Editing Pope Pius VII (section)

===Exile===
[[File:Pie VII Arrestation par le Général Radet.png|thumb|left|150px|The arrest of Pius VII]]
[[File:Le pape pie VII recevant l'extrême onction.jpg|thumb|left|Pius VII receives [[extreme unction]] while Napoleon's prisoner in 1812.]]
Due to a reluctance to align the Papal States join the [[Continental System]], France occupied and [[annexed the Papal States]] in 1809 and exiled Pius VII to [[Savona]]. On 15 November 1809 Pius VII consecrated the church at La Voglina, [[Valenza]], Piedmont with the intention of the Villa La Voglina becoming his spiritual base whilst in exile. His residency was short lived once Napoleon became aware of his intentions of establishing a permanent base and he was soon exiled to France. Despite this, the pope continued to refer to Napoleon as "my dear son" but added that he was "a somewhat stubborn son, but a son still".

This exile ended only when Pius VII signed the Concordat of Fontainebleau in 1813. One result of this new treaty was the release of the exiled cardinals, including Consalvi, who, upon re-joining the papal retinue, persuaded Pius VII to revoke the concessions he had made in it. This Pius VII began to do in March 1814, which led the French authorities to re-arrest many of the opposing prelates. Their confinement, however, lasted only a matter of weeks, as Napoleon [[abdication|abdicated]] on 11 April of that year.<ref>{{Cite book|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-46027-9|last=Aston|first=Nigel|title=Christianity and Revolutionary Europe ''c.'' 1750-1830|year=2002}}</ref> As soon as Pius VII returned to Rome, he immediately revived the [[Inquisition]] and the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Index of Condemned Books]].

Cardinal [[Bartolomeo Pacca]], who was kidnapped along with Pope Pius VII, took the office of Pro-Secretary of State in 1808 and maintained his memoirs during his exile. His memoirs, written originally in Italian, have been translated into English (two volumes)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pacca |first1=Cardinal Bartolomeo |title=Historical Memoirs of Cardinal Pacca, Prime Minister to Pius VII - Vol I (English translation) |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalmemoi00headgoog |website=Archive.org |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans |access-date=11 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Pacca |first1=Cardinal Bartolomeo |title=Historical Memoirs of Cardinal Pacca, Prime Minister to Pius VII - Vol II (English translation) |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalmemoi01headgoog |website=Archive.org |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans |access-date=11 May 2021}}</ref> and describe the ups and down of their exile and the triumphant return to Rome in 1814.

Pius VII's imprisonment did in fact come with one bright side for him. It gave him an aura that recognized him as a living martyr, so that when he arrived back in Rome in May 1814, he was greeted most warmly by the Italians as a hero.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Pius_VII.aspx|title=Pius VII|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com|date=2004|access-date=27 February 2015}}</ref>