The papal bull Quod Divina Sapientia, issued by Pope Leo XII 28 August 1824, organised all public instruction in the Papal States under ecclesiastical supervision. Ancient autonomies of the old universities were abolished, streamlining their hierarchies, a progressive move, but placing them under the immediate supervision of the Pontifical state by means of a congregation of cardinals that was to function in essence as a ministry of public education, with, among its duties, the prerogative of selecting professors to fill established university chairs. Cardinal Wiseman observed approvingly that to the Congregation "belongs the duty of approving, correcting, or rejecting, changes suggested by the different faculties; of filling up vacancies in chairs; and watching over the discipline, morals