Editing Pope Leo XIII (section)

=== Pontificate ===
{{Social teachings of the popes}}

As soon as he was elected to the papacy, Leo XIII worked to encourage understanding between the church and the modern world. When he firmly reasserted the [[scholasticism|scholastic]] doctrine that science and religion coexist, he required the study of [[Thomas Aquinas]]<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0256dd.htm |title=Aeterni Patris&nbsp;– On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy |publisher=Catholic forum |type=encyclical |date=4 August 1879 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225040233/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0256dd.htm |archive-date=25 February 2007 }}.</ref> and opened the [[Vatican Secret Archives]] to qualified researchers, among whom was the noted historian of the Papacy [[Ludwig von Pastor]]. He also refounded the [[Vatican Observatory]]
"so that everyone might see clearly that the Church and her Pastors are not opposed to true and solid science, whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible devotion."<ref>{{Citation |last=Pecci |first=Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi |author-link=Pope Leo XIII |title=Ut Mysticam |language=la |date=14 March 1891}}.</ref>

[[File:Pope leo xiii and court at the vatican 1878.jpg|thumb|left|Pope Leo XIII and his inner court at the Vatican, photographed by [[Jules David (photographer)|Jules David]] in June 1878]]

Leo XIII brought normality back to the Catholic Church after the tumultuous years of Pius IX. Leo's intellectual and diplomatic skills helped regain much of the prestige lost with the fall of the Papal States. He tried to reconcile the church with the working class, particularly by dealing with the social changes that were sweeping Europe. The new economic order had resulted in the growth of an impoverished working class who had increasing anticlerical and socialist sympathies. Leo helped reverse that trend.

Although Leo XIII was no radical in either theology or politics, his papacy moved the Catholic Church back to the mainstream of European life. Considered a great diplomat, he managed to improve relations with [[Russian Empire|Russia]], [[German Empire|Germany]], [[French Third Republic|France]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and other countries.

Pope Leo XIII was able to reach several agreements in 1896 that resulted in better conditions for the faithful and additional appointments of bishops. During the [[fifth cholera pandemic]] in 1891, he ordered the construction of a [[hospice]] inside the Vatican. That building would be torn down in 1996 to make way for construction of the [[Domus Sanctae Marthae]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ewtn.com/HolySee/Interregnum/domus.asp |title=Domus Sanctae Marthae & The New Urns Used in the Election of the Pope |publisher=EWTN |date=22 February 1996 |access-date=15 February 2010 |archive-date=12 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712081751/http://www.ewtn.com/HolySee/Interregnum/domus.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Leo was a drinker of the [[cocaine]]-infused wine tonic [[Vin Mariani]], a precursor drink to [[Coca-Cola]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Poison Pills: The Untold Story of the Vioxx Drug Scandal|last=Nesi|first=Thomas|date=2008|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=9780312369590|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/poisonpillsuntol0000nesi/page/53 53]|oclc=227205792|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/poisonpillsuntol0000nesi/page/53}}</ref> He awarded a [[Vatican City|Vatican]] gold medal to the wine's creator, [[Angelo Mariani (chemist)|Angelo Mariani]], and also appeared on a poster endorsing it.<ref name=inciardi>{{cite book |last=Inciardi |first=James A. |title=The War on Drugs II |publisher=Mayfield Publishing Company |year=1992 |page=6 |isbn=978-1-55934-016-8}}</ref> Leo XIII was a [[semi-vegetarianism|semi-vegetarian]]. In 1903, he attributed his longevity to the sparing use of meat and the consumption of eggs, milk and vegetables.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020558/1903-03-09/ed-1/seq-2/ ''The Elusive Secret of Long Life'']. ''Arizona Republican''. (9 March 1903). p. 2</ref>

His favourite poets were [[Virgil]] and [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]].<ref name="centurymag">[https://books.google.com/books?id=WngAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA596  "Pope Leo XIII and his Household"] in ''The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine'', p. 596</ref>