……

In the end, the cardinals still accepted the Pope's statement, and there was no way to accept it, Pius IX made it very clear that whoever refused, he would not go anyway.

The Pope compromised, and the only thing the people below could do was accept.

The quarrel at St. Peter's Cathedral soon reached Alfonso's ears, and at that time it seemed that there was a concerted condemnation of the Pope and a vow to defend the power of the Church to the death.

But in fact, there are already Alfonso's allies inside.

After all, not every cardinal is very famous, and most of them are still the same as ordinary people, and no one recognizes them for hundreds of years after their death.

If you don't have the desire to go further, and your faith is not firm enough, you can do anything if you give money.

What's more, it's just to help stand in the team at a critical moment and report the news.

Of course, Cardinal Alfonso, who bought this kind of bribe, did not dare to entrust him with important responsibilities at all, and it was more reliable for Andrew to know the roots.

Alfonso had already planned that if Pius IX died a few years later, he would first put Andrew in the position of archbishop, stay for two or three years before running for the cardinal, and then run for the pontiff.

It's not the Middle Ages, and it's impossible to expect the Pope to launch a great holy war or something, but it's still okay to help endorse and fight against political opponents.

The main purpose is to affirm the government's decrees and make them more acceptable to the public.

In the anxious waiting of all parties, the week passed quickly.

Unfortunately, it did not fall short as some had hoped, and the consecration of the Basilica of San Francesco took place as scheduled.

This is probably one of the most watched consecration ceremonies in history.

Even Prussian newspapers mentioned it, not to mention countries such as France.

The struggle for papal power and imperial power was not only in Spain, but Britain and France and other countries had already won the victory through centralization, and Prussia through proselytism.

If Spain could strike a severe blow to the authority of the Church through this matter, it would be of great benefit to all countries.

At this time, in a villa around the Basilica of San Francisco, Alfonso was sitting with Adolfo, they were only invited to the audience, and there was nothing to do in front of them.

The two drank Indian Assam black tea bought from the United Kingdom, and chatted while sipping tea.

"Your Majesty, I have something I don't understand." Adolf said: "Why are you fighting the church so hard, now that the church is in our hands, their influence is our influence. ”

"Huh." Alfonso chuckled: "Do you think the authority of the church is great?" ”

“…… It should be quite large, at least in Spain, Italy and Austria have a lot of influence, and the Catholic atmosphere in South America is also very strong. Adolf thought for a moment and said.

Alfonso shook his head: "It's not big at all, religion has long lost its dominance among the people, and the reason why Catholicism has been able to maintain a high status in many countries is because the rulers need religion to ensure their sanctity, and on the other hand, the risk of attacking the church is too high." ”

He said unhurriedly:

"As for South America, there is only faith in God and does not follow the orders of Rome at all.

Spain today does not need to use the Church to intervene in other countries, because they simply can't. ”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

In fact, the main reason Alfonso did not say that when he first ascended the throne, the country was in chaos, and the influence of the church was indeed crucial, which helped him win the support of many conservatives at that time.

But now it is enough to rely on the military and the economy to maintain stability, and it is not worth the loss to keep the church in the country.

While the two were talking, the consecration ceremony was about to begin.

The ceremony was officiated by Pope Pius IX and attended by Archbishop Antonio of Toledo, Archbishop Perrigrina of Seville, Cardinal Giovanni of Rome and others.

Nearly a hundred high-ranking clergy came.

In addition, the presence of King Alfonso of Spain, Ambassador Lagarde of France, Ambassador Dušci of Russia, etc.

In this era, the clerical power and the imperial power were intertwined, and it was difficult to say clearly who had the right to appoint the priesthood.

Spain rarely clashed with the Church, and in this sense, the power of the king should have remained in the Middle Ages; But in fact, because of the growth of the royal power of other countries, Spain also tacitly received some concessions from Rome.

Therefore, it is reasonable for the king to appoint the church to approve and the church to appoint the king to appoint the king, mainly depending on the person.

In order to publicize Andrew's identity and show the authority of the new Archbishop of Madrid, Alfonso called all the people who should be called this time.

No matter how perverse this triad consecration may be, its legitimacy is beyond doubt in the hands of the Pope, an infallible man.

Throughout the ceremony, the reporters and officials who watched the ceremony all looked like they were having fun, while the faces of the clergy were faintly unwilling and angry.

Since this was a humiliating affair, and it was clearly coerced by Spain, the church did not publicize it, nor did it announce who would attend the ceremony, and at most some gossip was circulating.

Therefore, everyone did not expect that the Pope would actually come in person before he came.

Anger is anger, and many people are sad to realize that the Spanish Church is gone, and don't they see that Archbishop Antonio is concerned and does not say a word.

But it is impossible to expect them to give in like this, and this kind of hard-handed method of the king is obviously a test of the power of the church, and if they just bear it in silence, they do not know how they will be cleaned up later.

If you say that, you have to resist a little, show your strength, and let the king not go too far.

This revolt had already begun, and the reluctance of the three Spanish cardinals to preside over the ceremony was part of it.

In addition, there were even people who tried to ram the holy car and interfere with the consecration ceremony.

It's just that this gunman, who doesn't know who arranged it, was dealt with by security personnel on the periphery, and it didn't have any impact on the venue.

However, this still cast a haze over everyone present.

Eventually, the ceremony was completed and Andrew took over the cane, representing the powers of the bishop, and officially became the first bishop of the Archdiocese of Madrid.

He is also the youngest archbishop in the history of Spain, and in more than two years, he was promoted from assistant deacon to archbishop, and this terrible rate of promotion made his popularity very bad.

Most of the clergy who watched the ceremony walked away after the ceremony, without even a polite word, or even disdainful of being familiar with them.

Obviously, the confrontation only escalated to the surface at this point, and most of the clergy did not hesitate to choose to side with the church.

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