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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Pius VII |
 | | At last, after the conclave had lasted three months, some of the neutral cardinals, including Maury, suggested Chiaramonti as a suitable candidate and, with the tactful support of the secretary of the conclave, Ercole Consalvi, he was elected. |
 | | Of all-important consequence for his reign was the elevation on 11 Aug., 1800, of Ercole Consalvi, one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century, to the college of cardinals and to the office of secretary of state. |
 | | The papal administration favoured the project the more readily seeing that common resistance to Napoleon had brought the Holy See and the British Government more closely together, and that it still stood in need of the assistance of English might and diplomacy. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/12132a.htm (2002 words) |
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