Napoleon Concord With Pope

Napoleon Concord With Pope:

The Church and priests were severely condemned during the Revolution. National Assembly seized the Church property. Revolutionaries tried to convert the Cathedrals into logical homes. Great pains were taken to weaken the power of the Church. All these steps made the majority of French Catholics dissatisfied. Napoleon was aware of the massive influence of the Pope over the majority of people in the state. He once said, “People will say that I favor the papacy. I am not like that. I am a Muslim in Egypt and a Roman Catholic in France.” He was neutral in the matter of religion; but, he wanted to use religion as a tool for strengthening his political ends. Consequently, he settled a religious compromise with the Pope in 1802, which was known as “Concord”. According to that concord, Catholicism was accepted as the state religion. The government was given the right to file nominations of bishops but Pope was invested with the right of making their appointments. The bishops, who were arrested during the Revolution were released. A provision was made to disburse salaries to priests from the Royal Exchequer. The deported priests who had fled France were permitted to come back. Everyone was given religious freedom. Pope relinquished his claim over the Church property confiscated by the state during the period of the Revolution. It was enjoined upon the priests that they would take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution.

It was a significant concord. Now the Church became a partner of the state instead of its antagonist; though the Pope had only nominal dominance in religious matters. The farmers who had obtained some part of Church land turned loyal to Napoleon. The French public became happy with Napoleon’s policy and his government won strong public support. But that compromise did not last long. In 1807, Napoleon seized the state of Pope and arrested him.