Napoleon arrested Pope Pius VII on July 6, 1808. This extraordinary event triggered the alliance formed by the Marian Sodalities of Paris and Lyon, the Amicizie, and other lesser-known associations. Immediately, the alliance started using its contact networks, especially in France and Italy. These associations successfully made public essential documents concerning relations … Read more

On July 6, 1808, by Napoleon’s orders, French soldiers arrested Pius VII. They took the Pontiff to Savona, a Ligurian city near Genoa. The Papal Secretary of State Cardinal Bartholomeo Pacca, detained on the same occasion, was imprisoned in the Fenestrelle Fortress, near Turin, roughly eighty-five miles from Savona. Napoleon’s motive was … Read more

In 1804, First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of the French. A few days before promulgating the laws establishing the Empire, Napoleon conferred with Giovanni Battista Cardinal Caprara, the Papal Legate. Napoleon asked the legate to sound out the Holy Father about the possibility of consecrating him as Emperor in Notre Dame … Read more

This article is part three of a three-part series on Americanist Heresy. It is based on the author’s meeting on February 12, 2025, at the American TFP’s headquarters in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. Click here to read part one or two. *  *  * The scientific world defines a catalyst as “an agent … Read more

The founder of Lyon’s “Secret,” as its Marian sodality was known, was also its historian, Benoît Coste. He belonged to a wealthy and well-known Catholic family in that city. Born on December 11, 1781, he was still a boy when Lyon, having risen against the French Revolution that had begun in Paris, … Read more