section_path: Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia (1846–1878)/Cardinalate
section_name: Cardinalate
paragraph_text: Cardinalate
  
  In the consistory of 19 December 1853, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals, as Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono. Pope Gregory XVI originally intended to name him as a cardinal; however, his death in 1846 put pause to that idea while the events that characterized the beginning of the papacy of Pius IX further postponed the idea of Pecci's elevation. By the time that Gregory XVI died, Leopold II repeatedly asked that Pecci be named as a cardinal. While Pius IX strongly desired having Pecci as close to Rome as possible, and repeatedly offered him a suburbicarian diocese, Pecci continually refused due to his preference for Perugia. It is possible that the archbishop did not share the views of the Cardinal Secretary of State, Giacomo Antonelli. It is not true that Pius IX deliberately sent him to Perugia as a way of exiling him from Rome simply because Pecci's views were perceived to be liberalistic and conciliatory, as opposed to the conservatism of the papal court.
  
  Allegedly, Pecci had been a cardinal reserved " in pectore " by Gregory XVI in the consistory of 19 January 1846, with the pope's death just over four months later invalidating the appointment since his name was never actually revealed publicly.
  
  In the consistory of 19 December 1853, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals, as Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono. Pope Gregory XVI originally intended to name him as a cardinal; however, his death in 1846 put pause to that idea while the events that characterized the beginning of the papacy of Pius IX further postponed the idea of Pecci's elevation. By the time that Gregory XVI died, Leopold II repeatedly asked that Pecci be named as a cardinal. While Pius IX strongly desired having Pecci as close to Rome as possible, and repeatedly offered him a suburbicarian diocese, Pecci continually refused due to his preference for Perugia. It is possible that the archbishop did not share the views of the Cardinal Secretary of State, Giacomo Antonelli. It is not true that Pius IX deliberately sent him to Perugia as a way of exiling him from Rome simply because Pecci's views were perceived to be liberalistic and conciliatory, as opposed to the conservatism of the papal court.
  
  Allegedly, Pecci had been a cardinal reserved " in pectore " by Gregory XVI in the consistory of 19 January 1846, with the pope's death just over four months later invalidating the appointment since his name was never actually revealed publicly.