The meaning of William's words is actually very clear, you must know that the Prussians have always secretly supported Felix's biggest opponent - Giovanni, but now the Prussian monarch is saying that he has always been optimistic about Felix, and it is obvious that the Prussians are.
"Your Majesty, dedicating my life to the cause of God is something I should do, and I am really ashamed of His Majesty's attention, but since His Majesty has always thought that the cause of God can be developed more brilliantly, then no matter what, I naturally cannot live up to Your Majesty's hopes!"
Felix said to William after a moment.
Hearing Felix say this, the speechless man became William.
The meaning of William's words just now was nothing more than talking to Felix, and implying that Felix's own attitude was not impossible to change, but Felix actually deliberately misinterpreted the meaning of his words.
This also made William realize that he was indeed worthy of being an old fox who had been crawling in the Holy See for decades, and he was even more powerful than ordinary people when he was shameless.
"Haha, Your Excellency is really ...............
However, the choice of the Pope should be a matter of concern to the Cardinals, and although I am Augustus of the Holy Roman Empire, I will never interfere with the Cardinals' decisions!
Of course, to some extent, it will also depend on whether the next pope can maintain a good and harmonious relationship with the empire!
” William had to be more straightforward, Felix's face was not ordinarily thick, if he didn't say it bluntly, he was afraid that Felix would deliberately distort the meaning of his words and spread it out.
When the time comes, it will be more than worth the loss to arouse the hostility of Giovanni.
"Oh, of course.
As the most powerful country in the Catholic world, the Holy See has always been committed to friendship with the Holy See, and I think the most important thing for the next pope to do after being elected is to make some changes to the canon, and at the same time to improve relations with the faithful in Christendom who have different understandings of the Bible.
After all, Lutheranism also has a lot of strong influence in the world, although the understanding of the doctrine is different, but we all believe in the same God, so we should seek common ground while reserving differences!
” Felix naturally understood what William meant, so after thinking for a while, he said to William.
The so-called Lutheranism is Protestantism.
In the sixteenth century, after the Protestant Church represented by Lutheranism parted ways with the Holy See, the Catholic Church even waged many wars with the Protestant countries under the call of the Holy See because of the different understandings of Catholic doctrine in the past hundred years.
It was against this backdrop that the famous "Thirty Years' War" in European history took place.
However, the Protestant German princes successfully resisted the attacks of the Catholic states, which forced the Holy See to recognize the existence of Lutheranism, and in 1648 the princely states of the Holy Roman Empire signed the Peace of Westphalia with Denmark, England, Sweden, and Spain, which meant the end of the Thirty Years' War.
The most important significance is the recognition that the old and new religions have been given equal status.
Although Protestantism was recognized after the Treaty of Westphalia, the Holy See never gave up on resuming religious invasions of Protestant countries, and successive popes wanted Catholicism to become the only faith in Europe again.
Even Pius VI also adopted a slightly indifferent attitude towards the Protestant state during his reign, if it were not for the fact that the Prussians paid large tributes to the Holy See every year and that the Kingdom of Prussia had become the hegemon of the continent through successive wars.
I'm afraid Pius VI wouldn't have allowed William to come to Rome for the coronation at all.
Felix hoped to impress William by encouraging freedom of belief and seeking common ground while reserving differences, but unfortunately William was not very tempted by this rule.
Perhaps in Felix's opinion, he has made a considerable sacrifice on this condition, after all, there are not a few diehards in the Catholic Church.
And these diehards are Protestant-hate.
But alas, in the communication between William and Giovanni.
Giovanni had promised to purge the Catholic Church of the die-hard as soon as he ascended the papal throne, and at the same time to develop hand in hand with the Protestant Church.
Looking at William, whose face did not become as happy as he had imagined, Felix became a little apprehensive.
In Felix's view, William's most important thing was to maintain a harmonious relationship between Protestantism and Catholicism.
If William had only been a Prussian king, perhaps he would have only considered Protestantism, or even the elimination of Catholicism.
But William is now the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire!
In the vast territory of the Holy Roman Empire, in which Catholics outnumbered Protestants, William had to make sure that his empire did not fall apart because of religious issues, and that he would need the help of the Holy See if he wanted to rule the Holy Roman Empire firmly.
What is the Holy See?
The Holy See is the holy place for all Catholics!
Perhaps the Holy See cannot overthrow the monarch of William's Holy Roman Empire, but if it wants to make the Holy Roman Empire into chaos, then it is not a difficult thing for the Holy See, after all, although the Protestant countries in Europe are far stronger than the Catholic countries at present, but as the religion with the largest number of believers, it is not difficult for Catholicism to make a country chaotic.
