Editing Concordat of 1801 (section)

==History==
[[File:Gérard - Signature du Concordat entre la France et le Saint-Siège, le 15 juillet 1801.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''The signing of the Concordat, 15 July 1801'' by [[François Gérard]], 1803-1804]]

During the Revolution, the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]] had taken Church properties and issued the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which made the Church a department of the state, effectively removing it from papal authority. At the time, the nationalised [[Catholic Church in France|Gallican Church]] was the official church of France, but it was essentially Catholicism. The Civil Constitution caused hostility among the [[Vendée|Vendeans]] towards the change in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the French government. Subsequent laws abolished the traditional [[Gregorian calendar]] and Christian holidays.<ref name="georgetown2">{{cite web |url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/france |title=France |publisher=[[Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs]] |access-date=2011-12-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206213909/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/france |archive-date=6 February 2011 }} See drop-down essay on "Religion and Politics until the French Revolution"</ref>

The Concordat was drawn up by a commission with three representatives from each party. Napoleon Bonaparte, who was [[French Consulate|First Consul]] of the French Republic at the time, appointed [[Joseph Bonaparte]], his brother, [[Emmanuel Crétet]], a counselor of state, and [[Étienne-Alexandre Bernier]], a doctor in theology. Pope Pius VII appointed Cardinal [[Ercole Consalvi]], Cardinal [[Giuseppe Spina]],<ref>Spina had been Papal Majordomo for Pius VI, and had followed him in his arrest and deportation to France in 1799.  Salvador Miranda, Librarian Emeritus, Florida International University, ''The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church'',  [http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1801.htm#Spina Spina, Giuseppe]. Retrieved: 2016-07-30.</ref> archbishop of Corinth, and his theological adviser, Father Carlo Francesco Maria Caselli.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Bela Bates |last2=Peters|first2=Absalom|last3=Agnew|first3=John Holmes|last4=Treat|first4=Selah Burr |title=The American Biblical Repository|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfsRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA433|access-date=2014-04-22|year=1840|publisher=s.n.}}</ref> The French bishops, whether still abroad or returned to their own country, had no part in the negotiations. The concordat as finally arranged practically ignored them.<ref name=Goyau>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04204a.htm Goyau, Georges. "The French Concordat of 1801." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 8 November 2015</ref>

While the Concordat restored some ties to the [[Pope|papacy]], it was largely in favour of the state; it wielded greater power ''vis-à-vis'' the Pope than previous French regimes had, and church lands lost during the Revolution were not returned. Napoleon took a utilitarian approach to the role of religion.<ref name=Vilmer>[https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.jbjv.com/Commentaire-du-Concordat-de-1801.html&prev=search Vilmer, Jean-Baptiste Jeangéne. "Comment on the Concordat of 1801 between France and the Holy See", ''Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique'', 102: 1, 2007, p.  124-154]</ref> He could now win favour with French Catholics while also controlling Rome in a political sense. Napoleon once told his brother [[Lucien Bonaparte|Lucien]] in April 1801, "Skillful conquerors have not got entangled with priests.  They can both contain them and use them."<ref>{{Cite book|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-46027-1|last=Aston|first=Nigel|title=Christianity and Revolutionary Europe ''c.'' 1750-1830|year=2002}}</ref> As a part of the Concordat, he presented another set of laws called the [[Organic Articles]].