Pius VII, originally Barnaba Gregorio Chiaramonti 1742-1823
Italian pope

Born in Cesena, Papal States, he became Bishop of Tivoli, and, already a cardinal, succeeded Pius VI in 1800. Rome was now restored to the papal authority and the next year French troops were withdrawn from most of the papal territory. Pius restored order in his states, and in 1801 concluded a concordat with Napoleon I, which the latter altered by autocratic Articles organiques. In 1804 Napoleon compelled Pius to come to Paris to consecrate him as emperor. He failed to get any modification of the articles, and soon after his return to Rome the French seized Ancona and entered Rome. This was followed by the annexation (May 1809) of the Papal States to the French Empire. In June the pope excommunicated the robbers of the Holy See, then he was removed to Grenoble, and finally to Fontainebleau, where he was forced to sign a new concordat and sanction the annexation. The fall of Napoleon (1814) allowed him to return to Rome, and the Congress of Vienna restored to him his territory. Brigandage was suppressed, as well as secret societies, while the Jesuits were restored.

Bibliography: Erasmo Pistolesi, Vita del sommo pontefice Pio VII (1824)