No “recognize-and-resist” for Pius IX…

Ultramontanism vs. Gallicanism:
Pope Pius IX against the Semi-Trads

The longest-reigning Pope in history: Pius IX (1846-1878)

As the First Vatican Council (1869-70) was getting underway, the celebrated abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Solesmes in France, Dom Prosper Guéranger, published his book The Papal Monarchy. He wrote it in direct reply to the Gallican errors of Bishop Henri Maret, who had written a book using the pseudonym “Bishop de Sura”.

Gueranger’s vindication of what was then called “Ultramontanism” (the orthodox Catholic position on papal authority) and his refutation of Gallicanism (the alternative view definitively condemned at the council) were so brilliant that the Pope himself — Pius IX at the time — wrote him a letter of approbation and appreciation.… READ MORE