The Pope Who Would Be King: The Exile of Pius IX and the Emergence of Modern Europe

by David I. Kertzer

The Pulitzer-winning author of The Pope and Mussolini, takes on a central, untold story of the Papacy, the revolution that stripped the Pope of political power and signaled the birth of modern Europe.

The longest-reigning pope, Pope Pius IX, also oversaw one of the greatest periods of tumult and transition in Church history. When Pius IX was elected, the pope was still a king as well as a spiritual leader, welcomed by the citizens of the Papal States who hoped he might bring in modern reforms, such as a constitutional government, after the repressive rule of Pope Gregory XVI. In the first year of his rule, Pius IX tried to please his subjects with incremental changes while holding onto absolute authority he believed was divinely ordained. But, as the revolutionary spirit of 1848 swept through Europe, the Pope found he could not have it both ways. By the end of his rule, the Papacy--and Europe--had completely transformed. In The Pope Who Would Be King, David Kertzer tells the story of the revolution that spelled the end of the papacy as an earthly rule and the birth of modern Europe.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Biography, European History, Christianity, Church History

460 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2018

About the author

David Israel Kertzer is an American anthropologist, historian, and academic, specializing in the political, demographic, and religious history of Italy. He is the Paul Dupee, Jr. University Professor of Social Science, Professor of Anthropology, and Professor of Italian Studies at Brown University.

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

Netgalley #28

Many thanks to David Kertzer, Random House, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

I knew nothing about this period in history, and I'm Catholic, so now I feel guilty, which isn't really anything new since I'm Catholic. This took place in Italy around the same time as the first World's Fair, Indian territory is evacuated, the Republican Party is founded, and the Dred Scott case is decided.

It was major upheaval in the country, which was really tiny states at that time with the Papal States encompassing Rome through the middle. Lots of rebellion, lots of dead. Pope took off in hiding concerned for his safety because everyone is being killed. Basically the people want a republic, he wants a papal monarchy. The people want a Constitution, he wants government by the church. I guess because I'm an American I found this absolutely absurd. I've never known the Pope as a governmental leader. I really couldn't blame the Roman population at all except for all of the violence. There was so much death.
Reading this book was quite the educational experience for me. I learned something about my religion as well as something about history.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Pope who would be King" is tremendously entertaining and highly informative for a reader possessing a modest knowledge of the history of Italian Unification. The subject is the Roman Republic which was proclaimed on February 9, 1849 and suppressed by the French Army on July 2, 1849. The goal of the author is to show how the experience turned the papacy into the vehement foe of democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of the press until the 1960s. If Kertzer had not chosen to link the declaration of Papal Infallibility made 20 years later to the events described in this book I would have given it five stars.

The story of the Roman Republic is normally viewed as an event among many in the long history of the struggle for Italian Independence (a.k.a. the Risorgimento, a.k.a. Italian Unification). Hence it is usually told from the perspective of the winners who fought to unify the Italian Peninsula into a single nation and expel its Austrian occupiers. Kertzer's book has the great merit of presenting the story from the point of view of the upper clergy of the Roman Catholic church who wanted to maintain the papal theocracy that directly ruled most the of territory in Italy between the Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian ruled territories in Northern Italy.

Kertzer provides a superb portrait of Pius IX and the cardinals in his entourage during the time periond in which he conceded a constitution to his Papal states, fled Rome and returned after the military defeat of the Roman Republic. Kertzer is similarly outstanding in describing the personalities and players involved in the democratic assembly created by Pius IX and which would subsequently turn him into a virtual prisoner before his flight from the eternal city. Kertzer's descriptions of Mazzini, the leader of the Triumvirate that governed the Roman Republic is particularly good.

From my point of view, the best part of the book was the way in which Kertzer described the manoeuvrings inside the French camp. Initially France sent a military force to Rome with three goals: (1) bring the Pope back to Rome; (2) ensure the survival of the constitutional government; and (3) reduce the influence of Austria in the Italian peninsula. The diplomats attached a great deal of importance to preserving a liberal government in the Pope's former territories. The military were more sympathetic to the Pope but most of all wanted a fast, decisive military action against the Roman Republic which they felt would be the best way to minimize the loss of life. After a period of reflection, the French President, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (later Napoléon III) decided that what he wanted above all to pose as the defender of the Catholic faith. Liberalism in Rome would have to wait for another day. The French army attacked and the thoroughly repressive, medieval theocracy regime was reinstalled in Rome and throughout the Papal states with no liberal elements of any sort.

Louis-Napoléon was not pleased by the refusal of Pius IX to make any concessions Lliberalism . As a result he intervened ten years later in the Second Italian War of Independence to ensure that all of the Papal states with the exception of the Vatican enclave Rome passed into the hands of the Kingdom of Italy which had a liberal constitution. The conclusion that Pius IX drew from this was not that it was better to co-operate with Liberalism but to fight it with all his forces. He convoked the First Vatican Council of 1869-1870 which declared the Pope to be infallible in questions of doctrine and which condemned democracy, religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the separation of church and state.

