Historedia
Episode 3 of 3

Papal Condemnation

When
13 April 1791
Where
Papal issuance of the encyclical Charitas
Part of
Oath of the Clergy

Pope Pius VI issued the encyclical Charitas on 13 April 1791, excommunicating clergy who took the oath.

On 13 April 1791, Pope Pius VI issued the papal encyclical Charitas, officially condemning the Revolution's actions towards the Church. He leveled excommunication upon any clergy who took the oath. This followed his March 1791 announcement that the oath was against the beliefs of the Church, which is recorded as a separate development.

Sources

  1. Refractory clergy Wikipedia, revision of 2025-09-23
  2. Civil Constitution of the Clergy Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.