**RAMPOLLA DEL TINDARO, Mariano.** - Cardinal, born 17 Aug. 1843 at Polizzi (Cefalù, Sicily), died 16 Dec. 1913 at Rome. He entered the Vatican Seminary in 1856, and in November 1861 passed to the Capranica College; he was ordained priest in 1866, and subsequently attended the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles. Having graduated in utroque iure in 1870, he was attached to the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, where his knowledge of Oriental languages demonstrated his wide learning and aptitude for a diplomatic career.
In 1875 Pius IX sent him to Spain as counsellor to the nunciature headed by Giovanni Simeoni. When Simeoni, following the death of Antonelli, was appointed Cardinal Secretary of State, Rampolla remained in the nunciature as chargé d’affaires until 1877, a period of exceptional difficulty for the Catholic Church. Recalled to Rome, he became secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (for the Oriental Rite). After the resolution of the Armenian schism, he was preconized in December 1882 as titular Archbishop of Heraclea and returned to Madrid as nuncio until 1887. On 27 May of that year, Leo XIII created him cardinal, and on 3 June appointed him Secretary of State. In the letter which the Pope addressed to him on the same day, attention was drawn to the problem of the freedom of the Holy See, a freedom deemed inseparable from the recognition of true sovereignty. The measured words of Leo XIII persuaded Rampolla, though convinced of the immense obstacles posed by certain Italian political circles, not to oppose an explicit *fin de non recevoir* to any governmental soundings. In 1891, indeed, he showed himself favourable to contacts, initiated through Monsignor Della Chiesa and Count De Bojani, with the cabinet of the Marquis di Rudinì to resolve various particular questions connected with episcopal appointments. Such negotiations seemed to herald an amicable settlement between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, but a sudden outburst of Masonic opposition, provoked by an ill-considered act of French pilgrims who had inscribed on the visitor’s register of the Pantheon pledges to the Pope, aroused throughout Italy an anti-clerical wave that stifled at birth every such attempt.
The political isolation of the Holy See, allied with Italy to Austria-Hungary and Germany, aggravated the dangers of the situation. This moved Rampolla, supported by the Pope, to normalize relations with republican France and in particular to reintegrate Catholics into the political life of the nation, from which they had been excluded since 1870 because of their monarchical prejudice. This relaxation, dictated by the need to safeguard the Holy See against Italian anti-clericalism and perhaps also to modify in its favour the indifference of the Habsburgs towards the papacy, was interpreted by the Viennese government circles as a stance against the powers of the Triple Alliance. It was precisely the fear of a “French” pope that led Emperor Francis Joseph to have Cardinal Puzyna, Bishop of Cracow, impose the veto on Rampolla’s election to the papacy in the Conclave of August 1903.
During the pontificate of Pius X, Rampolla, no longer Secretary of State, carried out his duties in the congregations of which he was a member. The crisis in Franco-Vatican relations after the 1905 “separation” made him once again one of the most likely candidates for the tiara, as is evident from Austrian diplomatic documents of the period.
The political and diplomatic activity of Rampolla as Secretary of State is inseparable from that of the Pope. It therefore remains difficult to define with clear lines the limits of his action. Faithful to the directives of Leo XIII, he sought to secure the independence of the Holy See through a realistic insertion of the Vatican into the international community with the aim of safeguarding the rights of the Catholic magisterium in the world.
Of an exceptionally open mind, he followed the developments of sacred sciences and contributed to them with personal critical studies: *Studi sul cod. Escorial., a. II. 9* (1905); *Di un catalogo cimiteriale romano*, in *Atti del II Congresso Internazionale di Archeologia Cristiana*, Rome 1902 (from the codex Escorial., S. 3, 27).
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