Chapter 766 I Will Definitely Do It Next Time

Franz looked at the beautiful letter, and he couldn't help but wonder what Pius IX was thinking. To be honest, the British attitude towards the Irish famine had already raised Franz's blood pressure, and he didn't want to know what dirty thoughts the Pope had.

Just releasing all the liberals who were imprisoned by Gregory XVI was enough to give Franz a headache.

Although the leper was not a good person and his methods were not very clever, at least he would not do such a thing to dig his own grave.

Franz really couldn't think of how those shrewd cardinals would push such a person to the position of Pope. What he didn't know was that the latter was regretting it at this time.

As soon as Pius IX came to power, he first released the Vatican's serious criminals, and then in the second step, he swung the knife at the cardinals who pushed him to power.

The status of the cardinal is actually very respected, and even the king usually has no right to dismiss him, or even the ability to dismiss him.

But even the strongest fortress is fragile inside. These people who are not bound by secular dogma on weekdays cannot resist the will of the Pope.

In fact, it is not that no one has thought about deposing the Pope, but to remove the Pope, a Grand Council attended by all cardinals must be convened.

However, this has to talk about Pius IX's approach. It is not known whether the Pope had anticipated this day or it was a coincidence. As soon as he came to power, he appointed a large number of cardinals from outside Europe, and these people chose to refuse to obey the edict in order to avoid paying tithes.

There were cardinals absent, so the Grand Council could not be convened, or it did not have enough credibility, which made Pius IX invincible.

And those cardinals who had previously claimed to remove the Pope through the Grand Council became the next target to be attacked, and the crime of defaming the Holy See was also serious enough.

At this time, the cardinals could only ask for help from the great powers, but the great powers that had been fooled before also wanted to save face, and the latter knew that the cost of wading into this muddy water was too high.

Because in the field of religion, the pope himself occupied the moral high ground, and this was also an internal affair of the Papal States. Although the pope's operation was a bit outrageous, as long as those words were not put into action, the great powers had no right to interfere.

The cardinals saw that they could no longer defeat their opponents in conventional secular ways, so they thought of spreading rumors.

It happened that various natural disasters occurred before Pius IX ascended the throne, especially the failed exorcism ceremony and the Vatican Gardens that were eaten up, all of which became the best materials.

However, the more these people made up, the more terrifying it felt, because the disasters in recent years were indeed too intensive.

Drought, floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, locust plagues, plagues (cholera), meteors (meteorites), and the completely inexplicable potato late blight were also classified as supernatural.

From this point of view, Pius IX is completely the devil coming to the world, and at this time he released those "Satan" believers to let them manage the country.

At that time, the church often called non-believers "Satan" believers, which is simply a kind of either-or dual thinking.

So even if Franz did not believe in religion, he had to pretend to be very pious, and even acquiesced to the "born saint" personality.

Because accepting it will save a lot of trouble, but not accepting it will put oneself in a passive position.

As for Pius IX, although he released political prisoners held in the Vatican and even appointed a large number of liberal officials.

But no matter where he went, he would choose to sit on the throne carried by twelve strong servants, and he was always surrounded by hundreds of noble guards with muskets on their backs, Swiss guards holding long spears, and generals of the Church who were still wearing medieval armor.

Such a pomp was in sharp contrast to the ordinary people of the Papal States who often had to rely on wild vegetables to fill their stomachs and were half-dressed.

At the same time, he chose to accept all the holy water companies, Holy Spirit Bank, and Gospel Vouchers of Pius IX that the previous popes had set up.

What's even more outrageous is that after the new pope came to power, he was going to set up a new model, that is, franchise agency, so that countries can contribute money and people to carry out these projects in the name of the church on their own land, and then everyone will share the money.

A series of operations almost shocked Franz's jaw. Modern profiteers are just like this. They are ready to use the great powers as tools, and they are cutting their own leeks.

Mrs. Sophie actually thought about it seriously, and she seemed to be profitable.

"Franz, it may be beneficial for Austria to have a good relationship with the Papal States, and those companies can also make money. You see, His Holiness said that these businesses support 80% of the tax revenue of the Papal States."

Franz held his forehead, his mother was really not suitable for business.

"If His Holiness the Pope can really make money, why does he have to borrow money from us every year? The tax revenue of the entire Papal States is not as much as the donations the Pope personally receives.

It is not certain whether 80% of the Papal States can be compared with a province of our Austria. There is no need to compare with too wealthy provinces.

Compared with the more remote Galicia and Vojvodina, the million tax revenue of the Papal States is a joke. Even the Hungarians are better than them."

Mrs. Sophie was still a little hesitant, mainly because she especially wanted to link Franz with the Pope. In fact, it was a kind of traditional thinking at the time that was at work, believing that the royal family should have a good relationship with the church so as to facilitate the use of its influence.

The problem now is that the royal family's influence in Austria is far stronger than that of the church, and the local church has long been tamed and no longer wants to get close to the so-called pope.

"Franz, you are so good at business, maybe you can make these businesses work in your hands? I remember you sold all the military uniforms I produced.

Why can't you do such a small thing?"

"Mother, we also have our own Holy Spirit Bank and Holy Water Company in Austria, but the former is used to help farmers and subsidize small businesses, and the latter sells alcohol, bleaching powder, toothpaste, soap, toilet paper and other things.

Although these things have not been fully accepted by the public at this time, the benefits are real.

And what does the Papal States sell? A cup of river water that has been stored for who knows how many days costs 20 florins! If you change it into copper coins, you will fill a bag!

(20 florins is equal to 9,600 quarter-pfennigs. A quarter-pfennig is the smallest currency used in ordinary transactions. In fact, there are smaller ones, but they are usually only used in the countryside.)

And the so-called Holy Spirit Bank is completely a loan shark company! They will do anything for money. If Jesus knew, he would jump off the cross and beat them!"

When Franz was talking excitedly, he was hit on the head by Madame Sophie.

"How can you tease the Son of God?"

"Please forgive me, Amen!" Franz made the sign of the cross. He didn't want to continue to argue with Mrs. Sophie about this, but some things had to be made clear.

"Mother, if it is really so profitable and so good, why don't the Jesuit priests under the Pope do it themselves?

The seven lies in the East are: paying a lot of money to have a child, high salary recruitment, selling at a loss, transferring a popular shop, buying back at a high price, joining the agency, and definitely next time."