French Catholics, who had been the leading supporters of the Empire, are outraged by the idea of Italian unification—based on the exclusion of the temporal power of the popes.

A keen Catholic opposition springs up, voiced in Louis Veuillot's paper the Univers, and is not silenced even by the Syrian expedition (1860) in favor of the Catholic Maronite side of the Druze–Maronite conflict.

Ultramontane Catholicism, emphasizing the necessity for close links to the Pope at the Vatican, plays a pivotal role in the democratization of culture.

The pamphlet campaign led by Mgr. Gaston de Ségur at the height of the Italian question in February 1860 makes the most of the freedom of expression enjoyed by the Catholic Church in France.

The goal is to mobilize Catholic opinion, and encourage the government to be more favorable to the Pope.

A major result of the Ultramontane campaign is to trigger reforms to the cultural sphere, and the granting of freedoms to their political enemies: the Republicans and freethinkers.

The Second Empire strongly favors Catholicism, the official state religion.

However, it tolerates Protestants and Jews, and there are no persecutions or pogroms.

The state deals with the small Protestant community of Calvinist and Lutheran churches, whose members include many prominent businessmen who support the regime.

The emperor's Decree Law of March 26, 1852 had led to greater government interference in Protestant church affairs, thus reducing self-regulation.

Catholic bureaucrats both misunderstand Protestant doctrine and are biased against it.

The administration of their policies affects not only church-state relations but also the internal lives of Protestant communities.