"Why is the social ethos degrading? There is also the responsibility of the Church, it is those pleasure-hungry high clergy who practice a corrupt and depraved attitude towards life, which greatly weakens the moral appeal of the entire clergy class, when the poor are hungry and begging, they see the priest drinking wine and eating through a window, how can they still hold on to their faith, and how can they believe that the greedy glutton can represent the glory of Pelult and bring mercy and justice to the world?! ”

Alberton Jr. pauses for a few seconds to calm his anger, and then points the finger at deeper institutional corruption in the church.

"Bishop Claude and his fellow travelers may argue with me that not all of the properties listed in the name of the Church really belong to the Church, and I will make this issue clear in public."

Alberton Jr.'s words aroused Roland's curiosity, and he listened intently to him to reveal the secret secrets of the church's estate.

"First of all, I have to admit that a large part of the Church's property does have another owner, but is only nominally listed under the Church flag, so the question is, what is the benefit of doing so to the real owner of the property? What's in it for the church? If it is not beneficial to the owner of the land, he will not risk the confiscation of his land by the church, and if it is not good for the church, the clergy will not allow others to hang the land in the name of their monastery for no reason, so that the church will bear the infamy of annexing the land in vain. ”

Alberton Jr.'s questioning aroused the curiosity of the audience, and they all listened to him with bated breath.

In fact, there is a complex collusion of interests behind this phenomenon, starting with the "Decree on the Representation of Charities" issued in the era of Emperor Gustav. At that time, the church already owned a lot of land in its name, but at that time, the clergy were still relatively simple, caring more about cultivation than managing the land, and they were embarrassed to squeeze serfs to farm for them like those big landlords, and the low-level clergy had to go to the fields and farm by themselves, with the result that most of the church's fields were not well managed, and the yield of crops per mu was much lower than that of the fields cultivated by the laity, which not only reduced the income of the church, but also wasted land resources. ”

In order to reverse this dilemma, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the time realized that it was impractical to make all clergy qualified farmers and managers of the fields, so he wrote to Emperor Gustav and suggested that His Majesty sign a decree allowing the Church to entrust the management of the fields to the laity, so that the Church could hire experienced agriculturists to take care of the fields for them, thereby increasing the income of the farm, and the managers could also share the profits and bonuses, which was the best of both worlds. Of course, the patriarch also had an inexplicit intention - the church could not openly buy slaves to cultivate the church's property, but the church hired managers did not have this moral pressure, and could squeeze the slaves to cultivate the church's land and thus gain more profits. In this way, through an agency agreement, the church built a firewall between it and its own estate, and no matter how the managers of the fields operated, they also pretended to be deaf and dumb to the managers' mistreatment of serfs, and only got their share of the profits, and the church actually became a landlord who collected rents. ”

"Emperor Gustavus was known to be very religious, and not only signed the decree known as the "Charitable Agency", but also generously declared that the ecclesiastical property was exempt from taxation! It was this decree that led to endless troubles, and today, four hundred years later, the Church has become the largest landowner and the largest rentier in the Assanian Empire! ”

"The promulgation of the Charitable Power of Attorney not only benefited the clergy, but also made the cunning landlords find a loophole to exploit, and they curried favor with the local abbots and bribed the senior clergy with money and beautiful women, with the intention of becoming the manager of the local monastery's estates, and second, by attaching their own properties to the name of the church. In this way, these large and small landlords have become managers of the Church's land, and their own land has been cleared, so they naturally do not have to pay a copper plate tax to the state, and as the great steward of the clergy, they are also half clergy, and they are protected by the Church, and they and their immediate family members can be exempted from military service and hard labor, and at the same time, they can still receive income from their share of the land, and only need to give a small part of the harvest to the Church as a nominal fee. And this cost is far less than the tax it should pay to the state! ”

At this point, little Alberton couldn't restrain the indignation in his heart and raised his voice excitedly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, think of it, what a dirty and shameful deal! The landlords who used the "Charitable Agency" to obtain the patronage of the Church have been stealing government taxes for hundreds of years! The empire's finances have not been paid for a long time, shouldn't these dastardly thieves be held accountable for this? Thieves are shameful, but aren't the clergy who provide shelter to thieves shameful accomplices? Don't they know that they are digging into the corners of the country with outlaws? Archbishop Claude, you dare to say that you don't know anything about it?! ”

Bishop Claude grimaced and assumed a gesture of disdain. In fact, he had nothing to argue with, after all, Alberton Jr.'s accusations were all ironclad facts.

"The promulgation of the Charitable Agency dealt a blow to the finances of the Empire, but the Church became so rich that if a monastery owned less than 10,000 acres of fertile land, the abbot was ashamed! These monasteries were like a state within a state, and not only did they enjoy tax exemptions, but they also had the ability to tithe, and this tax, in addition to benefiting the clergy, was a great sin for both the country and the people! ”

"Mr. Weinstein, please pay attention to your sentiments, why is it wrong for the priests to provide sacramental services to the people of their diocese free of charge, to the occasion of weddings and funerals, and to open the church to the public, rain or shine, to provide a place for people to worship, and to collect tithes for these services?" Bishop Claude couldn't help but retort.

"My Lord, I have no objection to the priesthood charging for sacramental services and theological treatments, in fact I encourage this, and it is better for each priest to put his or her service fee clearly marked on the door of the church, so that those in need can see at a glance, and decide which priest to hire to work for him by comparing the price and quality of the service, so that the market competition will automatically weed out those who are inferior and indiscriminate, and what I am opposed to is the general taxation of tithes, such as a person who has not been to a church once from birth to death, who has not enjoyed the sacramental service of the clergy, who carries it himself when he is sick, and who has not asked the clergy to administer spells, why should he pay tithes? The basic principle of paying taxes is that rights and obligations are equal, and if people only bear the tax obligation and do not enjoy the corresponding rights, is this considered 'fair'? ”

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