[1] After the French Revolutionary Army invaded Italy in 1798, Consalvi was jailed in the Castel Sant'Angelo in connection with the death of General Duphot and condemned to deportation.
He introduced free trade, withdrew from circulation all depreciated money, and admitted a large number of laymen to Government offices.
In his new position of Secretary of State, he immediately left Rome for Paris in June 1801 to negotiate an understanding with the French, that resulted in the Catholic Church's Concordat of 1801 with Napoleon.
[4] While not effecting a return to the old Christian order, the treaty did provide certain civil guarantees to the church, acknowledging "the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion" as that of the "majority of French citizens".
He did much to embellish Rome and to make it an art-centre by designing public promenades along the Tiber, restoring the ancient monuments, and filling the museums with statues unearthed by excavations made under his direction.
[additional citation(s) needed] But he acted as virtual sovereign in Rome during the absence of Pius VII in Paris for the coronation of Napoleon as emperor.
In consequence of his role in shifting Pius' position, the French authorities first barred Consalvi from seeing the Pope, then the following January again sent him into exile, this time in Béziers.
[6] 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)[7] [8] and describe the ups and down of their exile and the triumphant return to Rome in 1814.
Consalvi wrote, "The Holy Father, because of his position as Visible head of the Church, and as an essentially peaceful sovereign, will continue to maintain ...a perfect neutrality toward all nations".
[4] He secured the Protestant artist Thorvaldsen's right to create the burial monument for Pope Pius VII in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.