speedily agreed and bishops appointed in a spirit of compromise: twelve
were former constitutionals, sixteen former non-jurors and thirty-two
new ones, including Bernier. The naive pontiff took it as a positive sign
that Napoleon appointed his uncle Fesch, now a cardinal, as his
ambassador to the Vatican.
Pius VII took the view that with the Concordat schism had been
avoided, the unity of the Church restored and its finances put on a sound
footing. The attempt by the Revolution to exclude the French Church
from papal influence had manifestly failed and, having been invited to
dismiss all existing bishops, the Pope now had a precedent for further
interventions. Catholics in general gained from a State church in all but
name, financial advantages, the end of schism and a privileged role in
education. Above all, though, Pius VII felt that the impact of the
Enlightenment and the Revolution had brought Catholicism close to
collapse; in the context of a ten-year battering from revolutionary
anticlericalism, Napoleon seemed like a godsend.
Napoleon was satisfied that he had achieved most of his objectives,
appeased the peasantry and torn the heart out of royalist resistance.
Piqued at Consalvi's valiant rearguard action, he tacked on to the main
protocol of the Concordat the so-called 'organic articles', which forbade
the publication of any bull, pastoral letter or other communication from
senior clergy without the permission of the French government. Further
articles forbade unauthorized synods or unwanted Papal legates, pre
scribed French dress for the clergy and ordained that the same Catechism
should be used in every work. In order to rebut the canard that the
Concordat made Catholicism the state religion in all but name, Napoleon
ordered Chaptal, his Minister of the Interior, to draw up further 'organic
articles' providing state salaries for Protestant pastors. The organic
articles showed clearly that Napoleon was never really interested in
genuine compromise and that in effect he had duped Pius. Such a
mentality did not bode well for future relations with the Papacy.
The Concordat was the purely political act of a man indifferent to
religion but conscious of its role as social pacifier. It successfully
neutralized royalist opposition for the next eight years, to the point where
the royalist Joseph de Maistre wrote: 'With all my heart I wish death to
the Pope in the same way and for the same reason I would wish it to my
father were he to dishonour me tomorrow.' Royalist wrath fell on Pius
VII not Napoleon, but the First Consul had to face determined resistance
from the opposite direction. The Concordat was construed as a gross
offence to Republican sentiment. The Council of State greeted its
promulgation in silence; in the Tribunate the treaty was mocked; the
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