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RATIFICATION

After successfully leading a '' Coup D'état '' against the French Directory in 1799 , and then one month later declaring himself First Consul with the support of a popular vote, Napoleon Bonaparte was convinced that coming to terms with the Catholic Church would be crucial to the success of his ventures. Ercole Consalvi , Pope Pius VII 's secretary of state, was the negotiator for the Catholic Church with Napoleon. There were many misconceptions during the creation of the Concordat, such as evidence of several false copies coming before the secretary to sign which he quickly dismissed.

Consalvi fiercely fought Napoleon's Organic Articles from being added to the Concordat, which permitted laws and views seen as sinful by the Church, violating its best interests. However, Napoleon did not give up easily. He allowed only 40 days for the Concordat to be ratified by Rome and be returned to Paris, where it had been created. After Consalvi hurried to return the ratified Concordat back to Paris, Napoleon held the document dormant nearly eight months, after which he produced the Concordat with the Organic Articles, disregarding the Church's refusal to ratify the annexation of the Articles in the first place.


CONTENTS

The main terms of the Concordat of 1801 between France and Pope Pius VII included:
  • A declaration that "Catholicism was the religion of the great majority of the French" but not the official state religion, thus maintaining religious freedom, in particular with respect to Jews and Protestants

  • The Papacy had the right to depose Bishops , but this made little difference, because the French still nominated them.

  • The State would pay clerical salaries and the clergy swore an oath of allegiance to the State

  • The Church gave up all their claims to Church lands that were confiscated after the French Revolution

  • The Sabbath was reestablished as a "festival", effective Easter Sunday, 18 April 1802 . The rest of the French Republican Calendar which had abolished it, was not replaced by the traditional Gregorian Calendar until 1 January 1806 .


The Concordat was abrogated upon the separation of Church and State in 1905 . Some terms of the Concordat are still current in the area of Alsace-Moselle in Eastern France.


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