He entered the ecclesiastical state, and some time after his ordination to the Catholic priesthood, was appointed director of an institution for secondary education at Genoa.
Doubts arose in his mind, followed by an internal struggle which he describes in his work on the philosophy of the Italian schools.
At the same time, important political events were taking place in Italy, culminating in the revolution of 1848.
Combining Kant's phenomenalism and Comte's positivism, he falls into a sort of relativism and agnosticism.
In Franchi's last work, he announces his return to the Catholic Church and denounces the opinions and principles of his earlier writings.