Vatican I wound up the same year in which the French finally pulled their army out of Rome thus allowing the incorporation of the Holy City into the Kingdom of Italy. Many people have noted that the two events were chronologically linked. However, there is no legitimate reason to link the doctrine of papal infallibility to Italian unification. The link between the Roman Catholic Church dislike of Liberalism and the movement for Italian Unification could not be clearly. Those fighting for unification did so with the express goal of imposing a liberal constitution on all of Italy and of disposing the Vatican of its possessions. The doctrine of papal infallibility had theological roots. After struggling with the Reformation for 300 years, the Catholic theologians had come to realize by the end of the 19th Century that some of their doctrines were difficult to justify on purely theological grounds. Consequently, Papa Infallibility was needed as a last resort in certain instances. The Virgin Mary and her constant appearances posed the biggest problem. Papal Infallibility has in fact only be used once since it was declared. This was in 1950 to define the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It has certainly never been used to attack Liberalism.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author has written three books tracing the history of the papacy and the Vatican from 1846 to and through WWII. I read the first book, Prisoner of the Vatican, about 7 or 8 years ago and in the timeline of this history it could be considered a sequel to the present book as it spans the period of 1870 to 1929. The author's second book, The Pope and Mussolini, I read last year and deals with the popes and events leading to the accord of 1929 between the pope and the Italian government in which the pope finally recognized the Italian state and Vatican City was created. That history continues into the rise of fascism and Hitler and Pope Pius XII. The book I just finished is the author's latest book and spans the period from 1846 to 1870 which is almost the entirety of the papacy of Pius IX. While these 3 books were not meant as a trilogy they should have been as they span the history of the papacy as a medieval absolute temporal monarchy into the modern era and the pope being simply the head of the Catholic Church. After finishing this book I find myself thinking I may need to refresh my memory about the events involved in the pope finally losing his kingdom of the Papal States and reread Prisoner of the Vatican. To put it mildly this history is all but completely unknown to most if not the vast majority of Catholics of which I am one.

All three of these books are excellent and informative histories. The focus of this review however is the latest book and the one I have just finished reading. It is also the book that begins this history which exclusively covers most of the reign of Pope Pius IX which began in 1846. If I am not mistaken I believe Pius IX holds the record for the longest serving pope in history as he did not die until 1878. My first exposure to the details of this pope's history came as a result of my reading Prisoner of the Vatican which I found, as a Catholic, jaw dropping in its revelations. After reading that book and learning about the encyclical, Quanta cura, and the Syllabus of Errors in which the pope commanded the Catholics of the world not to believe in such things as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, or freedom of association I had a very harsh opinion of this pope. But this book now gives us a more complete understanding of this man that became a pope during rather turbulent times. What happened here is what occurs when a simple man of very limited education and ability is placed in a position for which he is totally unsuited. Seems we might have some recent understanding of just such an occurrence. Giovanni Mastai Ferretti now Pope Pius IX just wanted to be loved and as the absolute monarch of the Papal States comprising most of central Italy he wanted the adoration and affection of his Italian subjects. To acquire this adoration he did the unforgivable, he became generous bordering on the liberal and he paid the price.

Following our Revolution and then the French Revolution the 19th century became a time when people started to question the centuries old concept of the divine right of kings. To the monarchs of Europe the fact that the pope was both a temporal ruler as well as the head of the Catholic Church gave their rule divine legitimacy. Pius' gifts, and that was how he viewed them, to his subjects were accepted with great displays of affection but then the people viewed the "gifts" as something they were entitled to and then they wanted more and their requests bordered on being demands. A movement was started to place the pope in the position of a constitutional monarch and end the rule of priests in the Papal States. What was at stake wasn't simply the position of the pope but the position of all the monarchs of Europe at that time. If the pope agreed to become a constitutional monarch then how could any other European monarch or member of nobility justify their privileged status? The gauntlet was thrown down and Italy became the battleground and the pope and the Church the figureheads. It is a distressing history and it results in a simple man of faith becoming the face of a horrible tyranny conducted in the name of God and under the banner of faith. It's a book that you might not enjoy but it is worth reading.

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-researched, well-written and unexpectedly gripping account of the reign of Pius IX, the last pope to govern central Italy as a secular -- and absolute -- monarch. The narrative mostly focuses on the first tumultuous years of his papacy, from his election in 1846, through his well-meaning beginnings amid an antiquated government of reactionary cardinals, to the chaos of 1848. That revolutionary year -- much as the Arab Spring was in our time -- shook government after government across Europe, and it would arrive in Rome in the form of a Roman Republic and a people sick of theocratic rule, and Pius IX would dither and then flee to the Kingdom of Naples.

It's an exciting story, mainly about the momentous and violent period 1848-49, mostly in Rome and the revolution and siege of the Eternal City. (The book, no spoiler, does sketch his subsequent reign and his being chased into the Vatican for good in 1870 by an army of reunified Italy).

Pius IX, to be fair, had a weak hand to play, with few resources in the Papal States and a weak army, with the surrounding powers -- Kingdom of Naples, Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the new post-revolutionary French Second Republic -- themselves feeling compelled to intervene to save, or capture, the papacy to suit their own interests as much as the Catholic cause. Nonetheless, Pius IX -- "Pio Nono" -- comes off at times as conflicted, feckless, even irrelevant; his first move in exile in Gaeta is not to rally an army but to draft an encyclical about the Immaculate Conception.

