Pio X

Pio X This coming Friday marks the feast day of Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914). A man of great simplicity and piety, Pius X reigned as Bishop of Rome for eleven years during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Vehemently opposed to Catholic Modernism--that is, the numerous attempts to reconcile Roman Catholic teachings with the philosophies of the modern world--Pius X defined the movement as heretical in a series of encyclicals. In 1910, he instituted a requirement for all clergy and teachers of theology to swear an oath against modernist thought. The requirement was rescinded by Pope Paul VI in 1967 during the Second Vatican Council. In addition to his 'hard-line' approach to Catholic Modernism, Pius X had a particularly uncompromising attitude towards countries that had begun to embrace secular government (i.e. the separation of religion and state) owing to his refusal to accept the annexation of the Papal States by the Kingdom of Italy. One of Pius X's greatest