Editing Pope Leo XII (section)

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Tomb of Pope Leo XII.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Leo XII near the tomb of Saint Leo I per his requests.]]
[[Image:Leo XII statue de Fabris 1836 Saint Peter's Basilica Vatican City.jpg|thumb|right|Monument to Leo XII in St. Peter's Basilica]]
On 5 February 1829, after a private audience with the new Cardinal Secretary of State, [[Tommaso Bernetti]], he was suddenly taken ill and he seemed to know that his end was near. On 8 February, he asked for and received the [[Viaticum]] and was anointed. On 9 February, he lapsed into unconsciousness and on the next morning, he died.  The minister to Rome for [[Bourbon Restoration in France|French King]] [[Charles X of France|Charles X]], [[François-René de Chateaubriand]], who was near to the events, wrote: "The pope died of that haemorrhoidal condition to which he was subject. The blood, being carried to the bladder, occasioned a retention which they tried to relieve by means of an incision. It is thought His Holiness was injured by the operation. However it may be, after four days of suffering, Leo XII died this morning at nine as I was arriving at the Vatican, where an agent of the Embassy had spent the night."<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Chateaubriand/ChateaubriandMemoirsBookXXIX.php#anchor_Toc145913819 | title=François-René de Chateaubriand, ''Mémoires d'Outre Tombe'', Book XXIX Chapter 17 Section 1, translated by A.S. Kline.}}</ref> He was buried in a monument of him in [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] on 15 February 1829. His remains were transferred and buried before the altar of [[Pope Leo I]] on 5 December 1830.

Leo XII is considered to have been a man of noble character, with a passion for order and efficiency, but one who lacked insight into the temporal developments of his time. His rule was unpopular in Rome and in the Papal States, and by various measures of his reign he diminished greatly for his successors their chances of solving the new problems that confronted them.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09167a.htm|title=Pope Leo XII|access-date=24 January 2014}}</ref>

===Rumors of a liaison===
It was alleged that Leo XII had a liaison as a young prelate with the wife of a [[Swiss Guard]] (known as Pfiffer). The allegation was brought to the attention of [[Pope Pius VI]], who met with the prelate to discern the truth of the matter. He refuted all claims to the pope and the matter was dropped then and there save for the fact that della Genga affirmed he was close to Pfiffer.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUU5AQAAMAAJ&q=Della+Genga+mistress&pg=PA468 | title=The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal| year=1824}}</ref>