"The Pope is dead?" asked Dalton, who had been summoned.
"The term of office is less than a year," said the Queen, as she walked through the corridor accompanied by Dalton. "It seems that the craftsmanship of the church has not been lost."
—The murder of the pope can be regarded as a tradition.
How should I put it, when the Holy See was at its most powerful, it was merciless when tossing the secular monarchs, but those who wore red[1] could not see how merciless they were to their own "fathers". Popes change faster than kings. So far, the longest pope has been in office for thirty years, and the shortest is only two days. The latter is called the "two-day pope", with an average term of seven years. After the ninth century AD, for a long period of time, the Pope changed so frequently that the princes and princes who were invited to attend the Pope's ceremony had to go back to attend the ceremony of the new Pope before they had time to leave the Papal State.
On the surface, only three died at the hands of secular kings, and most of the rest were killed by the church itself.
...From this point of view, the Pope, known as the father of believers in the world, really has a bunch of good "filial sons".
"Compared to other predecessors, he died at a really bad time."
said Dalton without any respect.
"It's not the right time," said the queen, "he's too strong and too urgent. He's a 'saint' himself, but the church doesn't need a real saint to be pope. But it can be I understand..." the queen sighed, "Roland and Root put too much pressure on him."
The Root Empire was the first empire to respect the Neotheism as the state religion, and grandly crowned its monarch as the "Emperor" who sat and sat with the Pope. And the Roland Empire, which the church originally thought could be controlled, also quickly broke free of control after she came to power. After God's Judgment last year, the religious disputes in Roland's country largely subsided, and the church's minions were severely pulled out.
If the church can have a weak, incompetent, and less extreme pope next, then the Papal State can last a little longer with Roland, Root, and Mud.
However, Queen Roland sent a tough "saint" to the increasingly corrupt Papal State.
St. Trefus II is a... overly intelligent man.
During the long time when he was forced to leave the holy city, he was a wanderer and witnessed many ills of the church, from the indulgences to the depravity of the monks, and also saw the secular monarchs' growing contempt for the church, and behind this contempt hidden threat of force. Because of this, when he became the pope, he used strong means to promote the "return to holiness" movement, requiring priests to abide by chastity and thrift, and advocate penance.
"He is too eager to carry out reforms. The deep crisis is one aspect, and Roland's pressure is also one aspect."
St. Trefus II saw the crisis of the church's decay and inevitable extinction. At the same time, a monarch with miracles appeared in Roland, next to the Papal State, and this monarch had tolerance in the hearts of ordinary people. , the virtues of kindness and compassion, etc., formed a terrible contrast with the Church.
St. Trefus II was perceptive enough and concerned enough about the future of the Church that all this became a heavy burden on his shoulders.
Because he didn't know when the Roland Empire would attack the holy city like the Root Empire, forcing the church to recognize their monarch as the emperor. At that time, the majesty of the church will completely cease to exist.
"He was eager to contain Roland's revival, and for this he did not hesitate to confront the cardinals with respectable courage."
In the end, he died because of it.
There are some things that cannot be rushed, even if it is indeed imminent. It's like a towering tree, you know it's decaying, it's dying, but it has many roots and many branches. You can see it dying slowly, and it also takes a long process. However, St. Trefus II's Purification Movement was too thorough. He rashly exposed the degenerate side of the bishops. While driving them away from him, he also cut off the rotten roots of the church. .
Then the big tree collapsed.
"Of course," the queen turned a corner, the sunlight was separated by the corner of the promenade, and the light and shadow fell on her face together, "he is more betting."
Bet on the decisive battle in the sea of heaven.
The war disputes between Jager, the Union of Self-owned Commercial Cities, Root and Roland are behind the Pope's spare no effort to promote. The outcome of the decisive battle in the Sea of Heaven determines the future of the world. St. Trefus II was betting that Roland and Root would be defeated in the naval battle. Then, he will usher in an unprecedented opportunity.
"He's betting, so why isn't Roland betting?" the Queen said, "Fortunately, we won."
"But what you do is no different from him."
Dalton said suddenly.
They are all oppressed by time in troubled times, using the most drastic means to save the building that is about to collapse, betting life and death as well as honor.
His fingers curled up involuntarily, and the chill penetrated bit by bit. She was talking about the death of St. Trefus II, but he saw her ending in the most unfortunate possibility...
The queen's hand was suddenly grabbed, and then the long and thin shadow of the young man covered it.
The black-haired officer hugged the equally young silver-haired queen tightly, his muscular arms wrapped around the woman's slender waist. It was a hug, a hug that proved the existence of another person, and it was also hot after fear, with a temperature like burning oneself whole.
"You'll keep winning like this."
He whispered in her ear.
It is praying.
It is also a promise.
October 1558.
This was the middle of the sixteenth century, the most complicated and unpredictable year in the world situation.
All countries are exhausted from war, and Emperor Adele announced the restoration of Roland's status as a powerful country through her victory in the decisive battle of the Sea of Heaven in the first half of the year, and won her the title of "God's Blessed King". The war between pagans and gods started again. Since the Middle Ages, the spiritual world has experienced the second shock: St. Trefus II died strangely, the cardinals fled the holy city, and pagans and demons once again occupied the world of gods. the palace of the people, the sorrow of all the people.
In the following month, Queen Roland fulfilled her duties as the anointed and led the army to recover the holy city.
…………………
In the stories passed down by later generations, they always like to deliberately enlarge the dramatic plot.
For example, in order to highlight the impact of the murder of Pope St. Trefus II and the fall of the Holy City, poets and scholars after the 16th century always wrote about the dire situation of the Papal State and expressed people's feelings about it. The reaction was overwhelmingly written. But in fact, people at that time had long been used to changing a new Pope every now and then. As for the Holy City being looted, it was not the first time—the last time was done by the secular monarchs themselves.
After the fall of the Holy City, the situation in the Papal State was actually not that bad, far from a collapse.
On the contrary, the situation is much better than before the Xiulers attacked the holy city.
Because of one person.
Archbishop Rodriguez.
— He intercepted and detained most of the fleeing cardinals.