Papal conclave 1800: Encyclopedia II - Papal conclave 1800 - Historical context

Papal conclave 1800 - Historical context

Papal conclave 1800 - Pope Pius VI

Pius VI's reign had been marked by tension between his authority and that of the European monarchs and other institutions; secular and ecclesiastical. This was largely due to his moderate liberal and reforming pretences. At the beginning of his service he promised to continue the work of his predecessor, Pope Clement IV, in whose 1773 publication Dominus ac redemptor, the dissolution of the Society of Jesus was announced. Other pro-Jesuit powers remained in his support thinking him secretly inclined to the Society and away from Clement. Austria proved a threat when Emperor Joseph II made internal reforms which conflicted with some of the power of the Papacy. Further, German archbishops had shown independence at the 1786 Congress of Ems, but were soon brought into line.

At the outbreak of the French Revolution Pius was compelled to see the old independent Gallican Church suppressed, the pontifical and ecclesiastical possessions in France confiscated and an effigy of himself burnt by the populace at the Palais Royal. The murder of the republican agent Hugo Basseville in the streets of Rome (January 1793) gave new ground of offence; the papal court was charged with complicity by the French Convention; and Pius threw in his lot with the league against France.

Papal conclave 1800 - The State of the See

In 1796 Napoléon Bonaparte invaded Italy, defeated the papal troops and occupied Ancona and Loreto. He did not continue and conquer Rome, as the Directory ordered, being aware that this would not win favour among the French and Italian populations. Pius sued for peace, which was granted at Tolentino on 19 February 1797. The Treaty of Tolentino transferred Romagna to Bonaparte's newly formed Cispadane Republic (founded in December 1796 out of a merger between Reggio, Modena, Bologna and Ferrara) in a hope that the French would not further pursue the Papal lands. Several reforms were made in the French controlled regions, and much of its contents were taken for use.

Several factors led to the complete occupation of Rome by the French. Firstly, the Second War of the Coalition saw the entrance of the Russian army into northern Italy which pushed the French back. Secondly, on December 28 of that year, in a riot created by some Italian and French revolutionists, General Duphot of the French embassy was killed and a new pretext furnished for invasion. General Berthier marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 13 February 1798, and, proclaiming a republic, demanded of the pope the renunciation of his temporal authority. Upon his refusal he was taken prisoner, and on February 20 was escorted from the Vatican to Siena, and thence to the Certosa near Florence. The French declaration of war against Tuscany led to his removal, though by this time incredibly ill, by way of Parma, Piacenza, Turin and Grenoble to the citadel of Valence, where he died six weeks later, on August 29, 1799.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Historical context", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki