Catholic social involvement found its first official manifesto in Leo XIII' s Letter Rerum novarum in 1891, adding to the faithful’s commitment to charitable undertakings during the course of the century, particularly in Germany and Belgium. All this was preceded by a more explicit organisational restructuring of the apostolate of the laity.
Finally, another feature which characterised the 19th century was the proliferation of religious congregations for men and women, directed to charitable deeds, social welfare, education and missionary activities.
The encounter with the new world seemed fundamentally positive when the Church was governed by Pope Pius VII, assisted by Cardinal Consalvi (1757-1824). This relationship faltered under Leo XII and Pope Gregory XVI. Initially, it looked like an enthusiastic encounter, but then became ambiguous and finally turned into a politico-religious conflict with Pope Pius IX and Cardinal Antonelli. The amnesty granted by Pope Pius IX a month after his election (1846), was responsible for an exaggerated enthusiasm which grew with subsequent papal decisions: the resolution to build railways (the November 7 manifesto); the edict on the press, March 15,1847; the setting up of a consultative body, April 19 and October 14; the creation of the Cabinet of ministers, June 12; the formation of a civil guard, July 5; the setting up of the Municipal Council of Rome, October 3; the cautious introduction of lay people into the Cabinet, December 29.
All of these events were followed by an address delivered February 10, 1848, Oh Great God, bless Italy! (Benedite, gran Dio, l’Italia) and by the granting of the Statute, March 14, 1848. Because of all this, popular demonstrations by people manifesting their consent multiplied and the acclamation “Long Live Pius IX”, was widely heard along with growing pressure from Democratic circles8.
Pope Pius IX delivered an address April 29, 1848, viewing the cause of Italian national unity with clear delight but unequivocally declaring the impossibility of direct intervention against Austria. This created deeper ambiguities and misunderstandings. A fatal clash was inevitable: the President of the Cabinet, Pellegrino Rossi, was assassinated; the Roman revolution began (November 15-16,1848) and died away with the creation of a provisional government after Pope Pius IX left for Gaeta (Nov. 24) and with the proclamation of the Roman Republic (February 5, 1849).
Pope Pius IX returned to Rome (1850), which had been recaptured by French troops the previous year. With the help of Cardinal James Antonelli he followed an intransigent political plan which excluded all possible negotiations with the Italian government with regard to the existence of a Papal Rome and of a Papal State.
In reference to the various and keener layers of Catholic life, there is justifiable reason for speaking of Catholics facing a real 'case of conscience': it was already difficult to reconcile the fact of being Catholic and a citizen of a secular state. And now another conflict had come to the fore: how to reconcile the passion for the national unity of Italy and the fidelity owed to the Pope, who was both the spiritual leader and the governing authority of a state, the existence of which was incompatible with such a national unity.
2.2 The situation of the Church in Turin.
Piedmont was naturally no stranger to the complex religious problems affecting Catholics in Italy. On the contrary, because of its political position, because of its cultural and economic status (the region had the highest percentage of illiterates) and because of the abundance of charitable undertakings, Piedmont was often a paradigm.
8 During a visit to Rome in 1846 Count Solaro della Margherita “observed that no one was shouting out ‘Viva il Papa’
but only ‘Viva Pius IX’…”: P. Pirri, ‘Visita del Solaro della Margherita a Pio IX nel 1846’, in: La Civiltà Cattolica
1928, III, 509 (letter to the King 5 September 1846).