During his time as archbishop of Auch, as a cardinal he participated in the conclaves that elected Pius VIII and Gregory XVI, being charged with possibly pronouncing a French veto in the latter. Having rejected the archepiscopal seat of Aix twice, and of Bordeaux, he eventually accepted to become archbishop of Lyon in 1839, as successor of Cardinal Fesch, mainly because the climate there was more favourable to his decreasing health. He travelled to Paris prior to taking office in Lyon, and died there on 7 October 1839, of a thorax inflammation. He was buried in the cathedral of Auch.