Spontaneous attraction to liberal ideology destabilized the Papacy in Italy.

Evidence

As a typical example of spontaneous attraction by the Moderates, one might recall the formation and development of the “liberal-catholic” movement 50 which scared the Papacy so much—partially succeeding in paralysing its movements; demoralising it; in an initial period pushing it too far to the left (with the liberalising measures of Pius IX); in a subsequent period driving it into a more right-wing position than it need have adopted; and in the last analysis being the cause of its isolation in the peninsula and in Europe. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 436