WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 Welcome in everyone. I'm so glad you were joining 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:05.360 us today. Yeah, it is great to be here. Because 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:07.620 you know, you are the kind of listener who really 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:10.720 goes beyond those surface level dates and broad 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:12.900 summaries. Right. You look for those granular 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:15.880 high stakes moments. Exactly. The moments that 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.839 redefine eras. And today we have a really remarkable 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:22.899 piece of history to explore. We are pulling out 00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:25.600 the microscope on some excerpts from Wikipedia 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.760 detailing a papal brief. Yeah, it is known as 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.640 Quam Memoranda. Which for those of us who do 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:34.280 not spend our weekends reading 19th century Latin 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:38.899 documents, that translates to on that memorable 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:41.000 day. A very fitting title for what we are about 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:43.179 to cover. So our mission for this deep dive is 00:00:43.179 --> 00:00:46.679 to unpack an incredibly rapid and intense political 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:49.399 collision. Ideological too. between Emperor Napoleon 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:52.219 Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII. Right. We will be 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.679 tracing a timeline that includes territorial 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:57.140 annexation, the deployment of ultimate spiritual 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:00.539 weapons, and a midnight military raid on a palace. 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:03.140 It is a wild sequence of events. But before we 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:05.299 jump into that timeline, I want to establish 00:01:05.299 --> 00:01:07.599 a really clear boundary for our discussion today. 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:10.780 Yeah, that is important to do up front. The historical 00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:14.040 text we are analyzing covers a period of intense 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.700 religious and political conflict between the 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:20.040 French Empire and the Holy See. We are absolutely 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:22.579 not taking any sides here. Not at all. Our goal 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:24.620 is simply to impartially examine the events, 00:01:24.819 --> 00:01:27.000 the specific language used in the documents, 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.019 and the strategic maneuvers of both parties as 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:32.480 captured in our source material. Just looking 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.519 at the facts and perspectives from the text. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:39.349 Exactly. So to set the stage. Consider the geopolitical 00:01:39.349 --> 00:01:41.409 reality of Europe in the early 19th century. 00:01:41.810 --> 00:01:44.530 The French military machine is redrawing the 00:01:44.530 --> 00:01:46.930 map of the continent. Right. They're everywhere. 00:01:47.230 --> 00:01:49.909 No, imagine you are sitting in the Vatican. You 00:01:49.909 --> 00:01:52.349 are the sovereign pontiff. And you are watching 00:01:52.349 --> 00:01:54.549 the most formidable military commander of the 00:01:54.549 --> 00:01:58.170 age systematically consolidate power. And then 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:00.769 that same commander publicly declares that your 00:02:00.769 --> 00:02:03.090 authority is a threat. A fundamental threat to 00:02:03.090 --> 00:02:06.000 the stability of his empire. You do. The pressure 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.240 is immense, the threat is immediate, and your 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:10.919 options are incredibly limited. Okay, let's unpack 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:13.240 this. So the timeline of this escalation moves 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:15.939 with an almost mechanical speed. Very bureaucratic, 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.680 right? Exactly. According to the source, the 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.439 physical pressure begins in earnest in February 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:24.159 of 1808. When the French troops... cross into 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:27.020 the Papal States. Yes, they officially occupy 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:28.819 Rome. And then that is followed by the region 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:31.240 of Marche. So the French military is essentially 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:33.580 swallowing the geography surrounding the Vatican, 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:36.280 leaving the pope as an occupied leader in his 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.020 own capital, which is just a crazy situation 00:02:39.020 --> 00:02:41.580 to be in. And Napoleon formalizes this reality 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:45.280 very shortly after. By April of 1808, he issues 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.840 a decree announcing the annexation of the church 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.939 states directly into the French Empire. But he 00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:53.159 leaves a little caveat at first, right? Right. 