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Pius VI

Pope Pius VI (25 December 1717 – 29 August 1799) was Pope from 15 February 1775 to 29 August 1799, succeeding Pope Clement XIV and preceding Pope Pius VII.

Biography[]

Pius was born into a wealthy Italian family, and himself was a count before he was elected Pope by the College of Cardinals in 1775. His confiscation of pontifical possessions of France during the French Revolution in 1789 was responded to with the burning of an effigy of the pontiff, and in 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy. Pius VI formed an alliance between the Austrian Empire, Papal States, and the Republic of Venice against France, but he was defeated and when the French took Ancona, he was forced to make peace. In 1798 Napoleon's chief-of-staff Louis-Alexandre Berthier created a Roman republic after occupying Rome for the Napoleonic army. The pope died soon after, the longest-reigning pope so far.

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