In which year did Napoleon sign the Concordat with the Pope? Napoleon signed the Concordat in 1801.
The agreement was concluded on 15 July 1801 between Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, and Pope Pius VII. It aimed to repair the bitter relationship between the French state and the Catholic Church after the Revolution, when church property had been seized and clergy had been brought under government control.
The Concordat recognized Catholicism as the religion of the great majority of French people, but not as France’s official state religion. Napoleon gained political stability and Catholic support, while the Church accepted that confiscated lands would not be returned. The state also retained significant influence over bishops and paid clerical salaries.
A common mix-up is confusing the 1801 agreement with its implementation in 1802, when Napoleon imposed the Organic Articles. The Concordat remained broadly influential until the 1905 separation of church and state, though parts still apply in Alsace-Lorraine.