Chapter 276: Nightmare

"But this title is of no use to me, but it is very useful to Giulio." Leo X said.

This sentence silenced the whole room, and Madeleine raised her hand, and all the mammies and monks withdrew, and they did not want to stay in the room, these were the two behemoths of the Medici...... Even if they're not fighting, they're playing, and the friction is enough to break them apart.

"Are you complaining?" Madeleine asked calmly.

"It's not." Leo X also realized that he had lost his words: "You know me, Sister Madeleine, I am not a man of talentβ€”" He glanced at the deceased Madeleine, and said sadly: "When you were suffering in the bed of that bastard bastard, I could do nothing but write to my father to plead, and at that time, I told myself, this is a helpless thing, your marriage is not only a marriage, but also a covenant, and that bastard is still your husband, the father of your children, I ...... I thought it was so, but Giulio, Madeleine, how old was Giulio at that time? Eight-year-old, does anyone expect an eight-year-old to be able to do anything? No, but he did it anyway, and before you signed the marriage contract, he went to check on Francesk. Sibo ......"

"I know." Madeleine's eyes softened at the mention of this, she still remembered the situation when facing the furious Cibo, the child calmly raised her dagger to confront him, and it was from that day that she finally gave up all illusions about marriage.

"No," said Leo X, "don't you know enough, do you know that it was Julio who made Innocent VIII mistakenly believe that he was infected with smallpox by his illegitimate son Cibo?" He was able to kill Francesco with the sword of Innocent VIII. Cibo," he saw Madeleine's eyes slowly widen, "Francesco has hurt you, and may be a mortal threat to you in the years to come, so Giulio thinks that he can't be left behind, he did it, and the result is what you see, the bastard died in a sealed room, soaked in olive oil, and his stomach was full of olive oil, and he starved to death." ”

β€œβ€¦β€¦ Have you been afraid of him from that time? Madeleine was silent for a moment and asked.

Leo X smiled: "Fear, no, how come? Sister, now that you know how he dealt with Sibo, do you fear him, and I know how he dealt with Luigi. Borgia, Caesar. Borgia, our brother Pierrot. The Medici and Alexander VI, and Charles VIII, and Louis XII, though he had the sharpest fangs I have ever seen, but it was only against the enemy, not friends and relatives, and I felt safe with him. ”

"So that's the real reason," said Madeleine, "that you don't want to be his enemy." ”

"I don't want to," said Leo X earnestly, "and how sad poor little Julio would be if I were to become his enemy." He shook his head, "He's had enough, I may not be able to do anything for him, but it's okay not to do anything." ”

β€”β€”β€”β€”β€”β€”β€”β€”β€”β€”

Before today, it was not without the abdication of the pope.

For example, the former Benedict IX, is the nephew of the former Pope John XIX, he was put on the papal throne by his father when he was 12 years old, but unfortunately this pampered teenager has no interest in religion and power, people say, he is like a Roman emperor as extravagant, misbehaving, the people of Rome after 13 years of patience drove him out of Rome, re-elected Pope Sylvester III, did not expect this seemingly incompetent Benedict IX to recapture Rome with a group of mercenaries, Sylvester III, who had only been pope for twenty days, hurriedly announced his abdication.

Two hundred years later, another man named Moreau. Peter's priest was elected pope, but this was only the result of the cardinals' inability to compromise with each other, because he had been a poor ascetic before, who had spent three years in the caves of the mountains and rocks like a savage, and although it was unanimously regarded that he was of high character and pious, it was also true that the pope did not have the slightest political literacy, and he could not even sit on the papal throne, and after thirty days on the throne, he publicly announced his abdication. The cardinals agreed to his request after two more months of urgent consultations.

As for the present, just a few decades ago, the famous Great Schism caused a ridiculous situation in which three popes reigned at the same time, and after some disputes and quarrels, the three popes were finally able to abdicate either voluntarily or passively, and the pope after them was Martin V, and then after five popes in a row, there was the familiar Sixtus IV, and after him was Innocent VIII.

Who would have thought that a pope would choose to abdicate voluntarily when he was safe inside and outside, in good health and with reliable courtiers? Needless to say, shouldn't the Holy Father, who had only rebuilt St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square, and the whole of Rome, conquered France and his allies, and had reached a pinnacle in both human and military rule, have even greater ambitions?

"But I have done what I wanted to do," cried Leo X through the door to the cardinals who were kneeling in the corridor begging him to change their minds: "I said I would rebuild Rome, I rebuilt, I said I would renovate God's dwelling on earth, and I would finish it, and I would make it perfect, I would re-establish the authority of the Church, and I would do it - unless you think that a king is not enough, but I can't do more, let those who can do it do it!" ”

The cardinals couldn't help but be dumbfounded, Leo X was really right, no matter how ridiculous he was before, the promises he made before had become true, and even what he hadn't said he had fulfilled them, what else could he do? Everyone knows that they want to recreate the glory of the Church during the Crusades...... Even if it's not a fantasy, it's not something that the entire fat and optimistic pope can do.