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:55.879 At this initial stage, Napoleon includes a caveat, 00:02:56.180 --> 00:02:58.340 allowing the pope to retain his power strictly 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:00.840 within the city limits of Rome. So it's a calculated 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.280 move to absorb the surrounding territory. But 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:06.060 trying to avoid a total decapitation of the local 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:08.159 government. Yeah, but that uneasy status quo 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.669 only lasts about a year. Before the tension just 00:03:10.669 --> 00:03:15.090 entirely fractures, we arrive at May 1809, which 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:18.330 is when Napoleon publishes two new decrees. And 00:03:18.330 --> 00:03:21.689 the language he uses in these documents is incredibly 00:03:21.689 --> 00:03:25.139 revealing. It really is. He proclaims that the 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:27.840 temporal pretensions of the pope were irreconcilable 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:29.939 with the safety, tranquility, and prosperity 00:03:29.939 --> 00:03:32.500 of the empire. The temperate pretensions. What's 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.139 fascinating here is Napoleon's surgical use of 00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:38.280 that phrase, temporal pretensions. This cuts 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:41.379 to the very core of the 19th century papacy. 00:03:41.770 --> 00:03:43.849 Because we often think of the pope purely as 00:03:43.849 --> 00:03:46.389 a spiritual leader. Right, but at this time the 00:03:46.389 --> 00:03:49.210 pope was also a temporal monarch. He had secular 00:03:49.210 --> 00:03:51.990 authority over the papal states. Meaning he collected 00:03:51.990 --> 00:03:55.009 taxes, maintained borders, commanded a civic 00:03:55.009 --> 00:03:58.409 administration. Exactly, and Napoleon is systematically 00:03:58.409 --> 00:04:01.509 decoupling those two roles. He is arguing that 00:04:01.509 --> 00:04:03.490 the physical governance of land by the church 00:04:03.490 --> 00:04:05.990 is a geopolitical threat to France. So therefore 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:08.960 he is simply absorbing the land. to ensure his 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:11.240 empire's safety. And the French authorities do 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.840 not just publish this decree in Paris. No, they 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:15.939 bring it straight to the Pope's doorstep. On 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:19.800 June 10th, 1809, they officially proclaim this 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:22.459 annexation right in the streets of Rome. They 00:04:22.459 --> 00:04:24.660 are effectively announcing the end of the secular 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:27.160 power of the Holy See. Which, of course, forces 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:30.339 a major crisis of leadership for Pius VII. The 00:04:30.339 --> 00:04:32.660 text notes that the Pope initially hesitates 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:34.949 here. Which makes sense. you are facing down 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:37.149 the full weight of the French military occupation. 00:04:37.290 --> 00:04:39.470 Any retaliation carries the risk of physical 00:04:39.470 --> 00:04:42.269 violence or the complete destruction of the church's 00:04:42.269 --> 00:04:44.670 infrastructure in Italy. But the source mentions 00:04:44.670 --> 00:04:47.529 his advisor Cardinal Pacca steps in during this 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.009 moment of hesitation. Yeah, Pacca insists that 00:04:50.009 --> 00:04:52.149 the church cannot let this decree pass without 00:04:52.149 --> 00:04:55.410 a formal, forceful response. And that insistence 00:04:55.410 --> 00:04:58.389 really acts as the catalyst for one of the swiftest 00:04:58.389 --> 00:05:01.610 bureaucratic retaliations in history. It is amazing. 00:05:02.029 --> 00:05:06.430 Later that very same day, June 10th, 1809, Pius 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:10.430 VII finalizes and releases the papal bull Quam 00:05:10.430 --> 00:05:13.269 Memoranda. The turnaround time is just staggering 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:16.069 to me. The French proclaim the end of his secular 00:05:16.069 --> 00:05:18.269 rule in the morning. And by the afternoon, the 00:05:18.269 --> 00:05:21.029 pope has drafted a sweeping decree of excommunication. 00:05:21.269 --> 00:05:23.589 And the rhetoric in the excerpt is completely 00:05:23.589 --> 00:05:25.790 uncompromising. The opening sentiment really 00:05:25.790 --> 00:05:27.949 sets the tone for the entire document. Quote, 00:05:27.949 --> 00:05:31.240 the time for clemency is over. Yeah. Pius VII 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:33.819 lays out a very specific historical and moral 00:05:33.819 --> 00:05:36.819 justification for his actions. He points to previous 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:39.399 sovereign pontiffs, right? He does, noting that 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:41.480 popes renowned for their holiness and learning 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:44.279 had in the past deployed extreme measures against 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:46.560 rebellious kings for committing just one or two 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:50.259 crimes. So he is building a legal and historical 00:05:50.259 --> 00:05:53.579 precedent, arguing that if his predecessors brought 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:56.759 the hammer down over isolated incidents, he has 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:59.930 a much larger mandate to act now. He explicitly 00:05:59.930 --> 00:06:02.730 states