Pius IX
Pius IX, original name Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferreti (1792-1878). Roman Catholic churchman, pope from 1846. At first sympathetic to liberal and nationalist causes, he became steadily more reactionary after the revolution of 1848. Although the Church lost control of the Papal States and Rome, which were taken into the newly formed kingdom of Italy, Pius managed to in-crease its spiritual power. In 1854 he defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and in 1870 he proclaimed the doctrine of papal infallibility. His 32-year pontificate was the longest in history.