But this is not to say that he has to abdicate, although it is known that he is making way for his brother, the uncrowned king of Rome, but why bother, isn't it all Medici?

Of course, they know why, and they can understand it, but how do they explain it to the church and the people?

Yes...... Because our pope is too ...... Wayward, so we can only allow him to abdicate as he asks, and then let his brother take over the white garment of Christ? Yes, there are no conspiracies, no deals, no complicated reasons, just because we have a Holy Father who is too freewheeling?

No wonder he asked Giulio. The Medici managed to summon all the cardinals to Rome, knowing that if they knew what he was going to do, including Giulio, they would immediately strangle them in the cradle.

Leaving aside how the cardinals were in trouble, Leo X was having a good time, he was not a man who liked to go out anyway, and even if Julio threatened him with the little jar of honey he had, he would not see anyone.

Madeleine went out to see Giulio, and when she saw him, she laughed: "Why, are you helpless?" ”

Giulio had a hundred ways to enter Leo X's chambers, but no matter which one of them was used, Leo X's majesty as pope would have been destroyed, for he had already said, "No one is seen."

Giulio wasn't that cruel yet.

"Would you like to support him?" Julio whispered, "Please go and ask him, is he not willing to celebrate the new Holy Mass?" ”

The so-called Holy Year was proposed by the then Pope Boniface VIII in 1300, originally once every hundred years, but because the interval was too long, so later Clement VI changed it to once every fifty years, and once every fifty years is also a bit long, so Urban VI changed it to once every thirty-three years (on the grounds that Jesus spent thirty-three years in the wilderness), and when Paul II ascended the throne, in order to seek an opportunity to preside over the Holy Year's Mass, it was changed to once every twenty-five years, but he could not wait for the next Holy Year. Instead, it was fulfilled by the later Sixtus IV.

Not long after the year of 1500 had passed, and Giulio was now suggesting, no doubt that he would support Leo X in bringing the holy year forward again, Madeleine hesitated, but when she asked Leo X, Leo X replied: "Can't I leave my name in the history books of the Church now?" ”

Of course, not only can, but perhaps more than the previous popes who presided over the Holy Year Mass, after all, after Canossa, the opportunity for the Church to be so proud is really rare, the bishops (except Cardinal George) will definitely take the opportunity to write about it, Leo X's name will be widely known, and perhaps in a few hundred years people will remember that there was a pope who made King Louis XII of France kneel and kiss the Holy enough to ask for forgiveness.

The bait for such a delicacy as the Holy Year was also rejected, and the bishops had to face up to Leo X's resoluteness, and the conclave was held in the Sistine Chapel as Leo X had hoped, and although it was not as tight as when the pope was elected, it was also heavily guarded, and all the cardinals tacitly agreed not to enter and leave the Vatican Palace at will, and although everyone knew that there must be an undercurrent where no one could see and ask, on the surface, Rome fell into an indescribable dead silence.

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He had to return to Rome before the other cardinals, because he had come with his master and student, Charles of Austria, and he had the task of reporting to his former subordinate Giulio. The Medici pleaded with the prince Charles to ask for his forgiveness, but before he could formally meet him, a bigger change happened, not to mention Charles, even if he was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he was afraid that it would be difficult for his chaotic mind to have a second thought.

Leo X voluntarily abdicated.

Or rather, it doesn't matter if it's the initiative or not, every cardinal knows that the papal throne is empty.

The closest to this throne is Giulio. Medici, but it is not unheard of before, the person closest to the throne unfortunately fell and fell.

The decision to allow the papal abdication was soon passed, and then the pope was elected, the Sistine Chapel was truly sealed, and the cardinals came together to plot one after another, to make deals one hand after another, to exhort and threaten one after another...... Tiny fires danced in the darkness, and faces he was familiar with......

Medici ...... Amboise ...... Orsini...... Albrey ...... Colonna ...... Del Monte ...... Farnese ......

One by one, anonymous ballots were thrown into the Holy Grail, the cardinal in charge of the counting of votes read out one name after another, and the princes in red nervously counted in their hearts......

Black smoke, black smoke, black smoke...... No result......

Food became scarce, no one could sleep, and the people outside the Sistine waited anxiously......

White.

Who is it? Who is it? Who is it?

Countless small white notes fell, and Boworks reached out and grabbed one of them tightly......

Be......

Adrian. Florisson. Buins!