I knew only a few, sweeping things about the papacy of Pius IX before reading this book: made the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility church dogma; lost control of the Papal States. The Pope Who Would Be King focuses on just a few years of Pius' long papacy, the years of political upheaval which made Pius turn away from any idea of church reform towards an increasingly theocratic worldview. Kertzer does a good job of bringing to life the varied cast of characters—from Pius himself to the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini to a whole host of French, Austrian, and Spanish diplomats—and of conveying the broader geopolitical and social contexts which shaped their actions. I certainly didn't finish the book with any particular sympathy for Pius IX, but I did finish it with a better understanding of one of the reasons for a widening rift between the Church and democratic/nationalist movements in the nineteenth century. While Pius IX may have been the last pope to rule temporally over anything but a small patch of territory surrounded by the city of Rome, he may have been the first pope to preside over the Culture Wars. ( )

​In "The Pope Who Would be King", David Kertzer ​describes the tumultuous history of the Papal States in the late 1800's. More specifically, Kertzer shows ​how ​Pope Pius IX's problematic reign led to the eventual ​​unification of Italy. ​I must have slept through the classes when the late 1800's history of Italy was discussed, because I learned a lot by reading (or more accurately listening to) this audiobook. Kertzer's book discusses how the Popes went from being head of both Church and State some hundred and fifty years ago, and then how the Church and Popes transitioned to the modern era. Since I attended Catholic schools in my youth, I thought I knew a fair amount about Church and Papal history. But after reading this book, I realized there was a lot of information regarding the Papal States, the Vatican, and the formation of the Italian State which I didn't know or had long been forgotten.

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when the Papal States were governed by the Church. Church laws blended with secular law. In practice, only "God's Law" mattered. The Church hierarchy and the aristocracy were favored, and the people had little say. Priests acted as judges in legal matters, and enforced Church laws among the populace. Clearly, at the time, the Church was conservative in its outlook, believing the old ways were more than adequate, and shunning modernity in most forms such as preventing railroads in the Papal States.

We've heard or read a lot recently about Middle East movements to return to a Theocracy, or to Sharia Law. Perhaps it's because I'm so used to the idea of separation of Church and State that I think about these movements as being a return to concepts from centuries ago. But reading this book, I realize that I may well have Italian friends whose great-grandparents lived this way when in Italy.

But Europe was changing by the time Pius IX became Pope. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, technological changes and the ideas of democracy were spreading. Social changes were occurring, and Pius IX tried to manage the transition from old to modern. However, after granting some democratic changes, protests persisted, and Pius reached out to neighboring monarchs to restore order. Neighboring Empires and Kingdoms such as Austria, France, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia competed for influence in the Papal States, and Kertzer tells the story of that struggle during the 30 years of Pius IX. When Pius requested foreign troops to help regain control within the Papal States, he expected the majority of the people to react favorably, have peace restored, and that protests would end. But as the U.S. learned from the invasion of Iraq in 2003, local populations rarely greet foreign troops with rose petals and greet them as liberators. Revolts continued in the Papal States, and the Pope was forced from Rome for his safety. Eventually, the Pope yielded much of his governing authority, and the Papal States, along with the other diverse kingdoms of the Italian peninsula, unified as the Italian state, leaving only the Vatican as the remnant of Papal secular authority.
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Very entertaining, easy to read, and a great story. Hard to complain. ( )

This is a great book for a very narrow audience - history geeks and people interested in Catholic Church history. Pope Pius the 9th take over in the mid 1800's when liberalism and revolution are in the air in Europe. In Italy there is a move to a constitutional monarchy buoyed by what happened in France. When he first takes over Pius passes some reforms which the people take as a signal that he is open to change. Then he changes his mind and clamps down which makes the people rise up and force him out of Rome. Eventually, France, Spain and Austria send troops to thwart the rebellion and after this there are many ramifications. Really well researched. ( )