Declaration of the Clergy of France

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Under the Declaration of the Clergy of France of 1682, the following privileges were granted to France by the Catholic church:

  • Kings of France had the right to assemble church councils in their dominions.
  • Kings of France had the right to make laws and regulations touching ecclesiastical matters.
  • The Pope required the king's consent to send papal legates into France.
  • Those legates required the king's consent to exercise their power within France.
  • Bishops, even when commanded by the pope, could not go out of the kingdom without the king's consent.
  • Royal officers could not be excommunicated for any act performed in the discharge of their official duties.
  • The pope could not authorize the alienation of landed church estates in France, or the diminishing of any foundations.
  • Papal Bulls and Letters required the Pareatis of the king or his officers before they took effect within France.
  • The Pope could not issue dispensations "to the prejudice of the laudable customs and statutes" of the French cathedral Churches.
  • It was lawful to appeal from the Pope to a future council or to have recourse to the "appeal as from an abuse" ("appel comme d'abus") against acts of the ecclesiastical power.