Pius VII

Pius VII (born Aug. 14, 1742, Cesena, Papal States [Italy]—died Aug. 20, 1823, Rome) was an Italian pope from 1800 to 1823, whose dramatic conflicts with Napoleon led to a restoration of the church after the armies of the French Revolution had devastated the papacy under Pius VI.

He became a Benedictine at Cesena in 1758 and was made cardinal and bishop of Imola, Papal States, in 1785 by Pius VI, whose death in French captivity marked a collapse of the church’s central administration. Under Austrian protection at Venice, a 14-week conclave elected Chiaramonti on March 14, 1800.

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Pius wanted to make peace with Napoleon and to reach a prompt compromise with the Revolution insofar as it was compatible with the principles of the church. Overriding some shocked opposition within his entourage, he made a bold decision and negotiated the celebrated Concordat of 1801 with Napoleon, which established complete reorganization of the dioceses and declared Roman Catholicism France’s chief religion. Pius renounced the ecclesiastical property that had been secularized and asked surviving bishops to resign their French sees. In 1802, however, certain Organic Articles were appended to the Concordat by a French unilateral action, forbidding the exercise of any papal jurisdiction in France without the permission of the government. Pius protested and in 1804 tried to use the occasion of his formal consecration of Napoleon (Paris, December 2) to have the articles modified. He was unsuccessful, and thenceforth relations between Pius and Napoleon rapidly deteriorated. Rome was occupied by French troops in 1808, and Napoleon declared the Papal States annexed to France (1809). Pius bravely excommunicated the invaders on June 10, 1809, and was taken prisoner the following July, remaining in exile until the invasion of France by the allies in 1814.

The Emperor’s bullying of Pius aroused a far-reaching sympathy and respect for the Pope, especially among northern Catholics, who helped align Pius with the allies who eventually defeated Napoleon. In June 1812 Napoleon transferred Pius to Fontainebleau, where he forced the Pope to sign a humiliating concordat on Jan. 25, 1813, which Pius renounced two months later.

Released in 1814, Pius was greatly acclaimed en route to Rome. The Congress of Vienna (1814–15) restored nearly all the Papal States, including Rome to Pius, who then sought to reestablish the church on traditional foundations. Politically, Pius, aided by Cardinal Consolvi, followed a flexible line. In France and Spain Rome cooperated with the counterrevolution. But after some hesitation, Pius recognized the new Latin-American republics that had revolted against Spain.

Ecclesiastically, Pius revived the Society of Jesus (1814) and encouraged the religious orders to reorganize themselves. Unlike many of his 18th-century predecessors, he showed great concern for doctrine and issued stern condemnations of church enemies, especially against Freemasons. In the tradition of the humanist popes, he sponsored educational reform and the establishment of Rome as a cultural centre. Despite his efforts to adapt the papacy to the political, intellectual, and social conditions of the modern world, the reinstatement of authoritarianism in the Papal States was inevitable, and a “government by priests” followed his death and the dismissal of Consalvi.