After negotiating with His Excellency the Secretary of State for the Interior, the Trévilles invited the Archbishop of Paris to their home, and then asked him in a subtle way to exert his influence in the Church, so that the misfortune caused by Philippe could be avoided as much as possible. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

And the archbishop, who has always been shrewd and long-sleeved, did not live up to the couple's expectations, and after a short period of deliberation, decided to comply with the couple's request and suppress the matter within the church.

In his opinion, Philippe de Treville, although reckless, should not have intended to conflict with the church, and judging from the fact that he later panicked and asked his sister and brother-in-law for help, he did know that he had done something wrong. Now that the Lady of Treville has said that she will let Philip go home to think about it, the Bishop is not going to pursue it, and after all, he does not want to fall out with the Treville family.

Charlotte's mood was evidently much better after receiving the bishop's personal promise, and a relieved smile returned to her face, and she hospitably entertained the bishop with great hospitality, expressing her gratitude and apologies in this way—in any case, Charlotte was also a man of tradition, and it was indeed sad for the church to suffer such a loss.

Because the two parties had reached a tacit understanding in silence, the atmosphere was now very pleasant, and the Trevilles and the archbishop were chatting and laughing, which could be regarded as a pleasure for the guests and the hosts.

The bishop has been in the church for many years, has held the priesthood in many places, and has accumulated many anecdotes from all over the world, and he has deliberately selected some interesting or curious stories to tell the young couple to tell them with relish.

However, to the Bishop's perk, after they had been talking for nearly an hour, the young Chancellor Tréville had no intention of saying goodbye and leaving—he knew that His Excellency, who was in a position of great authority and who must have been busy in his usual life, was now considered appropriate and polite to do so.

He is here to receive himself today, and he is just to show his attitude, to put pressure on himself and to support his wife by the way, and after he has agreed to their request, he really does not see any special reason for His Excellency Minister to stay here.

Is there anything else they want me to do?

A flash of doubt flashed through the bishop's mind.

If it's true, it's indecent. He was not a servant of the Treviles, and was not obligated to do everything for them, and now that he had done a great favor, it was a favor, and it would be annoying to continue to ask for it. In his opinion, the Trévilles should not be such unaware of what to do.

With this in mind, he remained silent on the surface, and continued to chat with Madame Treville, and at this time Charles stopped interjecting, but sat on the sofa, frowning slightly, as if thoughtful.

While the Bishop and Madame Treville were talking and laughing about his experience in the South, as if they had made some decision, the young Chancellor finally spoke.

"Your Excellency, your experience has been a real eye-opener. I wonder if you've ever been to Rome? ”

"Rome?" Although the bishop had been talking to Charlotte, he had been paying attention to His Excellency, so although the minister interjected very abruptly, he reacted almost immediately, "I have been to Rome a few times, but it is basically a matter of duty, so I have not visited other places, and I can't say anything interesting. ”

"The Holy See is the most interesting place, isn't it? We've heard a lot of legends about it...... For example, the Borgias, and the story of Innocent III. Charles replied with a smile, "These stories are very interesting. ”

"These are just ancient legends, some of which are shameful slanders, some of which are ...... Some of them are exaggerated rumors......" The bishop was a little embarrassed, and immediately explained to Charles, "you know, the church had a lot of political enemies at that time, and they had a lot of hateful literati under them, and they all tried to slander the church. ”

In the Middle Ages, the Holy See was a sanctimonious but filthy man, full of filthy secrets, and there were few popes in the past who truly worshipped God and obeyed the rules and precepts, leaving behind many absurd and ugly legends, such as the Pope of the Borgia family was very famous - but, after all, the bishop is a man of the Church, and he must take a stand, even if he knows that these things are true, he must also deny them, in order to preserve the sanctity of the authority of the Church.

"Maybe it's slander, maybe not, but I don't think it's too important." "Whatever the Holy See itself may be, it must be pure, His Majesty the Pope must be noble and right, we must uphold the authority and traditions of the Church, and France must be a devout Catholic country living according to the precepts given by God." ”

"You're absolutely right." The Bishop immediately readily agreed with His Excellency the Chancellor, "France is a blessed land of God, and only when everyone reveals the Gospel of the Lord can the country be happy and free from the abyss of revolution...... Only France will be able to maintain the authority of the Church and prevent the whole Catholic world from falling into a terrible catastrophe......"

