Victory of anti-Jansenist piety over the Jansenist one typical of previous centuries. This was characterized by a strong rigorism (postponement of absolution for repeat offenders), by opposition to frequent communion and devotion to the Sacred Heart. The anti-Jansenistic piety, favored by Don Bosco, by Frassinetti, by de Ségur, by the Spanish Michelina del Sacramento, by Dupanloup, by Pius IX, underlines the validity of the Alphonsian Jesuit moral system (never postpone absolution, only try to arouse the dispositions necessary!), encourages frequent communion, even if only with Pius Limits: little liturgical sense and little importance to Scripture.
Gradually the pastoral care adapts to the new situation, and is no longer based on state support, pressure, fear, but on persuasion, on patient waiting, ultimately respecting the human person more. The "Easter cards" definitively cease, we are aware of the ineffectiveness of censorship and prestige. The focus is now on persuasion, slow and difficult, on the strength of Catholic groups, which help to overcome the poorly concealed contempt by which Catholics are surrounded. The irreplaceable means of apostolate remain: catechesis (which now aims at a single catechism for all of Italy), preaching, and printing, which certainly does not reach today's circulation.
An evolution can also be felt in the mentality of the "priest": the priest-preceptors, the bread-and-butter vocations, the politician and patriotic priests disappear. There is a long discussion about the path to follow for the defense of essential values ​​and two opposing concepts compete: the "priest of the sacrament" which places the emphasis on worship, preaching, confession, catechesis, assistance to sick, and remains essentially closed in his environment, sometimes narrow and closed; and the "priest of the movement", of acute social sensitivity, involved in rural banks, cooperatives, sections of the Opera dei Congressi, newspapers, electoral battles...
Meanwhile, devotion to the Pope is also accentuated, people cling to him, as a reaction to anticlericalism, at Porta Pia; but here too the camp is divided between the pope's most papists, who see dangers and betrayals everywhere, and the "Catholic liberals" (to use an expression that has come into fashion these days): Sacchetti, Paganuzzi, Albertario, the terrible Scotton brothers, L 'Catholic Unity..., and the most open minds: Bonomelli, Scalabrini, Calabria, Toniolo...
A certain skepticism remains widespread, a distrust towards the world, culture, modern society, with its aspirations; we view with fear every "dialogue", every approach to modern culture, attendance at state universities, an exegesis that takes into account the discoveries of the sciences and is not strictly linked to the six days of creation, to the "serpent", to birth of the woman from Adam's rib... And even in the liturgy, we remain anchored to Latin; and during the Mass the rosary is recited. Freedom of conscience and worship remains considered an evil, which can at most be tolerated, never approved and defended; Protestants and Orthodox are seen as enemies.
The path to be taken to overcome this mentality remains long, and will be substantially accomplished with John XXIII and Vatican II, which must not be considered as a condemnation of the past, but certainly remains the end of an era and the beginning of a other, irreversible.