The French Revolution had wrought religious and civil havoc in France and the Italian states. Thousands of French priests had been killed or deported; other priests and bishops were forming a schismatic national Church; the previous Pope had been kidnapped and had died in exile. Catholics were losing the Faith and adopting an attitude of resistance to all authority. This was the beginning of the reign of Pope Pius VII (1800-1823), one of the most difficult and confusing eras in Catholic history

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