Other, vivid characters come into the story: his villainous secretary of state, Cardinal Antonelli; the operatic Kings, Ferdinand in Naples and Charles Albert of Sardinia; the heroic, tragic revolutionaries Mazzini, Garibaldi, Ugo Bassi, and Ciceruacchio. We see the leaders of another 1848-vintage republic, the French president Louis Napoleon, his ambassador de Lesseps, and his foreign minister Alexis de Tocqueville (yes, the author of Democracy in America), intervene and find themselves at war with the Roman Republic. We see a fledgling democracy go down under a war between Sardinia and Austria -- herself beset by revolution -- in the north, and under bloody siege in Rome itself. It's a vast canvas and a compelling story, played out over less than two years in the 1848-1850 period. It shows a pivotal time that established that, if the pope had no divine right to govern a state, then neither, as the author points out, did kings. Highest recommendation.

[Rama Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tumultuous life of Pope Pius IX

Here is an opportunity to study the life of Pope Pius IX and take a journey through the history of Roman Catholic Church that paved the way for modern Europe. Following the death of Pope Gregory XVI (1831–46), the political climate within Italy was turning its tide against Catholic Church’s autocracy. The church was steeped in a factional division between conservatives and liberals. The conservatives favored the hardline stances and papal absolutism of the previous pontificate, while liberals supported reforms.

In this book, author David Kertzer chronicles the tumultuous life of Pope Pius IX and the fate of Catholic Church in progressive Europe. Majority of the inhabitants of Papal states during this time did not like the church’s abuses. Majority of them wanted to live free from its clutches. Jews found themselves in the confines of poverty, abuse, and antisemitism in the slums of Rome. Life for them was beyond unbearable. Worst of all was that they lived in fear that their children may be taken from them forcibly, baptized under Roman Laws, and they would be raised as a Catholics.

During earlier years, the election of Pope Pius IX created much enthusiasm in Europe. But soon it faded as French revolution dominated the continent’s political arena. The separation of church and state was becoming increasingly popular. Consequently, Pope’s influence on people was decreasing. But Pope Pius did not shirk, he wanted more control within Europe and at the same time he expected Roman Catholics to have freedom in Russia and the Ottoman Empire. He also fought against anti-Catholic sentiments in Italy and Germany. When Pope’s life was threatened and became dangerous; he was guarded in seclusion by French forces. But after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), the Papal States lost its protector in Emperor Napoleon III and came under control Italian rulers. But until this time, Pope Pius IX was a Sovereign Ruler of the Papal States and expected to be treated as a King. During his reign, the Pontiff made full use of his spiritual arsenal and warned that Catholics must not believe in freedom of religion, or freedom of speech or freedom press. He summoned the world’s bishops and cardinals, and addressing the conference, he condemned the godless forces that emerged from French revolution. He proclaimed that he alone would find spiritual solutions for people.

Many modern-day Christian conservatives blame the hippie culture and X-generation for turning away from God. Pope Pius IX felt the same way during his leadership. But in its absolutism, the separation of church and state is less meaningful as religions like Islam is making inroads and introducing its political ideology through teachings of its books and Sharia Laws. The state-of-affairs in the Middle East and other Islamic countries demonstrate how clergy have cleverly taken control of its masses by intimidating their governments.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through the description of the early years of Pope Pius IX’s administration, the general reader comes to understand the passions, people and events that lead to the unification of Italy. David Kertzer makes the complex issues easy for the lay reader to understand.

Pius IX was an unlikely candidate to emerge as Pope from the 1846 conclave. He had a low profile and uncertain views. As revolutions toppled entrenched powers in Europe, the realization settled in throughout the peninsula that foreign powers supported the pope who kept the corrupt clergy in place. Along with this came the vision of the Italian people as a nation.

Pius began his administration with hints that he would make much needed reforms. He spoke of Italians (previous popes would not utter the word) in a patriotic ways that suggested that he opposed foreign (Austrian) influence. He relaxed censorship, freed political prisoners, supported railroads and allowed Jews to leave their ghetto. The people showed him their love and he basked in it. Dismayed conservatives got Pius’s ear and the resulting contrary actions alienated the once enthralled people. Within two years, not much goodwill remained and the pope sought refuge outside of Rome.

Kertzer takes the reader through the politics of the day’s superpowers vying to provide the pope a new base of operations, convince him to act in their interest, and worst of all, to lay siege to Rome and the peninsula to take back his reforms by force. You learn of the difficult position of Alexis Tocqueville’s (of Democracy in America fame) service as the Foreign Minister under Louis Napoleon. You learn of the Pope’s intransigency and bitterness to those whom he believes he has served well.

The book ends with the Pope’s return to Rome. An epilogue summarizes the pope’s later life and the final unification of Italy years hence.

The text is enhanced by portraits that are well selected for not only facial expressions, but also how they look in the total design of the book. While I did not consult the maps much they are very good, showing all the places pertinent to the story. I did not consult the list of characters since Kertzer writes of them so well that they stay with you; the same is true of the index no need to flip back.

