Why did many French clergy refuse the constitutional oath of 1790?

Many French clergy refused the constitutional oath of 1790 because it represented a fundamental challenge to the autonomy and structure of the Roman Catholic Church.12

The oath was mandated by the National Assembly to enforce the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which reorganized the church on a national basis. Clerical opposition was driven by several key concerns:13

• Subordination to the State: The legislation placed the church under strict state control, regulating temporal affairs such as salaries, jurisdictional boundaries, and clerical appointments without negotiating with a national church council.124
• Lay Authority: Clergy members strongly objected to the requirement that bishops and priests be elected by lay citizens, viewing this as an unacceptable intrusion of secular authority into ecclesiastical matters.124
• Limitation of Papal Jurisdiction: The constitution restricted the pope’s authority primarily to spiritual affairs, which many clerics and eventually Pope Pius VI deemed a violation of church doctrine.13

Faced with the choice of accepting these changes or losing their positions, many priests refused the oath, leading to a deep schism between "constitutional" (juror) and "refractory" (nonjuring) clergy.12