Editing Pope Leo XII (section)

===Domestic policy===
Leo XII's domestic policy was one of extreme conservatism: "He was determined to change the condition of society, bringing it back to the utmost of his power to the old usages and ordinances, which he deemed to be admirable; and he pursued that object with never flagging zeal."<ref>[[Luigi Carlo Farini]], ''Lo stato Romano, dell'anno 1815 a 1850'', (Turin, 1850) vol. I, p. 17, quoted by Thomas Adolphus Trollope, ''The Story of the Life of Pius the Ninth'' vol. I (1877:39ff)</ref> He condemned the [[Bible societies]], and under [[Jesuit]] influence reorganised the educational system,<ref name=EB1911/> placing it entirely under priestly control through his bull ''[[Quod divina sapientia]]'' and requiring that all secondary instruction be carried out in Latin, as he required of all court proceedings, also now entirely in ecclesiastical hands. All charitable institutions in the Papal States were put under direct supervision.

Laws such as that forbidding Jews to own property and allowing them only the shortest possible time in which to sell what they owned, and that requiring all Roman residents to listen to Catholic catechism commentary, led many of Rome's Jews to emigrate, to [[Trieste]], [[Lombardy]] and [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]].<ref>Farini, ''eo. loc.''</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/triple-crown-leo-xii.htm |title=Valérie Pirie, ''The Triple Crown: An Account of the Papal Conclaves'' |publisher=Pickle-publishing.com |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref>
[[File: Busto di Leone XII.jpg|thumb|right|Bust of Pope Leo XII, {{circa|1820s}}]]
"The results of his method of governing his states soon showed themselves in insurrections, conspiracies, assassinations and rebellion, especially in Umbria, the Marches and Romagna; the violent repression of which, by a system of espionage, secret denunciation, and wholesale application of the gibbet and the galleys, left behind it to those who were to come afterwards a very terrible, rankling and long-enduring debt of party hatreds, of political and social demoralisation, and{{snd}}worst of all{{snd}}a contempt for and enmity to the law, as such."<ref>Trollope, p. 41.</ref> In a regime that saw the division of the population into [[Carbonari]] and [[Sanfedisti]], he hunted down the Carbonari and the [[freemasonry|Freemasons]]<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Leo (popes)/Leo XII|volume=16|inline=1}}</ref> with their liberal sympathisers.

Leo XII made himself unpopular with the people due to the fact that he constrained them to endless rules that concerned private life and public affairs. He decreed that a dressmaker who sold low or transparent dresses would incur ipso facto [[excommunication]]. The pope also denied the Jews the right to possess material possessions and allowed them the shortest time to sell their belongings. He revived the regulations of the Middle Ages in regard to segregation and marks for identification.<ref name="Pickle Publishing"/>

While often considered an archconservative Leo XII held a high opinion of the [[liberal Catholicism|liberal Catholic]] priest [[Lamennais]] having a portrait of him hung in his private chambers. When the latter visited Rome in 1824 Leo offered him a Vatican apartment and in 1828 a cardinalate. According to Cardinal [[Nicholas Wiseman]] before the full [[Papal consistory|consistory]] he said that Lamennais was " a distinguished writer, whose works had not only rendered eminent services to religion, but rejoiced and astonished Europe." However some believe that the quote was actually about the historian [[John Lingard]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kitchin |first=Rev. William P.H. |date=1922 |title=The Story of Lamennais|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25011855 |journal= Catholic Historical Review |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=202–203|jstor=25011855 }}</ref>

Leo XII had a fascination with archeology. When [[Jean-François Champollion]] [[Decipherment|deciphered]] the [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], Leo XII invited him to Rome to study its obelisks. Leo XII later printed and engraved Champollion's work at his personal expense. Champollion later wrote to Cardinal Wiseman that "It is a
real service which His Holiness renders to science, and I shall be happy if you will be good enough to place at his feet the homage of my profound acknowledgment.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zahm |first=Rev. J. A. |date=1893 |title=Christian Faith and Scientific Freedom|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25103199. |journal= The North American Review|volume=157 |issue=442 |page=319|jstor=25103199 }}</ref>