The Vatican officials were not hopeful that the Pope would give his approbation to the Oblates as this was not the custom at this time of the foundation of so many religious societies in France. In this atmosphere of lack of hope, Eugene continued to use every means at his disposal to gain a positive reponse, yet he remained reaslistic.
I have not yet seen the Holy Father and I am not annoyed at that because I am not yet prepared. Only yesterday did I finish the petition which I propose to present to him; I filled four pages of large paper. Before composing it, I had to work on the language. Shall I tell you? They give me little hope. Cardinal de Gregorio, to whom I had been warmly recommended from Turin and who has treated me with much friendship, who has already given me a dinner and a thousand courtesies, has told me positively that he does not believe that the Pope would give his formal approbation;
… I have begged the Cardinal to speak to the Pope beforehand in my favour; he will not fail. I had previously seen the Cardinal Vicar who, it seems, will have spoken to him of me. If the audience is delayed a little, other Cardinals will be able to render me the same service. In the meantime, I have not wasted my time and since graces ought, in the absence of all else, to signify something, I have asked some which will carry weight. For this I have gone to see the prelate who is Secretary of the Propaganda, who is disposed not to refuse me anything. He will present my requests immediately to the Pope.
I am going tomorrow to see the Cardinal Secretary of State but it is the audience with the Pope which will decide the matter. If he refuses to give the brief, I will leave immediately after Christmas; if he dithers or if he yields to my wishes, then we shall see. We will know where we stand seemingly in the course of next week.
Letter to Henri Tempier in Marseilles, 9 December 1825, EO VII n. 211
