All the previous historical earthshaking events, such as the Great Schism, the Renaissance, and the Protestant Reformation, that the Roman Catholic Church and the Papacy experienced were merely earthquakes below 7 on the Richter scale, compared to the devastating tectonic shift brought about by the religious, social, political, and economic upheaval of the French Revolution. The seventh world empire (Roman Catholicism) was severely weakened by the three preceding historical events, so that when the fourth arrived, it had no power to stand against this overwhelming epochal tide.
The French Revolution wasn’t a Sunday picnic for the Catholic Church. It was more like a guillotine party, with the revolutionaries sharpening their blades against the necks of the clergy and their gilded altars. The streets ran red with the blood of priests who refused to bend a knee to the new regime. Their churches were ransacked, their treasures plundered, and their flocks scattered. But like a stubborn ember refusing to die, the Catholic faith flickered on in those shadows. Some churches remained open, their doors creaking like the hinges of a coffin. Priests who swore loyalty to the revolution, the so-called “juring” priests, offered a twisted version of the mass, their voices echoing in the hollow shells of once-sacred spaces. Many of the lower clergy did support the Revolution at the beginning. Like many of their parishioners, they lived in abject poverty and wanted change.
The bishops and higher clergy were part of the “ancien regime”, mixed with the aristocracy and royalty, and greatly feared the Revolution. As the Revolution became more atheistic and anti-Christian, cathedrals and churches were desecrated throughout France. A prostitute was enthroned as the goddess of Reason on the altar of Notre Dame, Paris. Priceless artworks were wrecked, monasteries destroyed, or confiscated. The clergy turned against the Revolution controlled by Danton, Robespierre, and the Terror. The tumbrils carried many innocent nuns and priests to the guillotine. In the Vendée region south of Brittany, the people rebelled in defence of their Catholic Faith. They were massacred by the revolutionary armies and over 500,000 slain. With the rise of Napoleon, the clergy were forced to swear allegiance to the State and deny the Pope. Many went underground at this point, the non-jurors, ministering in secret. The dreadful experience of the French Revolution made the Catholic Church extremely sceptical of all revolutionary movements, and too much a defender of the status quo through the nineteenth century. When priests and other Catholics refused an oath that placed the state in control of their religious faith, they were branded counter-revolutionaries and subject to imprisonment and execution. Many priests fled the country. QUORA: What Happened To The Catholic Church During The French Revolution By Sebastien Jullien.
The irony of these cataclysmic events was that what happened to the Roman Catholic Church during the violent and bloody excesses of the French Revolution was the very thing that was imposed against so-called heretics during the twelve hundred and sixty years of Papal supremacy.
The history of God’s people during the ages of darkness that followed upon Rome’s supremacy is written in heaven, but they have little place in human records. Few traces of their existence can be found, except in the accusations of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to destroy. Expressions of doubt, or questions as to the authority of papal dogmas, were enough to forfeit the life of rich or poor, high or low. Rome endeavored also to destroy every record of her cruelty toward dissenters. Papal councils decreed that books and writings containing such records should be committed to the flames. Before the invention of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not favorable for preservation; therefore there was little to prevent the Romanists from carrying out their purpose. No church within the limits of Romish jurisdiction was long left undisturbed in the enjoyment of freedom of conscience. No sooner had the papacy obtained power than she stretched out her arms to crush all that refused to acknowledge her sway, and one after another the churches submitted to her dominion. ELLEN G. WHITE: The Great Controversy, pp. 61.2 to 62.1
The kidnapping of two popes by Napoleon Bonaparte in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a dramatic episode in the history of the Catholic Church and Europe. It marked a clash between two powerful leaders with different visions for religion’s role and politics in the modern world. It also had lasting consequences for the relationship between the papacy and the French state and for the development of Catholicism in other countries. Pope Pius VI was the first victim of Napoleon’s ambition. He was arrested by French troops in 1796, after he refused to accept the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino, which forced him to cede large parts of the Papal States to France. He was taken to France as a prisoner, where he died in 1799, after enduring harsh conditions and humiliation. His death left the papal throne vacant for six months, until Cardinal Chiaramonti was elected Pope Pius VII in 1800.
Pope Pius VII tried to reach an agreement with Napoleon, who had become the First Consul of France and later the Emperor. In 1801, they signed the Concordat of 1801, which recognized Catholicism as the religion of the majority of the French people, but also limited the pope’s authority and influence in France. The pope agreed to renounce his claim to the lands taken by France, and to accept Napoleon’s appointment of bishops without his approval. However, this compromise did not last long, as Napoleon continued to interfere with the affairs of the Church and to demand more concessions from the pope. In 1804, he humiliated Pius VII by taking the crown from his hands and placing it on his own head during his coronation ceremony in Notre Dame Cathedral. In 1809, he annexed the remaining Papal States and declared Rome part of his empire. He also ordered the arrest of Pius VII, who had excommunicated him for his actions. The pope was taken from his palace in Rome to Savona, near Genoa, where he spent three years in isolation and under pressure to submit to Napoleon’s will.
In 1812, Pius VII was transferred to Fontainebleau, south of Paris, where he faced more coercion and threats from Napoleon. He was forced to sign a new concordat that gave Napoleon even more control over the Church in France and Italy. However, he later retracted his signature and denounced the concordat as invalid. He remained a prisoner until 1814, when Napoleon abdicated after his defeat at Waterloo. He then returned to Rome, where a jubilant crowd welcomed him. After years of turmoil, he restored his authority over the Papal States and reorganized the Church. CRUSADING FOR PEACE THROUGH TRUTH: The Mysterious Abductions Of Two Popes Who Opposed Freemasonry By David L. Gray M.Th.
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