This was a fascinating read. For me, it helped put some of the pieces of the Risorgimento together. I recommend it for anyone interested in this time in Italian or church history.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a friend who is militantly anti-Catholic who once observed how odd he found it that every single Pope since Pius IX has either been canonized or is in the pipeline for it. The only exceptions are the Benedicts, one of whom isn't dead. Benedict XV's lack of promotion is odd, since he was arguably both holy and a good steward of the papal throne.

But I digress. It is certainly true that Popes have been less exciting in the post-Pio Nono reigns. To say nothing of less political, which may be the direct result of the loss of the Papal States. Kertzer's well-written book focuses upon the beginning of the divestiture of the papal patrimony, i.e. the removal of the Pope to Gaeta in the face of Roman uprisings during the troubles of 1848. An actual republic was declared, and Pius IX invited the Catholic powers of Europe --- France, Austria, Spain and the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples --- to suppress it and restore him to his secular authority. The republicans were perfectly happy to have the Pope reside in Rome and continue his role as spiritual leader of the Roman Church, but Pius wasn't interested. His early "liberalism" after his election in 1846 seems to have been a misguided attempt to curry favor with the citizens of the Papal States rather than any deep-seated convictions. Once it became apparent that the genie of democracy was out of the bottle, the Pope fled the Eternal City.

The damndest people keep showing up in this story. Alexis de Tocqueville (yes, that guy) actually winds up being the French Foreign Minister who sends troops against the Roman Republic. Rome is bombarded and people die, although the French wring their hands a bit over the prospect of damaging the center of Western civilization. Pius sits it all out in Gaeta, whining non-stop about how unfair his people are being to him. The net result is to turn a not-very-bright man into a hardened tyrant (no other real word will do) when he is restored. The Pope has people guillotined. In the 1850s. Which is not something I knew before. Kertzer bends over backwards to be personally kind about Pius' character flaws, but a modern pontiff who has people beheaded should be disqualified for sainthood. Apparently not; he was declared Venerable in 1985 and Blessed in 2000 by St. Pope John Paul II. During the previous century three other attempts to advance his cause had failed.

The book is a good read. Kertzer writes in such a way that one can keep track of the characters, and clearly understand what the major players considered to be at stake during Pius' early regnal years. As for the "emergence of Modern Europe" subtitle, it is less effective. That probably had more to do with the revolutions that swept the Austrian Empire and the emerging nationalisms in Italy, Germany, Hungary and the Russian Empire. But Pius' rejection of the Modern certainly didn't help the cause of the ancien regime.

Recommended.

[Tim Parks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fine piece of tradional narrative history writing. Clearly a huge amount of research has gone into it, but Kertzer does the job of sifting it for us and putting it in narrative form. If there is any problem it's that you sometimes feel he add touches he couldn't have known, people panting or dropping their shoulders as they do this or that. But in the main you feel you're getting the facts from the archives. And the story is fascinating, if sometimes depressing for the sheer muddle and stupidity of it all. If anyone believes that Italy was better off before unification this book is a fine corrective. It was one humiliation after another for the Italians.

[Katie.dorny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant history book and narration of papal history. A slice that i don't normally see published or examined. Very interesting cross section slice of the papacy.

[Harmiclir · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the 100 pages of the book that I could force myself to read Pius IX is portrayed as an unimaginative and unskilled leader with no fixed ideas and no ability to move forward with the few ideas he did have.

It would be hard for even a great writer of history to make Pius a compelling protagonist but, alas, Kertzer is only an OK writer and loses the main character of a not very compelling story lost in mediocrity.

I don’t understand all these positive reviews.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

forgetting the maxim that one must never have for enemies either women or priests

[Julian Douglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the Vatican is very interesting, and Mr. Kertzer is probably one of the best right now. The story of Pius IX is a cautionary tale on changing course and relying on advisors who have their own agendas and staying true to what someone believes in. Mr. Kertzer's argument is that Pius IX felt that he was going to be a different pope, but was pressured by his advisors to take a different route in the effort for stability in Europe and his kingdom, which was in drastic need of repair. Pius offered neither a modern state, nor was willing to put his advisors into place and instead was forced to flee and turned against his subjects and running the Papal States, leading to his own demise and his self-exile in both Southern Italy and then the Vatican.

A well researched book that explained not only the affairs of the Papal States, but Europe as a whole in relations to the Vatican. This was a hard book to put down. Reading this now as Leo XIV takes over and there might be a seismic change to the Catholic Church, this book shows that radical change in an institution as established as the Church is neither new, nor does always happen smoothly.

[Mshelton50 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable and intelligent history of the 1849-50 Revolution in the Papal States. The book also shows Pope Pius IX's movement from a liberal (who seemingly supported Italian unification) to a hard-line reactionary (who would excommunicate the Piedmontese king Victor Emmanuel II who unified Italy and annexed all of the Papal States except Vatican City). The author, Daniel Kertzer, makes the point that the demise of the temporal power of the Papacy undercut the notion of the divine right of kings throughout the entire western world.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It surprises me that it has taken this long for a book to emerge about the demise of the Papal States, in the context of Italian unification & the post-1848 revolutions in Europe. It doesn't disappoint: it is straightforward, informative, and plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy. A solid work about a rather forgotten historical event.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently I'm really into learning about recent-ish history through the lens of the declining power of the Catholic church??

