Napoleon crossed himself as Roman Catholics do – Was Napoleon religious?

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I was doing some reading about Napoleon, as written about by his private secretary who worked for him, for much of his time as the leader of France.

I have written before that both Napoleon and Hitler could never have been Christians.

But I must admit, I’m starting to get somewhat confused by Napoleon. I am coming across more references to Napoleon supporting Christianity.

One rather astounding thing I came across was that his private secretary said that sometimes, perhaps when shocked, that Napoleon would actually "cross himself" – making the sign of the cross, the way Catholics do. Now the French were Catholics.

I was quite amazed by this.

Napoleon also said that all great men believed in God.

What may be making Napoleon’s behaviour a bit strange, I think, is that Napoleon was an incredible student of the Romans and Ancient Greeks. Napoleon read, and reread, and reread the writings of the Romans and Greeks.

So I think although he was a Christian, his mind definitely was filled with a lot of values that came from the Romans and Greeks – the Pagans, if you will.

So he may be a combination of both … a Christian or a believer in God … while holding to many values and concepts that made the Ancients so great.