Pope Pius VII agreed to crown Napoléon because he had already gained concessions for the church in the Concordant of 1801, which reestablished Catholicism as the religion of France, and assumed that, as Emperor, Napoléon would further reward the church. This did not happen, and in July 1809, Napoléon’s officers arrested Pius VII when he refused to resign as Pope and Head of the Papal States.
