The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-22
CENTENARY or DISMISSAL or POPE PLUS VII. BY NAPOLEON.


 One hundred years ago to-day Pope Fans VII. was dismissed from F'on- tnanehaeau by Napoleon, and ordered to return to Rome. 1t marked the end Of thoss relations between pontiR and emperor which had began almost on ths anv ox the formers accession to the Pnpa1 throne. Gregor1o Luigi Burnaoa Chiaraanona was crowned as Paus VII fn 9seO. He had no sooner snsunned his duties as head of the church than Napoleon intimated. through Cardinal lGaxfiniana, desire for the rs-estabIishnaent Of the catho- lie church fn Franee. Rehs sfon had been scourged from that country by the revolutdonfsta, and the good Pope haste-aed to take advantages of this pronrGe0 opportunity to restore t. Plus appc1nted ArrhbiEhop snina and CaseIli to arrange concordat. which went into efnecf In 1891.
 m 1se4 Napoaaon asafn opened ne- notiatfcns wath Fius VII, this time to seczsre at the pops.s hands his formal consecxation as emperor. After some hssitazion. Plus was induced to per- form the ceremony at Notre Dame. and to extend his visit to Paris, as the guest of the new Emperor for four months. The scene at Notre1 Dame on the day of Napoieon's coro- nation was an imposing one.
 Pope Plus returned to Rome after recei*ane from Napoleon every ex- preasion of good wills but khe year had not closed when the French troops suddenly occupied Ancone upon the alleged necessity Of protecting the Holy See. Plus reazfzed t1lsst armed resistance was futile, but in a disni- lied proclamation he asserted the in dependence and neutrality of his realm. You" said Napoleon, in re- ply. ..are sovereign of Rome, but am it's Emperor. After occupying the Adriatic ports. and placing the papal troops under French officers, Rome it. 1 self was occupied. and diplenaatic re- lations between the Vatican and Na- poleon were broken off. In 1909 the conqrercrs or Europe declarea the papa1 states reunited to Frahce by re- sumption of the grant of Charlemagne and the Pope replied with a bulletin exconanaunicaking the invaders
 It was then that Napoieon deter mined 10 take possession oe the Pope's person. The palace was broken open during the night, and, on the persist ant refusal of the Pope to renounce his temporal authority. he was carried off, first to orenob1e, then to Savona, and in 1872 to Eontainebleau There he met the Emperor. and. was induced tb sign new concordat. Oh confer ence wtth the cardinals, however. Plus withdrew his cencessions. and propos- ed a concordat on a new basis. This was refused. but after Napo1son had been driven from Germany he tried to purchase a new concordat by of- rerfng to restore the papa1 possessions south of the Apennines. Plus refused to treat with him from any place other than Rome, and on Jan. z2, 1914. the Pope bade farewell to Fon- tainebIeau and reached Rome the fol- lowing May. Tn the meantime the allies had overthrown Napoleon. With his states restored to him by the com gress of Vienna, and freed from the Napoleonic terror, Plus VII. devoted the remainder of his life to ecclesias- tic ana social reforms, in accordance with the modern spirit. He died in 1928, two years after the death of Napoleon at St. Helena.