CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY
Though it was the secular bourgeoisie behind the reforms of 1789, this nevertheless led to significant divisions within the Catholic Church. Many lower clergy supported revolutionary reform, particularly the abolition of feudalism which had placed a heavy burden on the ordinary people in rural areas. Within the higher clergy and in some regions, the clergy remained closely aligned to the king and conservative nobility. In short, some priests supported the revolution and some did not. This might not have mattered in a more secular society, however since most peasants were illiterate and sometimes isolated, they relied on the clergy for information about revolutionary events. To many delegates in the National Assembly it seemed as though some clergy were more closely allied to the Pope (a foreign power) and self-interest than they were to the national interest. The new government had reorganised the departments, standardised weights and measures and reformed the currency - why not do the same with the Church and implement a national religion?
In late 1789 the Assembly cancelled the church's authority to tax and nationalised all church lands and property. Then came the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, passed in July 1790 and the most radical revolutionary change of the revolution to that time. The National Assembly sought to reorganise and standardise parish sizes, both geographically and on the basis of population. Parish priests would have their payments determined by the state, ranging from 1,200 to 6,000 livres per year, depending on the duties they performed.
The salaries of bishops were reduced significantly to 12,000 livres per year, plus they were required to live permanently within their diocese (prior to the revolution many had not). The changes to clerical salaries were popular with the lower clergy, who before the revolution had been poorly or irregularly paid; but they were opposed by the higher clergy, whose income and independence had been drastically cut. Even more controversially, bishops and priests were to be elected by their local or regional assembly, rather than appointed by the Vatican - and not all electors involved in this process had to be Catholic.
If these provisions didn't cause enough division and debate, in November 1790 the National Assembly issued a decree requiring all churchmen - bishops, parish priests and their assistants - to swear an oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution. The majority of prelates (higher clergy) refused to swear this oath; the ordinary clergy were more divided. When oath-taking began in early 1791, only 55 per cent of priests agreed to swear their loyalty to the newly reformed 'state religion': this group became known as "juring priests" or the constitutional clergy; the remainder were considered "non-juring". The king had sanctioned the Civil Constitution in December 1790, a decision he came to regret, while Pope Pius VI condemned it, although his opposition was kept secret until mid-1791. Whatever the politics, these events created even more division between the clergy and their parishes. Where the Church and religious sentiment had been strongest - such as in Flanders, Alsace, Brittany and the Vendee - there was a higher proportion of non-juring priests - and therefore opposition to the National Assembly. There tended to be more non-juring priests in major cities like Lyon (although Paris was an exception to this rule).
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy marked an attempt by the National Assembly to align the Church with the revolution, and to create a state religion that acted in the national interest. Instead, it created a schism within the Church itself which created dire problems for the new regime. By mid-1791 opponents of the revolution could argue that the Church was under attack from the Assembly, and that counter-revolution was necessary to protect it. Louis XVI, always a devoutly religious person, was further alienated from the revolution by the Civil Constitution and its implications; as a result, his willingness to remain in France decreased markedly.