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Napoleon and theCatholic Church remained on difficult terms throughout the former's rule. Although Napoleon moderated the radical secularism of theFrench Revolution, he opposed the church as a political power at various turns and had two successive popes held prisoner, resulting in his excommunication byPope Pius VII.
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In 1796, French troops under the command of General Napoleon Bonaparteinvaded Italy, defeated the Papal Army, and occupied Ancona and Loreto.
Pope Pius VI sued for peace, which was granted atTolentino on 19 February 1797, but on 28 December that year, in a riot papal forces blamed on Italian and French revolutionaries, the popular Brigadier-GeneralMathurin-Léonard Duphot, who had gone to Rome withJoseph Bonaparte as part of the French embassy, was killed and a new pretext was furnished for invasion. GeneralLouis-Alexandre Berthier marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 10 February 1798 and, proclaiming aRoman Republic, demanded the pope renounce histemporal power.
Upon his refusal he was taken prisoner, and on 20 February he was escorted from the Vatican toSiena, and then to theCertosa near Florence. The French declaration of war againstTuscany led to his removal, escorted by the SpaniardPedro Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador, by way ofParma,Piacenza,Turin, andGrenoble to the citadel ofValence, the chief town ofDrôme. He died there six weeks after his arrival, on 29 August 1799, having reigned longer than any pope.
Pius VI's body was embalmed, but was not buried until 30 January 1800 after Napoleon saw political advantage to burying his remains in an effort to bring the Catholic Church back into France.
It was not until the conclave of cardinals had gathered to elect a new pope that Napoleon decided to bury Pius VI who had died several weeks earlier. He gave him a gaudy ceremony in an effort to gain the attention of the Catholic Church. This eventually led to theConcordat of 1801 negotiated byErcole Consalvi, the pope's secretary of state, which restored limited papal authority over the church in France. However, the Concordat also contained the "Organic Articles" which Consalvi had fiercely opposed but which Napoleon had nevertheless instituted.
The papacy had suffered a major loss of church lands throughsecularisations in theHoly Roman Empire following theTreaty of Lunéville in 1801, when a number of German princes were compensated for their losses by the seizure of ecclesiastical property.
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte andPope Pius VII that reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and restored some of its civil status.
While the Concordat restored some ties to the papacy, it largely favoured the interests of the French state; the balance of church-state relations had tilted firmly in Bonaparte's favour. As a part of the Concordat, he presented another set of laws called theOrganic Articles.
From the beginning of his papacy to the fall of Napoleon in 1815, Pius VII was completely involved with France.[clarification needed] He and Napoleon were continually in conflict, often involving the French leader's wishes for concessions to his demands.
Despite the opposition of most of theRoman Curia, Pius VII traveled toParis for Napoleon'scoronation in 1804. Napoleon placed the crown on his head himself, spurning the pope's intent to do so. The painting byJacques-Louise David titledThe Coronation of Napoleon depicts the seated pope at the ceremony as Napoleon crowns his wife.
Although the pope and the papacy were promised rich gifts and donations, Pius initially refused most of these offers. Napoleon did give him theNapoleon Tiara, decorated with large emeralds from the looted tiara of Pope Pius VI, but it was deliberately made too small and heavy to be worn and meant as an insult to the pope.[citation needed] Napoleon also commissioned aPortrait of Pope Pius VII by David.
Appointed by Napoleon on 4 April 1803 to succeedFrançois Cacault on the latter's retirement from the position of French ambassador to Rome, CardinalJoseph Fesch was assisted byFrançois-René de Chateaubriand[clarification needed], but soon sharply differed with him on many questions. Towards the close of 1804, Napoleon entrusted to Fesch the difficult task of securing the presence of Pope Pius VII at the forthcoming coronation of the emperor atNotre-Dame in Paris. The Cardinal's tact in overcoming the reluctance of the pope (only eight months after the execution of theDuke of Enghien) received further recognition. He received the grand cordon of theLégion d'honneur, became grand-almoner of the empire, and had a seat in theFrench Senate. He was to receive further honours. In 1806, one of the most influential of the German clerics,Karl von Dalberg, then prince-bishop ofRegensburg, chose him to be his coadjutor and designated him as his successor.