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book suggests some of the historical significance of Pope Pius IX who occupied the papacy in the middle of the 19th century. We think of the pope as occupying the tiny space of the Vatican City in Rome and being cautious about involvement in the political affairs of the world, but a century and a half ago, the papacy was still a medieval one with huge investments in land and possessions. It didn't divest itself of these and become modern without a ferocious fight, and Kertzer's book details that battle.

Initially, Pius IX had been a popular figure, an unassuming Italian who was elected pope in 1846 by the college of cardinals. He was the last of the pope-kings, a line that had ruled over the papal states, a large swath of land that covered central Italy. This was a period, though, of revolutions that swept through Europe, and the papacy was caught up this fervor. Kertzer makes clear that the pope was a man with good instincts and a deep faith but unable to grasp the significance of the forces that were reshaping Europe. . Margaret Fuller, an American living in Rome had sympathy for the Pope who could not possibly meet all of the expectations of the people. They were forces that were initially set in motion by the American Revolution and the French Revolution a half century earlier and demanded greater rights for individual citizens and a diminishment of the absolute power of kings and rulers.

Italy was a country of abject poverty, even though it was full of sumptuous palaces and churches. Rome, for example, a city of less than 200,000 had over 400 churches, most of them richly decorated. It was an oddly Catholic country in which people believed in church doctrines reflected through religious imagery and practices, but also one in which these same people resented and even despised priests who served as ruling government functionaries and often owned their own land.

Revolutionary leaders began to demand papal state reforms from the pope such as release of political prisoners, replacement of clerical functionaries by laymen, freedom of the press, the release of Jews from ghettos, and disbanding of papal militias. At first Pius was inclined to yield to some of these demands, and released a few prisoners, but he was surrounded by conservative advisors who reminded him that "the laws of the papal reign were given, not by men, but by God." If he began to yield too much power where would it all end?

Events moved fast and ended with rioting and the death of one of Pius' advisors who was shot to death as he stood in a palace window. The Pope feared for his life and had to sneak out of the Vatican palace and take up residence in Naples.

From here, the story becomes political. The pope managed to get the French government to send an army to recapture Rome, now a republic controlled by civilians such as Ciceriacchio, much praised by Florence Nightingale, and helped by Garibaldi,. The French army succeeded, but only after unexpectedly strong resistance.

Once there, though, the French insisted that the Pope, on his return to Rome, make more reforms, something he kept putting off, heavily influenced by his extremely conservative advisor, Cardinal Antonelli. Interestingly, an French politician involved in administering the occupation of the city was Alexis de Tocquville, who earlier had visited and written extensively about American society. The pope was initially reluctant to return to Rome as he felt it was full of enemies. Complicating matters were the Austrian, working behind the scenes to control Rome.

All of this helps explain Piux IX's actions during the 1st Vatican Council, convened in 1869 when Pius was now an old man in his late 70's (his reign of 31 years is the longest in church history) a reactionary council which condemned the rise of liberalism and materialism and is best known for its pronouncement of papal infallibility. Pius had personally felt the results, disastrous to his idea of religious order, of liberal reform movements, and this was, I'd say, his revenge, locking the Church into a conservative and defensive mode for 100 years until the convening of the 2nd Vatican Council which would move the Church in a different direction.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a 3.5 than a four star book, so I rounded up. It suffers from some organization problems, such as WAY too many notes and a Cast of Characters at the beginning of the book. Yes, there are a lot of folks to keep track of, but don't make the mistake of reading the Cast before the book. The plot (so to speak) is given away on the first page. I read this as an ebook, which made flipping back and forth from the Cast, main book and Notes flipping impossible. The title was also poorly chosen, since Pope Kings had been around for 1000 years before events in this book started.

This is the second book Kertzer wrote about Pius IX or Pio Nono the asshat who wrote the Papal Infallibility bull(shit) and raging anti-Semite. Of course, he was made a Saint, because .... popes. (Full disclosure-- I'm an atheist. However, my Mom is Catholic.)

I read this for a couple of reasons:

* 1848 is a major year in modern history of the Western world. This shows one facet of the tumultuous, revolutionary time.
* I wanted to know more about the guy who wrote about Papal Infallibility.
* I've read quite a bit about the Roman Republic and Empire, so wanted to see how Rome was doing under the Pope Kings. Not very well, as it turned out.

The book is generously illustrated with black and white reproductions of illustrations and paintings of the time. When the first illustration of Pius IX came out, I thought he looked a bit like a young Anthony Hopkins, and so had his voice in my head as that Pope's voice. It turned out to be an apt casting, as Pio Nono changed from Tony Hopkins to Hannibal Lecter (or at least Death from "Meeting Joe Black").

This Pope was not only stupid, he hated people, not just Jews. Yes, he's often described as "kindhearted", but he never let go of a grudge, blamed everybody else for his problems, never tried to find out what was actually going on, and really hated Italians, especially Romans. He described them as being not only ungrateful, but too stupid to know how to handle any changes ... like freedom of speech.

