Napoleon Writes a Letter to the Pope Claiming Rome Belongs to Him: February 13, 1806

This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part II.

Pope Pius VII’s good relations with Napoleon did not last long after the imperial coronation in Paris. At first, the disagreements between pope and emperor were small. Napoleon was upset, for instance, that the pope had not been present to bless his coronation as king of Italy. Then, the emperor violated his concordat with Rome by trying to reform the Italian Church without consulting the Holy See. The pope protested, and Napoleon sent a reply in which he expressed his devotion to the Church. This seemed to settle matters. But then Napoleon asked the pope to annul the marriage of his brother, Jerome Bonaparte, to an American Protestant woman. When Pius refused to grant the annulment, Napoleon flew into a rage.

Napoleon’s war against the Third Coalition led to his first serious break with the pope. The Bourbon king of Naples, Fernando IV, was allied with Napoleon but was secretly negotiating with the British. When Napoleon learned of this, he declared, “The Bourbon dynasty has ceased to reign,” and prepared an army to conquer Naples.

Pope Pius VII

In October 1805, a French army en route to Naples passed through the Papal States and seized the pope’s city of Ancona. In a letter to Napoleon, the pope protested against the seizure of Ancona and threatened to break off diplomatic relations with France. Napoleon did not reply to the pope until after the Peace of Pressburg was signed; and when he did, he complained that Pius was unreasonable and ungrateful.

Napoleon would not give up Ancona, because he had decided to take all of the Papal States for himself. In a letter he wrote to the pope on February 13, 1806, Napoleon claimed Rome belonged to him because, he said, “I am the Roman Emperor.” He complained that the pope was not supporting him against his enemies. In reply, Pius wrote that, as the Vicar of Christ, the God of peace, the pope must keep peace with all nations and may not side with one nation against another. And Pius reminded Napoleon that he was the emperor of France, not the Roman emperor. That title, said the pope, belonged to the Habsburg emperors who ruled from Vienna, not to the House of Bonaparte that reigned in Paris.

Joseph Bonaparte in coronation robes

Another source of friction between Napoleon and the pope was the Kingdom of Naples. French troops had forced King Fernando IV to flee to Sicily, and in his place, Napoleon made Joseph Bonaparte king of Naples. The pope, however, was feudal lord of Naples; and Pius said Joseph had to take an oath of loyalty to him. Enraged by this demand, Napoleon commanded Joseph to seize the pope’s port, Civitavecchia. In June, the emperor took control of two papal territories in Naples and gave one of them to Talleyrand.

Napoleon, however, was not content with these measures. He wanted to control the pope’s government. He threatened to remove Cardinal Consalvi from Rome because, according to Napoleon, Consalvi was receiving English money. Consalvi resigned as papal secretary of state. Then, in July, Napoleon told the pope that he must join with France against her enemies or lose the Papal States. Napoleon would accept nothing less than the pope’s complete submission to his imperial will.