 One of these two alternatives shall occur according to whether the names of the champions or the destroyers of Christian civilization emerge victorious from the urns".Umberto believed that the support from the Catholic Church would be decisive and that he would win the referendum by a narrow margin.As a king, Umberto attempted to make wide use of the powers of royal pardon, trying to pardon thousands of criminals as a bid to win popularity (through Parliament blocked most of these pardons) while likewise making equally wide use of his power to grant titles of nobility as during his short reign he awarded thousands of titles of nobility to various local notables in bid to win the support of regional elites.