6 July 1809
Pope arrested

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Pope Pius VII is arrested as a result of defying Napoleon. Despite signing the Concordat with Napoleon in 1801 and conducting his coronation in 1804, the pope's relations with the French emperor have never been good. Pius refused to sign up the papal ports to Napoleon's Continental System against the British, leading to Napoleon's occupation of Rome and, in May 1809, the annexation of the Papal States. Pius issued a bull of excommunication against the 'despoilers of the Church'. This infuriated Napoleon, although Pius had not dared to name him personally, and led to the pope's arrest.

Napoleon understands the importance of the Church in society, although he is not especially religious himself. He even has his own feast day, for 'Saint Napoleon', on 15 August, his birthday. Most French clergy have also adopted the Imperial Catechism, one chapter of which explains why loyalty to Napoleon is a religious duty.

From the Imperial Catechism:
Question: What are the duties of Christians towards those who govern them, and what in particular are our duties towards Napoleon I, our emperor?
Answer: Christians owe to the princes who govern them, and we in particular owe to Napoleon I, our emperor, love, respect, obedience, fidelity, military service and the taxes levied for the preservation and defence of the empire and of his throne. We also owe him fervent prayers for his safety and for the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the state.
Question: Why are we subject to all these duties towards our emperor?
Answer: First, because God, who has created empires and distributes them according to his will, has, by loading our emperor with gifts both in peace and in war, established him as our sovereign and made him the agent of his power and his image upon earth. To honour and serve our emperor is therefore to honour and serve God himself. Secondly, because our Lord Jesus Christ himself, both by his teaching and his example, has taught us what we owe to our sovereign. Even at his very birth he obeyed the edict of Caesar Augustus; he paid the established tax; and while he commanded us to render to God those things which belong to God, he also commanded us to render unto Caesar those things which are Caesar's.
Question: Are there not special motives which should attach us more closely to Napoleon I, our emperor?
Answer: Yes, for it is he whom God has raised up in trying times to re-establish the public worship of the holy religion of our fathers and to be its protector; he has re- established and preserved public order by his profound and active wisdom; he defends the state by his mighty arm; he has become the anointed of the Lord by the consecration which he has received from the sovereign pontiff, head of the Church universal.
Question: What must we think of those who are wanting in their duties towards our emperor?
Answer: According to the apostle Paul, they are resisting the order established by God himself and render themselves worthy of eternal damnation.

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