Napoleon creates in northern Italy the Cisalpine Republic, formed from occupied territores including the papal states of Bologna and Ferrara

Pope Pius VI is seized by a French army in Rome and is taken off to captivity in France

Napoleon mends France's fences with Roman Catholicism by agreeing a Concordat with Pope Pius VII

Napoleon annexes the Papal States and is excommunicated by the pope, Pius VII

An uprising in Rome causes Pope Pius IX to flee for safety to a coastal fortress at Gaeta

The prime minister of the papal states, Pellegrino Rossi, is assassinated in Rome

Pope Pius IX returns to Rome under the protection of French troops, with his enthusiasm for any form of change much reduced.

Pope Pius IX issues a papal bull declaring that the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is to be an article of faith for Catholics

The old Cromwell House is demolished and a new one, designed by Robert Philip Pope, is completed by June 1858

Pope Pius IX includes socialism, civil marriage and secular education among eighty modern errors listed in his Syllabus

Pope Pius IX, rapidly losing temporal authority, declares a new dogma – that the pope, when speaking from the throne, is infallible on matters of faith or morals

As the result of a plebiscite, Rome and the remaining papal states are included in the kingdom of Italy

Giuseppe Sarto is elected pope and takes the name Pius X

Giacomo della Chiesa is elected pope and takes the name Benedict XV

Ambrogio Ratti is elected pope and takes the name Pius XI

Pope Pius XI issues an encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge, condemning the Nazi ideology of racism

Eugenio Pacelli is elected pope and takes the name Pius XII

Angelo Roncalli is elected pope and takes the name John XXIII

Pope John XXIII summons a second Vatican Council

Pope John XXIII dies, only a few month's after the start of the great Vatican council that he has summoned

Italian cardinal Giovanni Montini is elected pope and takes the name Paul VI

Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras meet in Jerusalem, in the first such meeting since 1438

Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras preside over simultaneous ceremonies, in Rome and Istanbul, revoking the mutual excommunications of 1054

Pope Paul VI visits the Patriarch Athenagoras in Istanbul, shocking some Catholics that this visit has preceded one by the Patriarch to Rome

Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras issue a joint declaration, emphasizing mutual respect for each other's traditions