Pope Pius IX was the most important symbol of the Catholic declaration of independence from secular enslavement in the 1800's. Love for him, Dr. John Rao explains, was overwhelming in the Catholic world. It was for this reason that Catholics responded with a crusading spirit to the assault on his center of power in the Papal States and Rome from 1848-1870. Taken from: Crusading, the Crusader & the Christian Order - 2002 VonHildebrand Institute