Last September, aboard the plane bringing Pope Francis back from Singapore, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the linchpin of Vatican diplomacy, was asked about the pontiff's possible visit to France for the reopening of Notre Dame on December 8. The British prelate humorously explained to journalists on board the papal plane that such a trip would be a form of “reparation” for the humiliation inflicted by Napoleon on Pius VII at his coronation in 1804. (Napoleon snatched the crown from the pontiff’s hands and placed it on his own head, instead of allowing the pope to do it.)
But only a few minutes later, at a press conference, Pope Francis, who had apparently not discussed it with Archbishop Gallagher, announced that he would not be traveling to Paris.
On December 8, the Pontiff will celebrate Mass with the new cardinals created at the consistory the previous day. Then, as he does every year, he will go to the Spanish Steps for a moment of Marian devotion among the Roman people.
It's true that such a papal visit to Paris would have been significant from a historical point of view. It would have recalled an event whose 220th anniversary will be celebrated on December 2: the coronation of Napoleon by Pius VII at Notre Dame.
The humiliation of Pius VII
This Italian pope was elected in 1800 after the humiliating death of Pius VI, kidnapped and imprisoned by French revolutionary troops.
In 1804, Pius VII agreed to go to Paris to celebrate Napoleon's coronation. He hoped to force him to reverse his Gallican policy of the “Organic Articles” of 1802, which betrayed the Concordat signed in 1801 and cut French dioceses off from their link with Rome.
But Napoleon, for whom religion had to be subordinated to his imperial power, would have none of it. Worse still, he decided to annex the Papal States in 1809.
The Pope excommunicated him, but Napoleon had him kidnapped and exiled to Savona, before appointing his son “King of Rome.”
Papal power was now at stake: Pius VII, in exile, had the fisherman’s ring destroyed to prevent Napoleon stealing it to install a usurper. He was then transferred to Fontainebleau, where the Emperor wanted to force him to install the pontifical see in Paris, on the Île de la Cité–close to Notre Dame.
Standing up to Napoleon
In 1813, isolated and under constant pressure from Napoleon, who threatened to destroy the Church, the Pope finally agreed. But on the advice of his right-hand man, Cardinal Consalvi, he immediately retracted his decision, provoking Bonaparte's fury. From then on, Pius VII ceded nothing to the Emperor, who found himself in a bad position on the international stage and was finally forced to release the pontiff in 1814. Unlike his predecessor, Pius VI, who had died in France, Pius VII was able to return triumphantly to Rome.
This period, one of the most dramatic in the history of the papacy, is still fresh in the minds of the men of the Holy See, as recent tributes to both Pius VII and Cardinal Consalvi testify. However, it is highly unlikely that a spirit of revenge was behind the Pope's refusal to participate in the reopening of Notre Dame, despite the French president's insistence that he do so.
Merciful revenge
On the other hand, the Pope's choice of Ajaccio – Napoleon’s birthplace – as his destination offers an astonishing twist of history. The pontiff will land at Napoleon Bonaparte airport, where he will probably be received by, among others, local MP Laurent Marcangeli, the only Bonapartist elected member of the National Assembly.
Afterwards, the Pope will tour the streets of the city, half of which are named after the Emperor.
Finally, Napoleon – celebrated by Tino Rossi in L'Ajaccienne as “the prodigal son of glory” – will also be present at the papal Mass, since a huge black statue of the man in the bicorne hat dominates the Place du Casone where the celebration is scheduled to take place.
All in all, the Pontiff will be spending a whole day in the land of his former enemy, the “Corsican ogre” who made the Church tremble.
But the Church, unlike the French Empire, is still here. Unlike Pope Francis, who is to become the first pope to set foot on the Isle of Beauty, Napoleon never returned triumphantly to Ajaccio. His last visit was a brief stopover in 1799, before the start of the Egyptian campaign, and afterwards he seems to have lost interest altogether.
And when the deposed emperor was finally exiled, and every member of the Bonaparte clan became persona non grata in Europe, it was Pope Pius VII who agreed to welcome, house, and maintain members of the hated family in Rome, notably Napoleon's mother Letizia and his brother Joseph.
It’s an anecdote that shows that the Catholic Church, which is almost 2,000 years old, does not forget, but can forgive. From this point of view, Pope Francis' visit to Ajaccio can be described as merciful revenge.