this. He writes that he cannot show fear 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:05.389 or remain passive after witnessing, quote, so 00:06:05.389 --> 00:06:08.449 many evil deeds and sacrileges, so heinous and 00:06:08.449 --> 00:06:11.129 so universally known. He actually frames his 00:06:11.129 --> 00:06:14.209 rapid response as a defense against against potential 00:06:14.209 --> 00:06:16.269 criticism. Right. Yeah. Stating he fears being 00:06:16.269 --> 00:06:19.449 accused of weakness and procrastination far more 00:06:19.449 --> 00:06:22.120 than being accused of rashness. Because to his 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.399 mind, the French occupation is an outrage that 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:27.120 actively prevents him from exercising his apostolic 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.500 ministry. And when we look at the actual punishment 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:32.199 handed down in this document, it is massive in 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:34.439 its scope. But interestingly, the source points 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.540 out that Napoleon Bonaparte's name is conspicuously 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:39.980 absent from the text. Right, the pope doesn't 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.649 formally name the emperor. Rather than targeting 00:06:42.649 --> 00:06:45.790 a single individual, the excommunication functions 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:48.689 as a dragnet. It applies to anyone who invaded 00:06:48.689 --> 00:06:51.810 Rome or the ecclesiastical territory. It specifically 00:06:51.810 --> 00:06:54.970 calls out the sacrilegious violation of St. Peter's 00:06:54.970 --> 00:06:57.430 patrimony by French troops. Yes. For those of 00:06:57.430 --> 00:06:59.529 us who aren't steeped in Catholic history. Yes. 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:02.050 What exactly does St. Peter's patrimony refer 00:07:02.050 --> 00:07:05.189 to in this context? It refers to the lands and 00:07:05.189 --> 00:07:07.149 properties that were historically considered 00:07:07.149 --> 00:07:09.829 to belong to the church and trusted to the pope 00:07:09.829 --> 00:07:13.100 as the successor. Saint Peter. Ah, okay. So by 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:15.759 using that specific term, pious is elevating 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.779 the French annexation from a mere political land 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:21.279 grab to an act of spiritual theft. Precisely. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.060 He is saying you aren't just taking my land, 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:24.860 you are stealing from the Apostle Peter. And 00:07:24.860 --> 00:07:27.939 the penalty for that theft is severe. The bull 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:30.680 issues canonical excommunication to all authors, 00:07:30.899 --> 00:07:32.800 promoters, counselors, or adherents of these 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:35.379 acts. And it strips them of any privileges or 00:07:35.379 --> 00:07:37.800 indults. How does an indult factor into this 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:41.009 penalty? An indult is essentially a special permission 00:07:41.009 --> 00:07:43.750 or privilege granted by the pope that allows 00:07:43.750 --> 00:07:46.470 an individual or group to do something contrary 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:49.170 to standard canon law. Oh, I see. So by stripping 00:07:49.170 --> 00:07:52.290 these away, along with issuing canonical excommunication, 00:07:52.810 --> 00:07:55.110 the pope is entirely cutting these individuals 00:07:55.110 --> 00:07:58.329 off from the spiritual life sacraments and legal 00:07:58.329 --> 00:08:00.629 protections of the church. It is the absolute 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:03.850 maximum penalty he can levy. The logistics of 00:08:03.850 --> 00:08:06.250 how this penalty was delivered are genuinely 00:08:06.250 --> 00:08:09.120 remarkable, too. The bull was finalized on June 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:12.379 10th. And by the very next morning, June 11, 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.319 paper copies of this massive excommunication 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.879 decree were physically plastered across the walls 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:20.560 of Rome's three major churches. St. Mary, major 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.660 St. John Lateran and St. Peter's Basilica. The 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:25.740 operational efficiency required to pull that 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:28.579 off in a city heavily occupied by hostile foreign 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:31.040 troops is astounding. They had to put these documents 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.190 in secret. and have operatives moving through 00:08:33.190 --> 00:08:35.070 the streets in the dead of night to pace them 00:08:35.070 --> 00:08:36.990 onto the most prominent public buildings in the 00:08:36.990 --> 00:08:39.929 city. Imagine the psychological impact on a French 00:08:39.929 --> 00:08:43.950 soldier occupying Rome. You wake up, you walk 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:46.929 out to patrol the streets and see a document 00:08:46.929 --> 00:08:50.669 hanging on St. Peter's Basilica explicitly stating 00:08:50.669 --> 00:08:53.350 that by participating in this occupation you 00:08:53.350 --> 00:08:56.139 were cut off from the grace of God. It is an 00:08:56.139 --> 00:08:58.960 incredibly potent use of asymmetrical warfare. 