"It might have escaped lay people at the time, but for some observers the ascension of Leo XIV as head of the Catholic Church this year was a reminder that the last time a Pope Leo sat in St. Peter's Chair in the Vatican, from 1878 to 1903, the modern view of infinity was born. Georg Cantor 's completely original "naïve" set theory caused both revolution and revolt in mathematical circles, with some embracing his ideas and others rejecting them."
"Cantor was deeply disappointed with the negative reactions, of course, but never with his own ideas. Why? Because he held firm to the belief that he had a main line to the absolute-that his ideas came direct from l'intellect divino (the divine intellect). And, like the Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood, that he was on a mission from God. So when he soured on the mathematical community in 1883, he sought new audiences in Pope Leo XIII's Catholic Church."
Georg Cantor developed a revolutionary set theory that established a modern mathematical view of infinity and provoked both enthusiastic support and sharp rejection. Cantor believed his ideas connected directly to the divine intellect and expected the Catholic Church to appreciate their theological implications. Facing criticism and declining to publish, he grew convinced that contemporaries sabotaged him and developed a persistent hostility toward publishing. Cantor sought new audiences within Pope Leo XIII's Catholic Church in the 1880s as the Church showed increasing interest in scientific matters. His later years were marked by deteriorating mental health and strained relations with the mathematical community.
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