(19-02-2024) II Centenary of the death of Cardinal Ercole Consalvi - serie

Among those who helped Pope Pius VII firmly guide the Barque of Peter at the beginning of the 19th century was his Secretary of State, Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, who died two centuries ago this year. Born in Rome on 8 June 1757, he was trained in historical and legal studies with distinguished religious and theological components, taking his first steps in a diplomatic career during the pontificate of Pius VI. However, his great expertise became known especially with his successor, Pope Chiaramonti, who chose him as Pro-Secretary of State, later making him a Cardinal and then officially the Secretary of State. The profound cultural and social changes that came out of the French Revolution made it more necessary than ever to establish a new relationship between the Church and the emerging European political reality. Cardinal Consalvi had immediately appeared to Pius VII to be the most suitable person to help him in such a delicate task with his gifts of great openness and mediation skills, flexibility in dialogue and intelligent political and diplomatic abilities. The anniversary commemorative stamp reproduces a painting by Jean Baptiste Wicar (1762-1834) preserved in Castel Gandolfo depicting Cardinal Consalvi as he receives from Pope Pius VII the Ratification of the Concordat with France.