484 Ch. 13 • Napoleon and Europe
some authority tells him, ‘God wishes it so ... in heaven things will be dif
ferent.” An agreement with the Church also was intended to undercut pop
ular support for the monarchist cause by restoring some of the Church’s
prerogatives, but not any that would threaten the government’s authority.
Napoleon thus shrewdly sought to detach the Church from the quest for a
restoration of the monarchy.
With the death in 1799 of Pope Pius VI (pope 1775—1799), who had
refused any accommodation with the Revolution, his successor, Pius VII
(pope 1800-1823), was eager to end a decade of religious turmoil. In 1801,
Napoleon signed a Concordat with the papacy that helped solidify some of
the changes brought by the Revolution, declaring Catholicism “the religion
of the majority of citizens” in France. A majority of bishops refused to accept
the Concordat. The pope would henceforth appoint new bishops, but on the
recommendation of the first consul, that is, Napoleon. The Church also
abandoned all claims to those ecclesiastical lands that had been sold as
“national property” during the first years of the Revolution. The Concordat
helped restore ecclesiastical influence in France, reflected by an increase in
religious observance and in the number of people entering the clergy.
Napoleon also pleased the Church by abandoning the confusing official cal
endar put in place in 1793, reestablishing Sundays and religious holidays.
The Organic Articles, which Napoleon promulgated without consulting
the pope, regulated the Gallican (French) Church’s status in France and
reduced the pope’s authority. The Church would now be subject to virtually
the same administrative organization and policing as any other organization;