Leo XIII summary

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Leo XIII, orig. Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci, (born March 2, 1810, Carpineto Romano, Papal States—died July 20, 1903, Rome), Pope (1878–1903). Born into the Italian nobility, he was ordained a priest in 1837 and entered the diplomatic service of the Papal States. He was appointed bishop of Perugia in 1846 and was named a cardinal in 1853. He was elected pope in 1878, and, despite his advanced age and frail health, he directed the church for a quarter of a century. Like his predecessor, Pius IX, he opposed Freemasonry and secular liberalism, but he brought a new spirit to the papacy by adopting a conciliatory attitude toward civil governments and taking a more positive view of scientific progress.

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