Why did French revolutionaries confiscate Roman Catholic Church property?

During the French Revolution, the revolutionary government confiscated Roman Catholic Church property primarily to address the severe financial crisis that had destabilized the ancien régime.1

By placing church lands—which accounted for approximately 10 percent of the land in France—at the disposition of the nation, the National Assembly sought to create a financial solution to the national debt. These lands, designated as biens nationaux (national lands), were used to underwrite and guarantee the value of assignats, a form of paper currency. The government intended to sell these lands to the public, using the proceeds to retire the assignats and eliminate the need for further loans.1

Beyond these fiscal motivations, the confiscation was deeply rooted in the anticlericalism of the era. Revolutionaries viewed the church as a pillar of the old order, often associating it with superstition, privilege, and an undesirable alliance with the monarchy. Consequently, the seizure of property served as a means to abolish clerical privileges and assert state control over the church, a process furthered by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.234