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:01.860 The French have the cannons, but the Pope has 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:03.879 the spiritual authority. Here's where it gets 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:05.779 really interesting. Oh, definitely. The French 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:07.940 military authorities are suddenly faced with 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:10.639 an occupied city that has just been handed a 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:13.340 spiritual mandate to resist. They realized pretty 00:09:13.340 --> 00:09:15.639 quickly that allowing the Pope to remain in Rome 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:18.299 serving as a beacon of defiance and excommunicating 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:21.600 their forces is a completely untenable situation. 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:24.720 And the internal communications among the French 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:27.000 command really illustrate the friction of this 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:29.600 moment. Yes. General Sextius Alexandre Francois 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:31.860 de Mioly, who commands the French garrison in 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:34.440 Rome, is initially hesitant to take direct physical 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:37.080 action against the Pope. Which makes sense. Arresting 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.120 the leader of the Catholic Church is a logistical 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.720 and public relations nightmare. But he is pushed 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.139 by his subordinate brigadier general Etienne 00:09:44.139 --> 00:09:47.220 Redet. Redet argues the reality of their situation 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:49.679 right. He argues that Rome cannot be governed 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.100 and the occupation cannot be maintained without 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:54.919 a definitive show of force. And Redet's argument 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:58.620 ultimately wins out. General Demiolis authorizes 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:01.700 the operation to remove the pope. This raises 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.580 an important question. When an empire built on 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.740 military might encounters an opponent whose only 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:11.159 weapon is ideological, How does it respond? That 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:13.580 is a great point. Redette's argument highlights 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:16.299 the limitation of military logic. The French 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:18.240 troops couldn't shoot a papal bull. They couldn't 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:20.700 put an excommunication in a prison cell. So the 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:23.379 only countermeasure they had available was to 00:10:23.379 --> 00:10:25.500 physically neutralize the author of the ideas. 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:28.419 They had to translate a spiritual conflict into 00:10:28.419 --> 00:10:30.840 a physical one. And that translation happens 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:34.159 violently in the early hours of July 6, 1809. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:36.820 It has been less than a month since the excommunication 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:39.700 was posted. Brigadier General Rudette and a contingent 00:10:39.700 --> 00:10:42.620 of troops breach the Quirinal Palace under the 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:45.460 cover of darkness. They confront Pope Pius VII, 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:48.299 place him under arrest, force him into a carriage 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:50.620 and smuggle him out of Rome before the city can 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:53.379 even react. Just a literal kidnapping of a pope. 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:56.700 Yes, and the removal of the pope triggers a prolonged 00:10:56.700 --> 00:11:00.600 and highly unusual exile. The source traces his 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:03.440 road northward from Rome to Genoa, then across 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:06.379 the Alps to Grenoble in France, before the authorities 00:11:06.379 --> 00:11:09.320 finally settle him in a large house in the coastal 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:12.679 town of Savona. And the details of his confinement 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:15.679 in Savona highlight a bizarre contradiction in 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:18.679 French policy. He is undeniably a political prisoner. 00:11:18.820 --> 00:11:21.039 He was kidnapped in the night and transported 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.879 across borders against his will. Yet the text 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:26.759 points out that during his time in Savona, the 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.200 French authorities allowed him to continue conducting 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:31.480 religious ceremonies. They even permitted the 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:33.639 local population to visit him. Why would they 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:36.840 do that? That contradiction exposes the tightrope 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:40.080 Napoleon was trying to walk. He needed to physically 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:43.320 remove Pius from Rome to dismantle the Pope's 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:45.759 temporal authority and secure the Italian territories. 00:11:45.899 --> 00:11:47.820 But he couldn't just completely silence him. 