The New Student's Reference Work/Concordat, The

Concordat, The, of 1801, was an agreement between Pope Pius VII and Napoleon as first consul of France. This is the most famous of many such concordats between the popes and secular rulers. By the concordat of 1801 the national Catholic church was restored to France, though its administration was henceforth more dependent upon the government. Church property which had been seized was not to be restored, but the government was to provide for the support of a reduced number of bishops. As in English history of old, it was agreed that the government should select the bishops, but the pope invest them with their office. This concordat was replaced by similar agreements under different French governments. But there always was a strong party against having any state-church; and in 1906 it was disestablished and the concordat repealed.