 During the years of the risorgimento, the Church was physically and intellectually "in a state of siege" and many thought the undertaking "too hazardous," but Pius IX himself "insisted that Curci was right that the flood of anti-Papal propaganda [from liberals, Protestants, and others] could only be met by a reasoned statement of the Papal case..." Other sources cite the desire to defend "catholic civilization" against a perceived growing influence of liberals and freemasons.The first issue was released in Naples on 6 April 1850 in Italian (rather than Latin), although due to censorship by the House of Bourbon the editorial office was transferred to Rome that same year.Upon moving to Rome, the periodical became the unofficial voice of the Holy See.