[2] Despite the turmoil of the French Revolution, Cambacérès avoided persecution by abstaining from political engagement and maintaining loyalty to his ecclesiastical duties.

He was appointed Archbishop of Rouen on 9 April 1802 and consecrated at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Caprara.

[2] On 17 January 1803, Pope Pius VII made Cambacérès a cardinal-priest with the title of San Stefano al Monte Celio.

However, he later distanced himself from Napoleon’s policies, notably refusing to attend the emperor’s second marriage due to its conflict with Church teachings on divorce.

Cambacérès’s episcopal lineage traces back to Cardinal Scipione Rebiba through Giovanni Battista Caprara and other notable prelates.