Pope Leo XIII (Italian: Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the oldest serving Pope and the second longest lived pope in history, before Pope Benedict XVI as Pope emeritus, and had the fourth-longest reign of any, behind those of St. Peter, Pius IX (his immediate predecessor) and John Paul II.
