It was the aim of Napoleon to heal up the wounds caused by the French Revolution by its breach with the papacy. He felt that a State without religion was like an empty vessel so he decided to regain the sympathy of the ***** by improving his relations with the Pope. After negotiations with Pope Pius VII, he reached a religious understanding with the Pope in 1802, which came to be known as the ‘Concordat’. With this treaty, Catholicism became the state religion of France.
