Pius VI (pope)
1717 – 1799 Italian Pope (1775-1799)
Pope crushed by the French Revolution, who died a prisoner of France.
- Religion
- Catholic; Bishop of Rome
- Affiliations
- The papacy
Pius VI faced the storm of the French Revolution, which seized church property and put the clergy under state control. When French armies invaded Italy, they proclaimed a Roman Republic in 1798 and took the aged pope prisoner. He was carried off to France, where he died in captivity at Valence in 1799. Many thought the papacy itself might not survive.
In the timeline
- 1799 Pope Pius VI dies in French captivity central figure