ABSTRACT
The papacy in general and Pius VII in particular, achieved approval for resisting Napoleon, this appreciation did not immediately translate into compensation for Rome on the part of the victorious powers. Rome confronted a double dilemma as it sought to safeguard its religious rights and political position. The pope faced innumerable problems, including diocesan reconstruction, the reorganization of the religious orders, and the restoration of the Jesuits world-wide. The readiness of the French to welcome Napoleon back exposed the weakness of the Bourbon monarchy while strengthening the clerical current, which claimed only Rome could legitimize the restoration order. The revolution, which threw France into turmoil, deprived Rome of its chief source of missionaries, while Napoleon's quarrels with the pope in the decade following the conclusion of the concordat worked to undermine missionary activity. In France and elsewhere, the lower clergy, resenting the pretensions of their bishops, likewise had recourse to the pope to defend their position.
