His brief papacy witnessed the Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom in 1829, which he welcomed, and the July Revolution in France in 1830, which he reluctantly accepted.

He studied at the Collegio Campana run by the Society of Jesus and, after that, at the University of Bologna, where he earned a doctorate in canon and civil law (utroque iure) in 1785.

Cardinal Giuseppe Doria Pamphili served as consecrator, assisted by Nicola Buschi and Camillo Campanelli.

[2] He was praised by Pope Pius VII who in 1816 elevated him to the cardinalate as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Traspontina.

[3] However, he failed to gain the necessary votes, in part due to controversy surrounding an alliance between him and another favorite, Secretary of State Ercole Consalvi.

This was on the basis that Albani did not desire to be pope, but rather to be appointed as Cardinal Secretary of State in which he would hold power in terms of ecclesial governance.

On 24 March, Cardinals Carlo Oppizzoni and Fabrizio Sceberras Testaferrata, from different factions, were both privately in agreement to canvass additional support for Castiglioni.

Regarding religious pluralism, he condemned the "foul contrivance of the sophists of this age" that would place Catholicism on a par with any other religion.

Furthermore, the Bibles are rarely without perverse little inserts to ensure that the reader imbibes their lethal poison instead of the saving water of salvation.

[6]On 25 March 1830, in the brief Litteris altero, he condemned the masonic secret societies and modernist biblical translations.

[citation needed] A further letter of pastoral concern sent to the Upper Rhineland bishops, which Pius wrote at the end of June 1830, is referred to by his successor Gregory XVI in the latter's papal brief Quo Graviora of 1833.

The provision for "passive assistance" meant that a priest could conduct a wedding, acting as a witness, but the marriage would not be blessed or seen as a sacrament.

[8] The Holy See's website refers to three papal briefs ("breve") bearing the name Inter multiplices:[9] In the last of these letters, he wrote that his concern for "the state of the Dioceses distributed over the entire earth" occupied a place second to none among his cares.

[13] Pius VIII also nominated eight cardinals "in pectore" in the March 1830 consistory, however, he never publicly revealed the names before his death hence rendering the appointments moot.

Pius' brief pontificate saw the Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom and the July Revolution in France, which occurred in 1829 and 1830, respectively.

[14] Also of remarkable importance to the future is a letter of his to a French bishop, in which he allowed the taking of moderate interest (under the principle of foregoing a profit by investing the lent capital; see Vix pervenit for the discussion of the topic).

Being, at that time, head of the Papal States, he remained popular for decades for removing the so-called cancelletti (grids) from the taverns, which Leo XII had ordered to be put there to hinder the consumption of wine unless accompanied by a meal.

Certain theories have emerged suggesting that Pius VIII was poisoned, but no proof has been found to verify this claim.