It amazes me that:

* Europe didn't turn into one flaming mass of shit because NOBODY knew what was going on -- not even leaders of countries.
* The ancient Romans built such incredible roads that somehow held up under constant warfare and protests. It seemed the city's population looked for any excuse to take to the streets in anger or celebration.
* That shooting off a CANNON 101 times (or even once) was a normal thing. Why did they do this? Where did they aim the damn thing? Did the cannon balls go in the Tiber? Why did ammo get wasted like this?
* That anyone today would want a theocracy.

This book does describe some creative insults. About a very fat priest who apparently spent most of his waking hours eating, "Not to say he's made a God of his belly, but at least a diocese." There was also an Italian slang word for a lie that was based on the name of an Italian count known for his lies.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook. A well-written narrative history focusing primarily on the early reign of Pius IX, Pope and temporal ruler of the Papal States beginning in 1846, and his exile during the brief Roman Republic in 1849. It goes thoroughly into the diplomatic history behind the efforts of the "Catholic powers" (Austria, France, Naples, Spain) to restore the Pope to rule and the repression that followed. I found the narrative around France's occupation of Rome (to save them from themselves and the Austrians), and their naive belief that they could persuade to Pope to retain "liberal government" striking parallels to recent US misadventures in Vietnam and Iraq. After reading this book, I can understand why a mob wanted to dump Pius IX's body in the Tiber during his funeral procession.

As stated in a recent review of this Book in the Wall Street Journal, this is a political history, not a religious history. Kertzer briefly discusses the encyclical Quanta Cura, the Syllabus of Errors, and Vatican I, but gives them a primarily political interpretation (which most historians share). That same review recommended the recent book Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church by John W. O'Malley as more sensitive to the religious issues. I have not read this book, but have placed it on my to-read list.

All of Kertzer's books about the Papacy are excellent, and as the first chronologically (but most recent in publication) I would recommend starting here.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not good with war books, and the focus of this book shifted a lot, so I think I missed a lot of nuance because the author kept wanting to talk about this cool thing, and that other cool thing, and then that thing is cool so I better include that, too. Some of it was fascinating (Pius IX's changing attitudes towards the Jews in Rome, Pius IX's decision to declare papal infallibility), but because it was relayed as an afterthought, it didn't come across really well. I also think that Pius IX got buried a little bit around the cast of colorful characters that came and went. I was reading this for him, but ultimately I don't really know that much about him.

I will say that this book has, ironically, helped me with some of my dissertation. I mean, now I know that Mathilde Blind was hobnobbing with people who tried to overthrow the Pope and declare Rome a democracy (my reaction when Garibaldi and Mazzini were mentioned was WAIT MY GIRL MATHILDE TALKS ABOUT THESE GUYS OH MY GOD HI). It also explains more about Amy Levy's trip to Germany.

Anyway I'm off to learn more disturbing revelations about the Church so I can be an utter joy at Christmas.

[Justin Swanson]

👂🏻 listened
Fascinating!

[Miebara Jato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Church history is always a fascinating read for me. Though this book is a more political history than a Church history, the period covered was one of those tumultuous moments both for the church as much as in Rome's politics. The book is well-researched and entertaining. It is an account of the tumultuous reign of Pius IX in the 19th century Papal Rome. Pope Pius IX happens to be the last Pope that ruled Rome with dual responsibilities as a spiritual leader and King.

Upon the death of Pope Gregory XVI in 1846, fifty Cardinals gathered in Rome to elect a new pope among themselves. Among the candidates was the unassuming Giovanni Mastai Ferretti. Ferretti, to say the least, was an unlikely candidate to emerge as Pope.

As a youth, he suffered from epilepsy. He also had limited seminary education before he was ordained as a priest in 1819. And during the revolt against the Papal rule in 1831, he fled his seminary. At one point he requested to be relieved of his role as a priest, citing his "inexperience in the sacred science of faith", his "deficiency, and the shaky health which has afflicted me for many years".

That was the kind of man that unexpectedly found himself Pope of Rome in 1846, overseeing the political and religious affairs of the Papal State.

As Pope, Mastai found himself between two opposing camps: the modernist who wanted reforms--including the separation of state and church--and the conservatives who feels reforms were a threat to papal rule.

Pius IX started, however, as a moderate Pope. He relaxed some of the severest autocratic laws like censorship. He freed political prisoners; approve for the Jews to leave their ghetto; and built modern infrastructure like railroads. He was, as expected, praised as a reform-minded Pope.

But his reforms didn't appeal to the conservatives, Cardinals, and his advisers. They felt he was making a mistake capitulating to the peoples' demands for reforms. They accused him of being inexperienced and reckless. They began to thwart his reforms and eventually turning him away from the reform path he'd chosen.

As the influence of the conservative in Pope Pius IX's grows, the initial hopes of the liberals and the ordinary people were quickly dashed. And the Pope's popularity plummeted within the first year of his rule. So also the agitations for modernisation, the calls for the separation of Church and state heightened. Then came the revolutionary protests. In the ensuing protests and the assassination of his top adviser, Pius IX fled Rome.

As Pius IX fled, a constitutional rule was installed--albeit short-lived.

Just within 2 years of his rule, Pope Pius IX found himself a refugee. But he was lucky to have the support and backing of France and Austria, the superpowers of the time. France quickly came to his aid; waged a bloody war with Rome and dislodged the Republican government.

