In the pontificate of Pius II, their number, which had been fixed at twenty-four, had overgrown to such an extent as to diminish considerably the individual remuneration, and, as a consequence, able and competent men no longer sought the office, and hence the old style of writing and expediting the Bulls was no longer used, to the great injury of justice, the interested parties, and the dignity of the Holy See.

In 1459 Pope Pius II endowed the University of Basel where such notables as Erasmus of Rotterdam and Paracelsus later taught.

After Pope Pius II, in his bull Execrabilis ( 1460 ) and his reply to the University of Cologne ( 1463 ), set aside the theory of the supremacy of general councils laid down by the Council of Constance

Notable past visitors to the mountain peak include Pope Pius XII, Pope John Paul II, Alberto Santos-Dumont, German Sueiro Vasquez, Albert Einstein, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Pope Pius II canonized St Catherine in the year 1461.

* 1939 – World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.

# REDIRECT Pope Pius II

The Italian humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, who at one time worked at Frederick's court, described the Emperor as a person who wanted to conquer the world while remaining seated.

Henry IV restored the charter granted to Gibraltar in 1310 and took two additional measures: the lands previously belonging to Algeciras ( destroyed in 1369 ) were granted to Gibraltar ; and the status of collegiate church was solicited from the pope Pius II and granted to the parish church of Saint Mary the Crowned (), now the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned, on the site of the old main Moorish Mosque.

In 2009 he expressed public concern at Pope Benedict XVI's lifting of excommunication of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. Genscher wrote in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: " Poles can be proud of Pope John Paul II.

In 1462, Pope Pius II declared the " Compacta " null and void, prohibited communion in both kinds, and acknowledged King George of Podebrady as king on condition that he would promise an unconditional harmony with the Roman Church.

It was the birthplace of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, Pope Pius II, in whose employ Alberti served.

Pius II wanted to use the village as a retreat but needed for it to reflect the dignity of his position.

The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II ( 867 – 872 ) or Pope Stephen V ( 885 – 891 ), but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV ( 1431 – 1447 ) and then Pope Pius II ( 1458 – 1464 ).

The second extends from Pope Urban VI ( 1378 – 1389 ) to Pope Pius II ( 1458 – 1464 ).

In 1853 Pope Pius IX received guarantees of religious freedom from the Dutch King Willem II and established a Catholic hierarchy, loyal to the pope, in the Netherlands.

Only three other popes – Pius IX, Leo XIII, and John Paul II – have reigned for longer periods since.

In 1944, during World War II, Pope Pius XII named him Apostolic Nuncio to France.

The concordat of 1933, with which the Vatican sought to protect the Church in Germany, and Hitler sought the destruction of ' political Catholicism ', and Pius ' leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II, including his " decision to stay silent in public about the fate of the Jews ", remain the subject of controversy.

After World War II, Pius XII appointed more non-Italians than any Pope before him.

Pius XII chose not to name new cardinals during World War II, and the number of cardinals shrank to 38, with Dennis Joseph Dougherty of Philadelphia being the only living U. S. cardinal.

Since the soul is a spiritual substance it is not brought into being through transformation of matter, but directly by God, whence the special uniqueness of each person .." Fifty years later, Pope John Paul II, stating that scientific evidence now seemed to favour the evolutionary theory, upheld the distinction of Pius XII regarding the human soul.

Pius XII's pontificate began on the eve of World War II.

Lichten labelled any criticism of the pope's actions during World War II as " a stupefying paradox " and said, " no one who reads the record of Pius XII's actions on behalf of Jews can subscribe to Hochhuth's accusation.

* March 7 – Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by Marcus Aurelius who shares imperial power with Lucius Verus, although Marcus retains the title Pontifex Maximus.

Meanwhile, two volunteers, Joseph Monti and Gaetano Tognetti, succeeded in exploding the Serristori barracks ; both were captured and beheaded on 24 November 1868, despite the request for clemency that Vittorio Emanuele II had sent to Pius IX.

The commission established by Pope Pius V had not succeeded, because of the insufficient resources at its disposal, in achieving the aim attributed to it in Pope Pius V's bull Quo Primum, namely to restore the liturgy to " the original form and rite of the holy Fathers ".

Pope John XXIII, who succeeded Pius XII in 1958, added some new feasts and made some other changes to the liturgical calendar, as well as amending some of the rubrics.

When Cardinal Rampolla had to leave his post with the election of his opponent Pope Pius X, and was succeeded by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, Della Chiesa was retained in his post.

Pope Pius X, who succeeded Leo, was the first to identify Modernism as a movement.

The controversial one-time populist-turned-conservative, long-lived Pope Pius IX ( 1846 – 1878 ) was succeeded by the aristocratic and diplomatic Pope Leo XIII ( 1878 – 1903 ).

He in turn was succeeded by the lower-class, bluntly outspoken Pope Pius X ( 1903 – 1914 ).

Pius XI was succeeded in 1939 by the aristocratic ultra-insider Curialist, Pius XI's Secretary of State, Pope Pius XII ( 1939 – 1958 ).

Pius was succeeded by the lower-class, elderly, popular, informal Pope John XXIII ( 1958 – 1963 ).

Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto, afterwards Pius X, succeeded in 1893 ; he was refused recognition by the Italian Government, which claimed the right of nomination formerly employed by the Habsburg Emperor of Austria and in earlier times by the Venetian Senate, but after eleven months this pretension was abandoned.

Paul IV was followed by the tolerant pope Pius IV who was succeeded by Pius V who restored all the anti-Jewish bulls of his predecessors — not only in his own immediate domains, but throughout the Christian world.

His successor, Gregory XIV, was as well disposed to the Jews as Sixtus had been ; but during his short pontificate he was almost always ill. Clement VIII ( 1592 – 1605 ), who succeeded him, renewed the anti-Jewish bulls of Paul IV and Pius V, and exiled the Jews from all his territories with the exception of Rome, Ancona, and Avignon ; but, in order not to lose the commerce with the East, he gave certain privileges to the Turkish Jews.

In Rome, Bourget found a Vatican newly rejuvenated, Pope Pius IX having recently succeeded the unpopular Pope Gregory XVI.

Ravestein, who had succeeded Tapper as chancellor, thought it was high time to call a halt, and informed Rome, requesting decisive action ; on 1 October 1567, Pope Pius V signed the papal Bull, " Ex omnibus afflictionibus ", in which were to be found a number of condemned propositions, but without mention of Baius ' name.

On June 16, 1956, Pope Pius XII appointed Bishop Brady Coadjutor Archbishop of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese, and he succeeded John Gregory Murray as Archbishop on Murray's death on October 11, 1956 and served in the office until his death.

In 2005 Chaskalson retired from office and was succeeded by his former deputy Pius Langa.