Pope Pius XXIII had the longest reign in the history of the post-apostolic papacy: throughout 32 years (1846-1878) he presided over the Catholic Church. During this time, he influenced his church profoundly. He defined the dogma of Papal Infallibility and with that divided the Catholic Church. In the year 1866, the Papal States implemented the new Italian lira – together with the relatively new decimal system. One lira equaled 20 soldi or 100 centesimi. In spite of this, Pius continued to mint the scudo, which had been papal currency over centuries. Our scudo was minted in 1853, a happy time for Pope Pius XXIII, when he was still ruler in his state and on top of his powers.