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:50.379 Right. Napoleon was acutely aware that completely 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:52.740 silencing the Pope's spiritual function could 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:55.860 ignite massive uprisings among the millions of 00:11:55.860 --> 00:11:58.240 Catholics living within the French Empire. Napoleon 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:01.080 wanted a neutralized monarch, but he was terrified 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:03.460 of creating a religious martyr. So he creates 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:06.679 this strange scenario where the pope is a captive, 00:12:06.779 --> 00:12:08.899 but still permitted to function as a priest to 00:12:08.899 --> 00:12:11.940 the local townspeople. It is a high stakes standoff 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:14.519 that leaves both men in incredibly precarious 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:17.440 positions. You have an emperor trying to manage 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.440 an imprisoned spiritual leader and a pope trying 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:22.879 to maintain his authority while completely stripped 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.360 of his physical independence. If we connect this 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:27.980 to the bigger picture, the true historical weight 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:30.179 of this event isn't just in the kidnapping or 00:12:30.179 --> 00:12:33.559 the decrees. No, it is found in how this relationship 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:37.139 ultimately resolves years later. After the geopolitical 00:12:37.139 --> 00:12:39.759 landscape of Europe has been entirely upended. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:41.659 So we have to jump forward in the timeline to 00:12:41.659 --> 00:12:44.210 see that resolution. The French Empire eventually 00:12:44.210 --> 00:12:46.230 collapses under the weight of its own expansion 00:12:46.230 --> 00:12:48.710 and external coalitions. Napoleon is defeated, 00:12:48.970 --> 00:12:50.929 stripped of his power, and sent into his own 00:12:50.929 --> 00:12:53.529 forced exile on the remote island of Saint Helena 00:12:53.529 --> 00:12:56.269 in the South Atlantic. The man who previously 00:12:56.269 --> 00:12:58.429 dictated the borders of Europe and ordered the 00:12:58.429 --> 00:13:01.149 absorption of the Papal States is now isolated 00:13:01.149 --> 00:13:04.190 on a rock in the ocean. And it is in this isolation 00:13:04.190 --> 00:13:07.529 that we see a profound shift in his perspective 00:13:07.529 --> 00:13:10.870 regarding Pius VII. The source provides documentation 00:13:10.870 --> 00:13:13.470 of Napoleon's conversations with General Montalon 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:15.970 during his time on St. Helena. When discussing 00:13:15.970 --> 00:13:18.710 the pope, Napoleon's language is completely transformed. 00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:21.330 There is no mention of temporal pretensions or 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:23.830 threats to the empire. Instead, Napoleon refers 00:13:23.830 --> 00:13:27.190 to the pope as an old man full of tolerance and 00:13:27.190 --> 00:13:29.809 light. It is a stark departure from the bureaucratic 00:13:29.809 --> 00:13:33.330 hostility of 1809. And he goes further than just 00:13:33.330 --> 00:13:36.230 offering a compliment. Napoleon actually expresses 00:13:36.230 --> 00:13:39.029 remorse for the events that transpired. He tells 00:13:39.029 --> 00:13:41.649 Montelon, quote, fatal circumstances embroiled 00:13:41.649 --> 00:13:44.330 our cabinets. I regret it exceedingly. The former 00:13:44.330 --> 00:13:47.450 emperor is openly lamenting the political machinations 00:13:47.450 --> 00:13:49.809 that led to the clash and the kidnapping. And 00:13:49.809 --> 00:13:52.289 this introspection leads to a highly significant 00:13:52.289 --> 00:13:55.309 request. Napoleon, facing his own mortality and 00:13:55.309 --> 00:13:57.909 reflecting on his life, asks for a Catholic chaplain 00:13:57.909 --> 00:14:00.350 to be sent to Saint Helena. According to the 00:14:00.350 --> 00:14:02.269 text, his justification for this request was 00:14:02.269 --> 00:14:04.570 simple. He said it would rest my soul to hear 00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:07.179 Mass. To understand the weight of that request, 00:14:07.580 --> 00:14:09.779 we have to look at who is receiving it. Right. 00:14:09.899 --> 00:14:12.639 The petition to send a chaplain eventually makes 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:15.700 its way to Pope Pius VII. The very man who was 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:17.779 dragged out of his palace in the middle of the 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:20.659 night by Napoleon's soldiers is now being asked 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:23.379 to provide spiritual comfort to his former captor. 00:14:23.789 --> 00:14:27.070 From an impartial historical perspective, the 00:14:27.070 --> 00:14:30.149 Pope's response is a master class in separating 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:33.049 personal grievance from institutional duty. Pius 00:14:33.049 --> 00:14:35.990 does not ignore the request or use it as an opportunity 00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:38.809 for retaliation. Instead, he actively petitions 00:14:38.809 --> 00:14:40.809 the British government, who are the ones holding 00:14:40.809 --> 00:14:43.629 Napoleon captive, to grant the request and allow 00:14:43.629 --> 00:14:46.370 a priest to travel to St. Helena. He leverages 00:14:46.370 --> 00:14:49.049 his diplomatic channels to advocate for the man 00:14:49.049 --> 00:14:51.600 who dismantled his country. He does. And the 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.840 petition is successful. Pope Pius sends the Abbe 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:57.600 Vignale to the South Atlantic to serve as Napoleon's 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:59.940 personal chaplain. That is incredible. This act 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:02.720 operates on two levels. Diplomatically, it demonstrates 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:05.419 the magnanimity and enduring stability of the 00:15:05.419 --> 00:15:07.940 Church in contrast to the fallen French Empire. 