The Pope acted with great vigour; in briefs dated in March and April, 1791, and addressed to the clergy and people of France, he discussed the terms of the constitution, showed how repugnant they were to the just freedom of the Church, and how inconsistent with the rights of that divine institution which Jesus Christ established upon earth, and laid under the ban of religion both those among the actual clergy who had taken the oath, and those who in order to obtain clerical emolument and position,