Pope Pius VI

Pope Pius VI Catholic Church in addition to ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in 1799.

Pius VI condemned the French Revolution and the suppression of the Gallican Church that resulted from it. French troops commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the papal army and occupied the Papal States in 1796. In 1798, upon his refusal to renounce his temporal power, Pius was taken prisoner and transported to France. He died eighteen months later in Valence. His reign of over two decades is the fifth-longest in papal history.

Representation in literature

A long audience with Pius VI is one of the near extensive scenes in the Marquis de Sade's narrative Juliette, published in 1798. Juliette shows off her learning to the Pope whom she almost often addresses as "Braschi" with a verbal catalogue of alleged immoralities committed by his predecessors.