"The world is so unpredictable...... In the blink of an eye, we became the patrons of the church. Charles couldn't help but laugh. Centuries ago, France was at loggerheads with the Holy See. ”

"Things are unpredictable, Your Excellency." The bishop nodded and agreed with Charles, "At that time, because of the arbitrariness of Boniface VIII, there were some terrible misunderstandings between the French monarch and the Holy See, which eventually led to a series of disasters, but now the times are completely different, and now the Holy See and France are completely on one side. ”

France is a country with a strong Catholic tradition, the Church is very strong, and religion is rooted in every aspect of people's lives. As early as the Middle Ages, France had countless churches, which were governed by the Church in several parishes, and the Church also amassed great wealth in the rich Gaul region, during which time it amassed great wealth.

Over time, the wealth amassed by the Church certainly greatly affected the economy of the country and was coveted by kings and nobles.

During the reign of King Philip IV of France, there was a violent conflict between the secular government and the church in France, and in order to pay for the war, Philip IV levied taxes on the French clergy, who had always enjoyed tax exemptions, which directly violated the interests of Boniface VIII. In 1296, he issued a royal decree affirming the inviolability of the Church's tax-free privileges, and that the king could not tax the clergy without the papal charter, and the clergy could not pay taxes to the king. However, the French king reacted by announcing that no French wealth or goods would be allowed to be exported abroad, and after a stalemate between the two sides, Pope Boniface VIII finally had to agree to the French king's decision. At that time, the Holy See was very dependent on the financial tribute of the various dioceses in France.

In 1301, when the pope heard that Philip IV had drawn up a regulation limiting the power of the pope, Boniface VIII issued three encyclicals accusing Philip IV of serious crimes in the church, declaring that the archbishop could only be tried by the Holy See, announcing the cancellation of previous financial concessions, and preparing to excommunicate the French king.

However, just before he could announce his decision, the enraged King sent troops directly to Rome, and then arrested the Pope directly to France, and humiliated the supreme spiritual leader of the Catholic world in various ways. Although he released Boniface VIII soon after, the pope was humiliated and soon died of grief, and after his death, the French king forcibly installed the archbishop of the French province of Bordeaux as pope, breaking the convention that the pope must be an Italian, and forcibly moved the papacy to Avignon, which was under the direct control of the French king for nearly 70 years, known as the prisoner of Avignon.

And since then, in the eyes of the French monarchs, the church has become an accessory - it can be used as an embellishment when they are happy, to increase the sanctity of the monarch's power, to whitewash the monarchs, and to kick them away when they are unhappy. Successive monarchs have taken themselves as the rightful allegiances of the French Church, appointing and dismissing their own bishops, while the Church of Rome can only be a rubber stamp - as a French bishop, the bishop can only say that he did the right thing and that the Pope was at fault.

Although Emperor Napoleon, in order to gain the support of the Church, he ordered that the Church that had been expelled during the Revolution be allowed to return to France, but in private he looked down on the Church and the Pope, and when the Pope presided over his coronation, he simply snatched the crown from the Pope and crowned himself, and Pope Pius VII could only endure it silently.

Later, because he felt that the pope was not loyal enough, the emperor even imitated the previous kings, and directly sent troops to capture the pope to France and imprisoned him in the palace of Fontainebleau, which can be described as doing whatever he wanted.

Now that Napoleon's nephew is emperor again, he is trying to curry favor with the church and cooperate with it, but in his heart, what is the difference between him and his uncle? These emperors have always looked up only to themselves, and Emperor Napoleon III is no exception, and he must not have any respect.

However, although it may seem implausible for a Bonapartist to say that "we must uphold the authority of the Church", the Bishop welcomed the argument that, from the point of view of the Church, France must maintain that religious purity if it was to avoid the catastrophe that had occurred decades earlier.

Moreover, in today's Europe, because of the Reformation that lasted for hundreds of years, the power and prestige of the Catholic Church have been greatly reduced, among the great powers, Britain, Russia, and Prussia are heretical countries, and they do not take the Holy See in their eyes at all, and Austria such a pillar of Catholicism has also declined, and only France can be used as a pillar of Catholicism to maintain the authority of the Holy See.

It didn't matter whether Bonaparte and Treville were pious or not, and there weren't a few pious senior clergy in the church anyway, and the point was that these people could keep the people prostrate at God's feet, so that the good of the church could be safeguarded.

"What, then, in your opinion, is the greatest danger facing the church right now?" Charles asked abruptly again.

The bishop perked up, and he finally understood that His Excellency the Minister seemed to have something important to reveal to him.

