Concordat
of agreement reached on July
15, 1801, between Napoleon Bonaparte and papal and clerical representatives in
both Rome and Paris, defining the status of the Roman Catholic Church in France
and ending the breach caused by the church reforms and confiscations enacted
during the French Revolution. The Concordat was formally promulgated on Easter
day, 1802.
In the agreement the First
Consul (Napoleon) was given the right to nominate bishops; the bishoprics and
parishes were redistributed; and the erection of seminaries was allowed. The
Pope (Pius VII) condoned the actions of those who had acquired church property,
and by way of compensation the government engaged to give the bishops and curés
suitable salaries. The government added to it unilateral provisions of Gallican
tendencies, which were known as the Organic Articles. After having been the law
of the church of France for a century, it was denounced by the French
government in 1905, when by the “Separation Law” church and state were
sundered.
