Ultramontane Catholicism, emphasising the necessity for close links to the Pope at the Vatican played a pivotal role in the democratisation of culture. The pamphlet campaign led by Mgr Gaston de Ségur at the height of the Italian question in February 1860 made the most of the freedom of expression enjoyed by the Catholic Church in France. The goal was to mobilise Catholic opinion, and encourage the government to be more favourable to the Pope. A major result of the ultramontane campaign was to trigger reforms to the cultural sphere, and the granting of freedoms to their political enemies: the Republicans and freethinkers.