This week in Christian history: CS Lewis marries, Ratzinger becomes pope

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, April 17, 2022

Catholic Church regains power in France – April 18, 1802

The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris all lit up at night. | Getty Images/Richard Silver Photo

This week marks the anniversary of when the Concordat of 1801, which restored the presence and rights of the Roman Catholic Church in France following the Revolution, was officially promulgated.

During the French Revolution, the Catholic Church was a major target, with numerous sanctuaries being converted into secular purposes and many clergy being killed.

After taking power in France, Napoleon Bonaparte met with Church officials and hammered out the Concordat, which was officially propagated on Easter Sunday 1802.

“The Church agreed not to trouble the consciences of those citizens who, during the Revolution, had become possessed of ecclesiastical property … on the other hand the Government promised the bishops and parish priests a fitting maintenance,” explained New Advent. “The concordat … must be credited with having restored peace to the consciences of the French people on the very morrow of the Revolution. To it also was due the reorganization of Catholicism in France, under the protection of the Holy See.”