 "La Civiltà Cattolica" contributed to the Syllabus of Errors, the First Vatican Council (1869–1870) and to the task of restoring Thomist philosophy, which flourished during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903).The journal held an anti-evolutionistic position, and was often the main source for Vatican thinking on the issue, as no direct statements were made.However, the opening in 1998 of the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (previously called the Holy Office or the Congregation of the Index) revealed that on many crucial points and in specific cases, the Vatican position had been less dogmatic than the journal had suggested at the time.