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 THE THRONE IN THE TIME OF STORMS

rank with others. It was not merely the hostile attitude of the new Quirinal, though this could hardly avoid looking upon the Catholic protest (ordered by the Pope) against the "usurping Kingdom" as a constant challenge, but also French opposition to Italy and the Triple Alliance which prevented the success of Vatican hopes for restoration. The closer ties which after 1899 bound France to the Vatican and the energetic, even imperative instruction to the Catholic monarchists of the country to place themselves on the basis of the new Republic, since monarchies and republics were both divinely permitted forms of government, did not succeed in stemming the growing opposition of the French government to the Papacy. Political and philosophical forces in France and Italy deprived the Pope of a chance to live at peace with his native country, which he loved as much as any patriot, and likewise prevented the fulfilment of even a very modest desire for effective sovereignty within a small territory.

Yet so much more impressive was the triumph of his efforts to ex- tend the hierarchical and spiritual influence of the Church, and through recourse to thought and action in the spirit of the New Testament to revamp and make secure the tottering foundations of the social order. Ut unum omnes as professed by this shepherd of peoples stood for the desire to weld Church, State and society in that union which, since the beginnings of Christianity, had been the goal of all the great thinkers, constructive geniuses, saints and prophets of the Catholic communion. Leo's great encyclicals, the most famous of which is Rerum Novarum of 1891, were rooted in a thoroughly reasoned system of Christian social thought to which he adhered firmly from the beginning of his reign. These messages were not of merely temporary value. They proved as lastingly significant as the subjects with which they dealt were permanently timely i. e., Socialism, the labour problem, an- archy, Christian democracy, the limits of the authority of the state, marriage and the family, freedom and law, civilization and the Church, unity of faith. The educational institutions Leo founded in Rome, the services he rendered to religious Orders and to missions, and the erection of new dioceses in the United States, India, Japan, Scotland and the Scandinavian countries, offset the failure of other plans such as the unification of the Anglican Church with Rome. All his breadth of mind, all his skill in making the best of opportunities

PIUS