Strange way of putting it. The popes mounted a counter-attack against a Liberalism that aimed to absorb the Church by depriving it of social relevance. The legitimacy of liberalism was undermined by the events of 1914-1919 along with the older feudal order that had prevailed in Austria. Modernism within the Church. however, continued to assert itself and it became a strong force in the laicism of the post-Vatican council. Neo-scholasticism, however, was simply a reaction to the subjectivism that has had such a fascinating attraction for the Western mind since it turned on Christianity in the 18th Century. It cannot accept that God became incarnate in the world, and the rejection of Christ has also led to its rejection of the Jews. It seems blind, however, to the claims of the Muslims, who reject reason but retain the same will to power that made them such a force in the world until the 18th Century.
Not strange for a liberal. A traditional Catholic today would say:
"Under Pius IX and Leo XIII the Church had taken a defensive position against post-French revolution secular humanist "enlightenment" thought..