Sardaryan G.T. Catholic Church’s political position during the French Revolution

Abstract:  The subject of the study is the position of the Catholic Church on the most important aspects of political and economic development of society during the French Revolution, as well as the reaction of the Church to the introduction of a secular constitution in France along with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, as an attempt to subordinate the Church to the secular authorities. The author analyzes the main sources containing the position of the Catholic Church on the secular trend in European countries - the papal encyclicals during the pontificate of Benedict XIV (1740-1758), Clement XIII (1758-1769), Clement XIV (1769-1774) Pius XVI (1775-1799), as well as the sources including the Church’s position on natural law doctrine and the secular source of state power - papal encyclicals during the period of Pius VI pontificate. The author comes to the conclusion that despite the fact that the Catholic Church recognized the majority of human rights and freedoms assigned to individuals as a result of the French Revolution, the strive of the French Assembly to recognize the natural state of a human as a source of these rights and freedoms and attempts to subordinate clergy to secular power, predetermined the reconciliation with the Holy See impossible, even to the extent of concordat with Napoleon.

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