Napoleon by this time had established himself as a powerful ruler, and to add splendor to the coronation ceremony, he requested that Pope Pius VII come to Paris for it. The coronation mass celebrated by the pope was held at Notre-Dame Cathedral. Napoleon agreed to be anointed and blessed by Pius VII, while he took the crown from his hands and placed it on his head himself. This was a symbolic emphasis on the fact that he owed it to himself to gain supreme power in the state and crown himself emperor. Earlier, he had crowned Josephine as empress himself, reducing the role of the Pope to that of a mere spectator. In May 1805, in Milan Cathedral, Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy.
