Pope Pius VII

About Pope Pius VII

Pope Pius VII, born Barnaba Chiaramonti, served as the head of the Catholic Church from 1800 until his death in 1823. His pontificate was defined by his tense and complex relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte; he was forced to crown the French Emperor in 1804, an event that simultaneously restored papal prestige and underscored papal subservience. A key historical achievement was the negotiation of the Concordat of 1801, which normalized relations between France and the Catholic Church after the upheaval of the French Revolution, earning him the Pantheon project's #494 rank for global influence.

In the context of modern online attention, Pius VII is currently experiencing an "attention gap," showing underattention relative to his historical importance. He registers an Attention Gap score of -2x, suggesting his cultural footprint is half what his HPI rank implies. In 2025, his Wikipedia pages received an annualized 185K views. This level of engagement is significantly lower than comparable religious figures like Saint Stephen (#533, 450K views) or Mary Magdalene (#580, 1.9M views), highlighting a pronounced disconnect between historical weight and contemporary digital interest.

Despite the overall low attention, interest in Pope Pius VII shows significant positive momentum year-over-year, having increased by +66.9%. However, this interest appears to be waning recently, as the first quarter (Q1) to third quarter (Q3) momentum for 2025 shows a 30% decline, indicating that while the figure gained ground compared to the previous year, recent digital curiosity is fading.