter’s nationalist phase in 1846–8 and of his intransigence towards the Italian state since 1861. For this reason Leo had been out of favour at the Vatican and distrusted by Antonelli, the Secretary of State. The cardinals who secured his election were aware of this. In view of his age, his pontificate was expected to be short; but it was hoped that, with his greater flexibility and understanding of the modern world, he would find new paths out of the impasse into which Pius IX seemed to have led the Papacy.
