R&I – FS
Hi
1905, and The Act of God in 2019
France had been a powerful Catholic country during the 1500s, 1600s, and largely most of the 1700s. However, from the Napoleonic era things religious started to decline, especially after Madame guillotine had done her work on the royal bloodline of France, and its nobility. During the reign of Pius VI, the common people largely still believed in a God, however, the government did not! The tide was changing as secularism and atheism was on the rise during Pius VII reign. Liked their partners in the War of Independence across the pond in America, the French government chose Separation between State and Church, but took it one step further. Where America decided on capitalism, the French picked laïcité (secularism) for France.
Napoleon was an avid hater of all things Catholicism, but thought religion in some form was good for the masses to keep them in check. However, even before the declaration of the Rights of Man and the citizen (1789) Catholicism was a marked institution, especially for Pius VII. France broke of diplomatic relations with Rome and annexed the French enclaves of Avignon and Venassin, and in 1796 after taking Milan, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Papal States and took Pius VI a prisoner, where he died in 1799. In 1809, Napoleon sent a young general to kidnap Pope Pius VII (1800-23), and imprisoned him in solitary isolation for 5 years. Some say that Napoleon personally mistreated Pius VII. However, when Napoleon escaped from Elba, Pius fled the Vatican were a change in diaper was in order.
Again in 1789, after the French Revolution, Notre Dame and the rest of the church’s property in France became public property after seizure. Notre Dame Cathedral became rededicated in 1793 to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63812308
In early September 1870 France began the Third Republic, and established a state of secularism in France. Then in 1905 French Law on the separation of Church and State began in earnest, with the State taking over Church accusations, such as Cathedrals and Churches coming under the ownership of the Government. This meant that the government owned the fabric of the churches, and the French Catholic Church saw to the needs of the spirituality of its adherents, as well as being keepers of their Relics.
Did the Christian God retaliate, in 2019 when fire extensively destroyed the medieval historic cathedral of Notre Dame, 1 Billion Euros donated by rich and poor for the rebuilding. Yet, the Great Cathedral had no insurance, other than the insurance of the building renovation main contractors (AXA insurance policy) taken out during the renovating of the roof.
No monies will go to the Catholic Church, other than its claim for lose of Relics, although it has asked for eight million euros for a new information system. What will happen to the 1 Billion euros donated, well that is the state’s money now! They probably have enough to build Notre Dame several times over! Do you think, the aggression that Napoleon showed to the two Pius popes and the French government to the Church was and act of God in the destruction of Notre Dame cathedral in 2019?
Cofion
Jero Jones