Pope Pius VIII |
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Bishop of Rome | |
Papacy began | 31 March 1829 |
Papacy ended | 30 November 1830 |
Predecessor | Leo XII |
Successor | Gregory XVI |
Orders | |
Ordination | 17 December 1785 |
Consecration | 17 August 1800 by Giuseppe Maria Doria Pamphilj |
Created Cardinal | 8 March 1816 by Pius VII |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Francesco Saverio Castiglioni |
Born |
Cingoli, Marche, Papal States |
20 November 1761
Died | 30 November 1830 Quirinal Palace, Rome, Papal States |
(aged 69)
Previous post |
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Coat of arms | |
Papal styles of Pope Pius VIII |
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Reference style | His Holiness |
Spoken style | Your Holiness |
Religious style | Holy Father |
Posthumous style | None |
Pope Pius VIII (20 November 1761 – 30 November 1830), born Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, reigned as Pope from 31 March 1829 to his death in 1830.
Pius VIII's pontificate was the shortest of all the popes of the 19th century, and is likely the least remembered. His brief papacy witnessed the Catholic Emancipation in Great Britain in 1829, which he welcomed, and the July Revolution in France in 1830, which he reluctantly accepted. Pius VIII is often remembered for his writings on marriages between Catholics and Protestants in the 1830 encyclical Litteris altero abhinc, in which he declared that a marriage could only be properly blessed if proper provisions had been made to ensure the bringing up of children in the Catholic faith. His death less than two years after his election to the papacy has led to speculation of a possible murder.
Francesco Saverio Castiglioni was born in Cingoli, Marche, the third of eight children of Count Ottavio Castiglioni and his wife Sanzia Ghislieri. His baptismal name was recorded as Francesco Saverio Maria Felice. He studied at the Collegio Campana run by the Society of Jesus and, after that, at the University of Bologna where he earned a doctorate in canon law and in civil law in 1785. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1785.
He served as the Vicar General of Anagni (1788–90), Fano (1790-97) and Ascoli Piceno (1797-1800). In 1800, Castiglioni was appointed as the Bishop of Montalto.
Castiglione received episcopal consecration in 1800 in Rome and commenced his work in his new diocese. After he refused to swear allegiance to Napoleon I of France (1804–14, 1815) he was taken to a series of Italian cities before being sent to France. After Napoleon fell, he returned to his diocese in 1814. He was praised by Pope Pius VII who in 1816 elevated him to the cardinalate as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Traspontina. He held various high offices thereafter, including that of Major Penitentiary. He soon became a Cardinal-Bishop of the suburbicarian see of Frascati.