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| | LEO XIII |
 | | Leo proposed to substitute true ideas for the erroneous ideas swarming within old Christendom: to the spread of these ideas in all social strata, was due, to a great extent, to social decay and the break between world and Church. |
 | | For thirty years, then, as Bishop of Perugia, the future Leo XIII had the opportunity of thinking about the admirable programme of the great medieval pope, who came, moreover, from the same region as himself, since both were from the diocese of Anagni. |
 | | If he agrees to recognize that the period of Christian princes is over, Leo XIII sees just in democratic institutions the possibility of opening new spaces for the presence of the Church, whose prestige is spreading as well as her missionary concern, her contribution to international peace, and her religious and cultural influence. |
| www.ewtn.com /library/CHISTORY/LEO13.HTM (1242 words) |
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