I was wondering how exactly the government of France at the time (The National Constituent Assembly I believe), was able to get a majority of the people on board with the passage of the Civil Constitution and the Oath of the Clergy in a Catholic majority country that even had the Pope publicly decry both measures.
In my research, I can only find what the laws did and that the Pope opposed them, but I can't seem to find why such a majority catholic nation in a time of crisis would seemingly willingly risk excommunication/schism with the Papacy.
Basically, what I'm asking is how was the government able to get everyone on board with the passage of these two laws? Thanks!
how was the government able to get everyone on board with the passage of these two laws?
I would suggest rethinking this assumption. I'm not an expert on this at all, but I did read a bunch of books on this in graduate school and one thing that I'm certain of is that the government in Paris did not necessarily speak for the rest of the country. At various points during the decade, large sections of the country were in open revolt against Paris, especially in the South and the West.
I would suggest, as a starting point, the works of Suzanne Desan, especially Reclaiming the Sacred for its look at religion during the Revolution.