Pope Pius IX returned to Rome. But returned a changed man. Determined to keep the order of things as ordained by God, he tightened the absolutist laws, held firm the Church's orthodoxies, even rolled back the few reforms that he started. In his mind, though, the people were plainly ungrateful. How could they not be thankful after all the incremental changes he brought?

Kertzer wrote the book in such a way that even a layman on the subject like me can find it accessible and interesting

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazingly researched, painstakingly documented book about Pope Pius IX, who served as pope from 1846 to 1878, the longest papal reign. He oversaw the first Vatican Council in 1868 which formally defined papal infallibility (in 1870), declared the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be dogma in 1854, and then oversaw the loss of the papal states in 1870 as Italy became unified.

The book is amazingly well written, and supported with a vast assortment of research documents, some which came from the Vatican archives themselves.

Sadly, Pope Pius IX seemed to want the adulation of the people of Rome as well as the power of a king, and ended up with neither. The brief but interesting research about the vote that codified papal infallibility could easily be turned into a modern day mafia novel where people are strong-armed against their wishes to vote for something they don't support, merely to avoid being attacked.

[Caterina Pierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully readable account of the short-lived Roman Republic of 1848-1849/50. On the surface, it is difficult to untangle the various intrigues and roles of world powers at the time of the Roman uprising. Kertzer, with his skill for clear and jargon-free writing, makes clear what scores of other historians have complicated. Plus IX was not well read, was easily manipulated by bad people (read here Cardinal Antonelli - even the Pope knew he was a man with every vice), and went from naive to thick-headed over his 22-year reign at the Vatican. This book focuses on the key players during his 18-month exile from Rome. The best part of it is that the complicated situation of the French role in returning Pius IX to Rome is explained in depth. The Roman Republic, ironically, was crushed through the help of another republic. All of the great liberal Roman heroes, including Ugo Bassi, Ciceruacchio, and Garibaldi, all play a large role in the text. Read this first, and all other accounts of Italy during this period will actually make sense.

[Jifu · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Note: I received an advanced electronic copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)

To say I went in knowing close to nothing about the subject matter would definitely be an understatement. Not only that, I wasn't sure what to face after several attempted and eventually aborted forays into reading further into 1848 Revolutions-era Europe, where each time I became far too bogged down in a sheer volume of details.

Thankfully, Kertzer does not make the same mistake that I've seen other writers make. Far from it, he has crafted not merely an excellently readable history that makes this tumultuous period of Europe comprehensible to those unfamiliar with the era, but a gripping history as well that one will find difficult to put down.

[wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for a very narrow audience - history geeks and people interested in Catholic Church history. Pope Pius the 9th takes over in the mid 1800's. a time when liberalism and revolution are in the air across Europe. In Italy there is a move to establish a constitutional monarchy buoyed by what recently happened in France. When he first takes over Pope Pius starts some reforms which people believe he is open to more reform. Then he changes his mind and clamps down and is forced by the people to move out of Rome. Eventually, France, Spain and Austria send troops to thwart the rebellion and there are many interesting ramifications. Really well researched.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big thanks to Goodreads for me winning this advanced copy!

I love finding a history book about subject I didn't even know I needed to know about. Now I'm all gung ho to read up some more papal histories. This had great writing that was easy to read and kept me involved in the story. The 90-odd pages of notes and references tells me that maybe a little bit of research was used in the making. Maybe.

[Ann Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book that is historically accurate and well written by Professor David Kertzer, Professor of Social Science at Brown University. For a fresh perspective on this time in history and the role of Pope Pius IX, this is a must read. Thanks for the win of this fascinating book the introduction to this author. I will definitely look for other books authored by Professor Kertzer!

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite serious flaws, this book is a worthwhile read for the scattered handful of people interested in one of the revolutions of 1848 and in the particular goings-on in the Papal States at that time.

But before the serious flaws, why is it worthwhile to read? Well, Kertzer has done a lot of great research with original and secondary sources and they are meticulously provided for you in the end notes. Secondly, the narrative, at least in the first half of the book, is compelling and well-written. You really get a sense of the drama of the time. Finally, it's a book that exists in a space not well-covered by modern authors: the Catholic Church at the close of the 19th century. Those are reasons enough to read the book.

Flaws? The most significant is that Kertzer is not a Catholic, which is not in itself a problem, but when it comes to dealing with Church doctrines and understanding Pius IX's actions and reactions against that of Gregory XVI before him and/or Leo XIII and Pius X to follow, that's a problem. He barely veils his general contempt of religion in general and of Catholicism in particular, but this comes out towards the end of the book, when he essentially lumps all religions together as poisonous and makes no attempt to contextualize how very different the unification of Italy was with another unification not much further north, in Germany, that same year. He also asserts ideas like "freedom of the press" and "free speech" as unquestionable "settled matters" when the truth is much closer to what has often been said about the French Revolution's impact on world history: "It's too soon to tell." Kertzer also asserts, without any proof, that the "people" were the good guys, and Pius IX was the villain. Nowhere in the text does Kertzer question the motives of the Romans of this time, other than to assert that their resistance to Pius' rule necessarily made them right. Finally, it's a book of two halves. Once the Pope flees Rome, the book settles into a plodding and laborious documentation of the Holy Father's delayed return, along with the actions of the French that crushed the upstart Roman Republic. Worse, the "sequel" necessary in such a book, that Pius IX was victorious in 1848 only to be defeated in 1870, is passed over in essentially an epilogue. One things that Kertzer may have tired after so much research and decided enough was enough. He settled for drawn out middle and unsatisfactory conclusion.

