Editing Pope Pius VII (section)

===Episcopate and cardinalate===
A series of promotions resulted after his relative, Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was elected [[Pope Pius VI]] (1775–99).<ref name=Montor/> A few years before this election occurred, in 1773, Chiaramonti became the personal confessor to Braschi. In 1776, Pius VI appointed the 34-year-old [[Dom (title)|Dom]] Gregory, who had been teaching at the [[Monastery]] of [[Sant'Anselmo]] in Rome, as honorary [[abbot]] ''[[in commendam]]'' of his monastery. Although this was an ancient practice, it drew complaints from the monks of the community, as monastic communities generally felt it was not in keeping with the [[Rule of St. Benedict]]. He served as librarian at the [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]].

In December 1782, the pope appointed Dom Gregory as the [[Bishop of Tivoli]], near [[Rome]]. Pius VI soon named him, in February 1785, the Cardinal-Priest of [[San Callisto]],<ref>[http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/cardinal/127.htm Cardinal Title S. Callisto] GCatholic.org</ref> and as the [[Bishop of Imola]], an office he held until 1816.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bchiar.html |access-date=21 March 2012 |title=Pope Pius VII (timeline) |publisher=Catholic Hierarchy}}</ref>

When the [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary Army invaded Italy]] in 1797, [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] Chiaramonti counseled temperance and submission to the newly created [[Cisalpine Republic]]. In a letter that he addressed to the people of his diocese, Chiaramonti asked them to comply "...&nbsp;in the current circumstances of change of government (...)" to the authority of the victorious general Commander-in-Chief of the French army. In his [[Christmas]] [[homily]] that year, he asserted that there was no opposition between a [[democracy|democratic]] form of government and being a good Catholic: "Christian virtue makes men good democrats.... Equality is not an idea of philosophers but of Christ...and do not believe that the Catholic religion is against democracy."<ref name=bokenkotter>Thomas Bokenkotter, ''Church and Revolution: Catholics in the Struggle for Democracy and Social Justice'' (NY: Doubleday, 1998), 32</ref>