Concordat of 1801

The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between the First French Republic and the Holy See, signed by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII on 15 July 1801 in Paris.

Very few parishes continued to employ the priests who had accepted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of the revolutionary regime.

While the Concordat restored much power to the papacy, the balance of church-state relations tilted firmly in Bonaparte's favour.

The Civil Constitution caused hostility among the Vendeans towards the change in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the French government.

[8] While the Concordat restored some ties to the papacy, it was largely in favour of the state; it wielded greater power vis-à-vis the Pope than previous French regimes had, and church lands lost during the Revolution were not returned.

[8] The document claimed Catholicism was "the religion of the majority of Frenchmen", and still gave state recognition to Protestants and Jews as well.