Still and all, as I say, if you are interested in these subjects or this part of history, it's very much worth a read.

"'Nothing,' observed a French visitor, 'equals the cynicism and the audacity of the Roman beggar. It is not a favor that he asks, it is a right that he exercises and, as he always asks in the name of the Madonna, or for the most sacred sacrament, or for the souls in purgatory, while he kisses the image of the virgin that adorns the collection box that he holds in his hand, he offers you the chance to do a pious deed, and so considers you to be indebted to him.'" (p. 7)

"Republican officials visited each of Rome's many monasteries and convents to inform the monks and nuns that they were now free to break their religious vows. Cloistered nuns opened their doors only a crack to receive the news, but it seems none availed themselves of their new freedom." (p. 196)

[Darius Rips · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pope Who Would Be King is a history that reads like a novel. Author David Kertzer is interested in the personalities involved in his story, and how their characters shaped events. He has a broad range of contemporary accounts to work from that allow him to recreate actual conversations. So all of this is brought to bear to tell the story of Pope Pius IX. The result is a highly readable account of a historical episode that was fascinating and entirely new to me.

Pope Pius IX became pope at a time when Europe in general, and what we now know as Italy in particular, were rethinking what the proper role of a national leader should be. Monarchies were being replaced by elective republics, and the first stirrings of a movement to unify Italy as a republic were beginning to appear. The notion that a monarch was chosen by God, and should therefore be revered and obeyed was being called into question. The papacy at the time this story begins was a worldly monarchy as well as a position of spiritual leadership, but there were only the barest stirrings of questions about this special arrangement. Pius IX himself was an Italian who had become interested in the implications of a unified Italy before becoming pope. He also thought in his early days as pope that the church should rule with kindness towards its subjects, rather than with the iron hand that had characterized the rule of his predecessors. In Kertzer's telling, these two ideas set the stage for the notion that the papacy should no longer be a worldly government at all. Nowadays, we take that idea for granted, but in the mid nineteenth century, as we learn here, the very notion sparked a civil war in the Papal States.

The story moved along briskly. Along the way, there were heroes, villains, and victims, all of whom kept me emotionally involved in the book. Kertzer told me a story that I had not known, and he did so in a way that I feel sure will stay with me. But I felt that there was a broader context that I was missing. Kertzer did not want to break his narrative momentum with long passages of exposition, and I appreciate the importance of that to a storyteller. But I find myself with unanswered questions. How did the forces that drove these events arise, and why in this time and place? Kertzer sketches this in, but does not explain it sufficiently for me. Internal affairs in France become important to this story, and Kertzer helps us get to know the important players and events. But there is no explanation, for example, of why a key French election went the way it did.

In general, it seems that an urge toward liberalization in the mid nineteenth century was followed by a ferocious backlash. That larger story has resonance for us in light of current events, but the job of making those connections belongs to a very different book than this one. The Pope Who Would Be King gets four stars from me because it is a great read on a fascinating subject, but it is book that makes me want to read books on this history by other writers to get the rest of the story, perhaps in dryer prose. I can highly recommend it, but not as the last word.

[Jane Hanser · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may not realize that you need to read this book - - but you do. Any of us living in the 21st Century have no idea what turmoil got us here.

I never thought twice about Vatican City and what its history was but the world we live in now and the papacy we now know is nothing like what existed only 150 years ago. If kings were divinely endowed with the rights to rule, how much moreso the pope, whose power to rule (presumably) came directly from the Creator, so the papacy thought and held for centuries. Its territory was vastly larger than what we know of today as tiny Vatican City. Jews, were forced to live in ghettos that were locked up at night. The papacy felt no need or desire to even build railroads for residents of the Papal Rome, while the cardinals rode gold-gilded carriages and lived in splendor. For a brief period of time early in his reign Pius IX allowed the Jews out of the ghetto and to work outside of the ghetto, creating much goodwill. When the French Revolution, with its concept of democracy and republics hit Europe, and citizens of the papal states caught the fever and demanded to have roles in government.

How this played out, with the pope himself being played by those seeking to hold onto power, is for everybody to read. Of course the first step was to revoke the "right" of the Jews to be able to work outside of the ghetto walls and to not be locked up in the ghetto at nightfall.

With an unhappy and noncompliant citizenship brewing, how Pius fled and escaped, implored the other European Catholic states to come to his rescue and put down the rebellion is fascinating, including the fact that France, which itself actually invaded Papal Rome and reinstalled Pius IX, which has its own drama.

This is an amazing and important book that reads like a fiction novel. But it's not. It's the history of the world we live in, places we know, institutions some revere, and gives us new insights into politic and the lust for power. We can so much better understand he world we today live in and the freedoms we take for granted and those who suffered and died to demand those freedoms and rights.