Pope Gregory XVI
![Gregory XVI in 1844](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Gregory_XVI.jpg)
Strongly conservative and traditionalist, he opposed democratic and modernising reforms in the Papal States and throughout Europe, seeing them as fronts for revolutionary leftism. Against these trends, Gregory XVI sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy, a position known as ultramontanism. In the encyclical ''Mirari vos'', he pronounced it "false and absurd, or rather mad, that we must secure and guarantee to each one liberty of conscience." He encouraged missionary activity abroad and condemned the slave trade, which at the time of his pontificate was increasingly suppressed.
He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Gregory", the last to govern the Papal States for the whole duration of his pontificate, and the most recent not to have been a bishop when elected. Provided by Wikipedia