In Italy in 1905, Azione Cattolica was established as a non-political lay organization under the direct control of bishops. It was established by Pope Pius X after an earlier similar organization, Opera dei Congressi was disbanded in 1904 by the same pope because many of the its members were siding with modernism. The set of events which brought to the foundation of the Azione Cattolica was critical in the excommunication of the modernism in 1907 and a prelude of it. The organization was established as a non-political one because the modernists used Catholic lay organizations to promote a political agenda of siding with Italian parties of the left (even of the extreme as per standards of the time). One of the first main leaders of the Azione Cattolica was count Ottorino Gentiloni.