"It seems to me that the heretics are rampant, and the lost ......Lamb they tempt," he replied in a low voice, after a moment of silence. and all kinds of revolutionary fallacies. ”

In the perilous year of 1848, a revolutionary frenzy broke out all over Europe, the storm swept almost every corner, the crown of France fell, and it became a republic for a time, and a revolution broke out in Rome, these revolutionaries under the leadership of Garibaldi expelled the Holy See and declared Rome a republic, but fortunately, Louis Bonaparte, who was then president of the republic, sent an expeditionary army, led by Charles's grandfather, Marshal Tréville, to finally defeat this group of revolutionaries and drive Garibaldi away. This allowed the Holy See to return to Rome, which now had a French garrison to support the functioning and security of the Holy See, and to restore the Holy See's rule over a large part of central Italy.

Therefore, it is not wrong to say that the Church now relies on the authority of the French Empire to rule Rome and the Papal States, and without the help of France, I am afraid that the territory of the weak Church will soon be swallowed up by the surrounding countries.

For the Holy See, the monarch of France is of course better to be an orthodox monarch like the Bourbons, but when the Bourbons are already doomed to the throne, then a monarchical France is always better than a republican France, so they also have reservations about welcoming Louis Bonaparte to the throne as emperor.

Essentially, the Holy See, which began a thousand years ago, had no principles other than to preserve itself and amass wealth, and that it could welcome anyone who would protect him, even if that protector actually looked down on it.

"No, Your Lordship, I think what you are saying is terrible, but at this point in time, it is not enough to be an existential threat to the Church." Charles shook his head and denied the bishop's opinion, "Although the heretics are rampant, with France, they will not threaten the Church; The so-called revolutionaries have now disappeared, and although they cannot remain inactive, at least for the time being, they are so badly wounded that there is no way to rise up and threaten the safety of the Church. ”

"And what do you think is that existential threat?" The bishop immediately asked rhetorically.

"I think that what is really threatening the Church is a country that is cautiously trying to unify Italy in some way that goes unnoticed, and who is trying to move the process forward by all means." "You must have heard that just a few months ago, the King of Sardinia appointed a new prime minister to assist him. ”

The bishop was a little surprised to hear Charles say this, he was not very well informed, but in November of last year, 1852, the king of Sardinia appointed the Count of Cavour as the prime minister of his country, and of course he knew the big news.

"You...... Do you mean Count Cavour? You mean he is the most dangerous enemy of the Church? ”

"yes, I'm talking about him." Charles nodded, "What do you think this Count Cavour is?" ”

"I ...... I haven't met him in person, and I haven't dealt with him much. After a few more moments, the bishop replied in a low voice, "but judging by some of his previous statements, I think he is a demagogue, a man who deliberately pursues nationalist goals......"

"Yes, I agree with you. I think that Count Cavour is a madman who is obsessed with the aims of illusory fanaticism, and it is not surprising that there are many such madmen, but that he is at the same time a devoid of morality and a wicked crook, and the combination of the two makes him a terrible character. Charles paused slightly, then deliberately re-emphasized, "If we don't pay attention to him, sooner or later he and his followers will raise up a scourge in Italy, and this scourge will bring immeasurable calamity to the Holy See, so I think ...... We must take precautions to prevent this catastrophe. ”

In fact, as one of the three heroes of Italian unity, Cavour is certainly not just some "madman" or "liar", but at the moment Charles needs to use him to intimidate the Church, so naturally it is better to exaggerate - anyway, for the Church, anything that threatens the survival of the Papal States must be a madman and a heinous villain.

"You're saying he's going to endanger the church?" The bishop's eyes widened slightly.

"Yes, he intended to do so, because he wanted Sardinia to unite all of Italy." Charles replied at once, "Of course, he wants to do this in a sneaky way—you see, although he is accustomed to boasting about himself and giving himself a boost, and how good he has claimed to be over the years, yet he really has nothing but demagoguery, and he wants to achieve his goals by the hands of others." ”

Then he looked at the bishop and emphasized, "And this trickster and demagogue, ready to take Sardinia with him, unify Italy, and destroy the Papal States once and for all." ”

"This madman!" The bishop blurted out. "He's destined to hell, and this fantasy shouldn't come true."

"Maybe he does go to hell, but we can't stop him just by words before he goes to hell." Charles was not at all agitated, but remained unhurried, "You do not understand the gravity of the problem - this man wishes to bewitch France and help his poor and weak Sardinia." ”

"France can't do that." The bishop replied immediately. "Didn't you say that? France is now the patron saint of the Church, and it cannot do that! ”

"I think so, too, but maybe not everyone thinks so......" Charles' face reappeared with a smile. (To be continued.) )