Pope Gregory XVI

Election as pope

On February 2, 1831, he was, after sixty-four days of conclave, unexpectedly chosen to succeed Pope Pius VIII in the papal chair.

Related Topics:
February 2 - 1831 - Pope Pius VIII

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The revolution of 1830 had just inflicted a severe blow on the ecclesiastical party in France, and almost the first act of the new government there was to seize Ancona, thus throwing all Italy, and particularly the Papal States, into an excited condition which seemed to demand strongly repressive measures. In the course of the struggle which ensued it was more than once necessary to call in the Austrian bayonets. The reactionaries in power put off their promised reforms so persistently as to anger even Metternich; nor did the replacement of Bernetti by Lambruschini in 1836 mend matters; for the new cardinal secretary of state objected even to railways and illuminating gas, and was liberal chiefly in his employment of spies and of prisons.

Related Topics:
1830 - France - Ancona - Italy - Papal States - Metternich - Bernetti - Lambruschini - 1836

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