Subsequent events damaged his prospects. From 1806 to 1807, Napoleon clashed sharply with the pope on matters both political and religious, as Fesch sought in vain to reconcile them. Napoleon was inexorable in his demands, and Pius VII refused to compromise the discipline and vital interests of the church. The emperor several times rebuked Fesch as weak and ingrateful. It is clear, however, that the Cardinal went as far as possible in counselling the submission of the spiritual to the civil power. For a time he was not on speaking terms with the pope, and Napoleon recalled him from Rome.
Napoleon appointedJean-Baptiste de Belloy as bishop to theSee of Paris. Notwithstanding his extreme age, he governed his new diocese with astonishing vigour and intelligence, reorganised the parishes, provided them with good pastors, and visited his flock in person. He restored theCrown of Thorns (10 August 1806) to its place of honour in theSainte-Chapelle. Napoleon was so satisfied that he secured for him the cardinal's hat, which Pius VII placed on the prelate's head in Paris on 1 February 1805.
Relations between the Church and Napoleon deteriorated. On 3 February 1808, GeneralSextius Alexandre François de Miollis occupied Rome with a division. The following month, theKingdom of Italy annexed the papal provinces ofAncona,Macerata,Fermo, andUrbino, and diplomatic relations were broken off.
On 17 May 1809, Napoleon issued two decrees fromSchönbrunn Palace nearVienna in which he reproached the popes for the ill use they had made of thedonation of Charlemagne, his "august predecessor”, and declared those territories which were still under the direct control of thePapal States were to be annexed by theFrench Empire. The territories were to be organised under Miollis with a council extraordinary to administer them. As compensation the pope would receive a stipend of 2,000,000francs per annum.[1][2] On 10 June, Miollis had the Pontifical flag, which still floated over theCastle of Saint Angelo, lowered.[1]
When Pius VII subsequentlyexcommunicated Napoleon, French Brigadier-generalÉtienne Radet saw an opportunity to gain Napoleon's favour and arrested the pope on the night of 5 July 1809. Although Napoleon had ordered theCastel Sant'Angelo to be occupied by French troops and cannons to be pointed at the papal bedroom, he did not approve of Radet's actions. Despite this, Pius VII remained a French prisoner, being sent first toGenoa and thenGrenoble before being placed under house arrest at a large mansion inSavona. Napoleon sent several delegations to pressure Pius VII to yield power and sign a new concordat with France, including invokinga church council.[citation needed]
The pope remained in confinement for over six years, and did not return to Rome until 24 May 1814, when the 5thRadetzky Hussars of the Coalition forces freed him during a pursuit of French forces.[3] Hungarian hussars escorted the pope back to Rome through theAlps.
Captain János Nepomuki Horváth gave his own coat to warm the pope, the same officer depicted as the protagonist ofSándor Petőfi's epicJános vitéz. For his gallantry, Horváth received the highest papal decoration, theSupreme Order of Christ. The pope also gave the hussars a flag, now in theVienna Arsenal, reading "Ungariae Patronae Pium comitatis ad Urbem; O felix tanto Roma sub auspicio - Boldog vagy Róma, hogy érzed a Magyarok Nagyasszonyának oltalmát, ki Piust a Városba kísérte" (You are happy Rome to feel the protection of Our Lady of Hungary, who accompanied Pius to the City).
At theCongress of Vienna, the Papal States were largely restored along with theJesuits. The pope offered a refuge in his capital to the members of theBonaparte family. PrincessLetizia, the deposed emperor's mother, lived there; likewise did his brothersLucien andLouis, and his uncle Fesch.
During Napoleon's exile onSaint Helena, the pope wrote to theBritish government asking for better treatment of the former emperor, saying: "He can no longer be a danger to anybody.We would not wish him to become a cause for remorse."
Napoleon reconciled with the Catholic Church and asked for achaplain, saying "it would rest my soul to hear Mass".[4] The pope petitioned the British to allow this, and sent theAbbé Ange Vignali to Saint Helena. On 20 April 1821, Napoleon told GeneralCharles Tristan, "I was born in the Catholic religion. I wish to fulfill the duties it imposes, and receive the succour it administers." To Tristan, he affirmed his belief in God and read aloud theOld Testament, theGospels, and theActs of the Apostles. He died on 5 May 1821, after receiving thesacraments ofConfession,Extreme Unction, andViaticum in the presence of Vignali.[5]
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