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:10.639 And spiritually. Spiritually, it aligns with 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.759 the Pope's mandate to provide the sacraments 00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:15.299 to any Catholic who seeks them, regardless of 00:15:15.299 --> 00:15:17.759 their past actions. Because of that decision, 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:21.120 The narrative concludes in a remarkably quiet, 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.580 reconciled manner. Napoleon Bonaparte passes 00:15:24.580 --> 00:15:29.000 away on May 5, 1821, at Longwood House. In his 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.320 final days, he received the Eucharist and the 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:33.340 last rites from the chaplain the pope had sent. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.080 The excommunication that had been pasted under 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.720 the walls of St. Peter's 12 years prior was effectively 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.840 lifted and he died reconciled with the church. 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:43.779 So what does this all mean? When we synthesize 00:15:43.779 --> 00:15:46.740 these sources, we see a textbook case study on 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:48.679 the collision of different types of authority. 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:51.399 You have the ultimate secular military machine 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:54.759 attempting to forcibly absorb an ancient ideology 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:57.600 -based institution. We see how quickly bureaucratic 00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.740 disagreements escalate into midnight raids and 00:15:59.740 --> 00:16:02.899 excommunications. But more importantly, the aftermath 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:05.659 shows how transient physical power can be. The 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:08.500 empire that seemed invincible completely dissolved. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:10.899 While the ideological institution it tried to 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:13.340 suppress ended up providing the final comforts 00:16:13.340 --> 00:16:15.779 to the fallen emperor. That is exactly why we 00:16:15.779 --> 00:16:18.399 do these deep dives. It is easy for you, the 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.360 listener, to see a passing reference to the Napoleonic 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.100 Wars and assume it is just a list of troop movements 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:26.299 and treaties. But when we actually unpack the 00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:29.059 original texts and the quotes, we uncover these 00:16:29.059 --> 00:16:32.100 intense human dramas. We find moments of bureaucratic 00:16:32.100 --> 00:16:35.120 calculation, midnight desperation and surprising 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:38.159 reconciliations that reshape how we understand 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.659 these historical figures. It really changes the 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:44.220 whole perspective. It does. As we wrap up today's 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.899 exploration of Guam Memoranda, I want to leave 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.360 you with a final thought to mull over one that 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.799 looks at the unintended consequences of Napoleon's 00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:54.960 actions. Napoleon invaded Rome and kidnapped 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.620 the Pope because he believed that the Pope's 00:16:57.620 --> 00:17:00.340 temporal power, his control over physical land 00:17:00.340 --> 00:17:03.559 and government, was a threat. Napoleon thought 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:05.359 that by stripping the papacy of its country, 00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:07.160 he was weakening it. Right, that was the whole 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.339 goal. But consider the long -term historical 00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:12.559 irony. By destroying the Pope's geographic kingdom, 00:17:13.019 --> 00:17:16.299 Napoleon arguably modernized the Vatican. By 00:17:16.299 --> 00:17:18.859 forcibly removing the burden of running a conventional 00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:21.579 nation state, fighting border wars, and collecting 00:17:21.579 --> 00:17:24.980 civic taxes, Napoleon inadvertently helped transform 00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:28.599 the Papacy into a purely global, moral, and spiritual 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:30.869 authority. That is a fascinating way to look 00:17:30.869 --> 00:17:33.130 at it. It makes you wonder if in his attempt 00:17:33.130 --> 00:17:36.630 to neutralize the Pope's power in 1809, Napoleon 00:17:36.630 --> 00:17:38.609 actually paved the way for the church to become 00:17:38.609 --> 00:17:40.970 far more influential in the centuries that followed 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:43.289 than it ever could have been while clinging to 00:17:43.289 --> 00:17:45.430 a small patch of land in Italy. Something to 00:17:45.430 --> 00:17:47.349 think about for sure. Thank you so much for taking 00:17:47.349 --> 00:17:49.329 the time to join us on this custom -tailored 00:17:49.329 --> 00:17:52.150 deep dive. We always appreciate exploring these 00:17:52.150 --> 00:17:54.309 dense, fascinating historical narratives with 00:17:54.309 --> 00:17:56.490 you, and we look forward to uncovering the next 00:17:56.490 --> 00:17:57.329 great story together.