"Your Excellency Felix, as the monarch of the Holy Roman Empire, I naturally don't want my empire to have problems because of religious beliefs, in that case, I will have a great headache!
In addition, this condition of Your Excellency is not very important to me, because others have said it to me!
” Hearing William's words, Felix was not surprised in his heart.
After all, the Prussians had invested a lot of energy in Giovanni in the early stage, and in this case, for the Prussians to turn to support Felix would mean that all the previous investments in Giovanni had been reduced to nothingness.
Moreover, as his biggest competitor, how could an old fox like Felix not bury his eyeliner by Giovanni's side. not only buried eyeliner, but even won the trust of Giovanni because of this eyeliner.
Felix was also aware of a series of conditions agreed between Giovanni and the Prussians.
Felix gritted his teeth and said: Of course, in addition to freedom of belief, I think the Holy See should better help the believers of the Holy Roman Empire to develop, of course, I have always believed that religion and the secular are not in conflict at all, so I think the church should give up part of the church property, and hand over this part of the property to the local government to operate, and then the church's usual expenses will be provided by the local government, so that the local government will pay for it.
Not only is it beneficial to the local secular government, but it also allows the clergy of the Holy See to better free themselves from worldly affairs to serve God!
” After Felix's words were finished, although William's face did not show any expression, the hand he clenched into a fist behind his back showed that he was not at peace in his heart.
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What is the Holy See?
The Holy See is the most popular religion in the world!
Thousands of years of worship and development have made the property of the Holy See a big fat in the eyes of all secular rulers.
But in the Middle Ages, even the most greedy secular rulers did not dare to attack the idea of the papacy's property, after all.
The Holy See is capable of supreme kingship.
However, after the Protestant and Catholic countries parted ways, the Protestant countries began to confiscate their own Catholic property, which made the Protestant countries make a lot of money.
In the Holy Roman Empire, in addition to Prussia, Bavaria, Austria, Hungary, etc. were all Catholic.
And in these areas, the property of the Catholic Church has accumulated to a very terrible number.
If there is anyone who is the richest in Europe, it is needless to say that it must be the Holy See, which is not even comparable to the British.
This is not an exaggeration, and the reason why Napoleon was able to sweep through Europe is based on history.
In addition to the plundering of the goods of the army, the property of the Church also accounted for a considerable proportion of it.
And now Felix actually revealed that he was willing to give up the church property to William.
This had to surprise William.
According to the Prussian intelligence service, the assets of the Catholic Church in Austria and Bavaria and other vassal states alone in the Holy Roman Empire alone amounted to at least 30 million gold marks, which was almost enough to cover two years' income of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Know that it's income!
It is not bad that Prussia can often have a surplus of one million in its annual income after deducting expenditures, after all, Prussia is a military state, and on this basis, there is often not much money left in the treasury.
Of course, these assets included a large amount of real estate, but for William, it was also a huge wealth that gave birth to greed in his heart.
If the Holy See could really hand over the ecclesiastical property of the Holy Roman Empire to William, then there is no doubt that Prussia would be able to grow by leaps and bounds in five years, and at least such a large sum of money would be invested in the navy, which would almost surpass the size of the British Royal Navy.
William had previously tried to discuss this issue with Giovanni, but Giovanni categorically did not agree.
"Oh, Your Excellency Felix really has a heart, but I wonder why the church property should be given to the central government of the empire even if it is handed over, why should it be given to the local government" Although the Catholic Church had so much property in the Holy Roman Empire, some of the states were not under the direct control of William, as was Austria.
Don't look at Karl has been obediently following Wilhelm all this time, but William believes that Karl has never given up the ambitions of the Habsburgs, and in this case, it is also a huge problem to get these church properties from Austria.
Felix smiled and said: "Of course, this is not a short-term plan, in my opinion, to divide these industries from the Holy See will inevitably cause turmoil in the entire Holy See, so we can also choose a region as a pilot, in my opinion, it is better to start with the Bavarian region, after a period of trial, if you can achieve a win-win effect, then it is logical to generalize, as for the central government and the local government, this point is powerless!"
Austria, including other Catholic countries, has been seeking to obtain from the Holy See the right to dispose of ecclesiastical property, but the Holy See has never agreed.
For Felix.
The strength of the Prussians was obvious to all, in order not to let the Holy See become a puppet in the hands of this powerful monarch.
He had to keep some of the necessary capital.
Historically, however, there have been many Holy Roman Emperors who have raised their armies against the Holy See.
In this case, Felix believes that even if he wants to win William's support, he must leave some capital for himself.
Moreover, the power groups involved in the church's property are too large for even Felix, who has become the Pope, to fulfill his promise to William at once.
"Very well, Your Excellency said it very well.
If you promise to ask the clergy everywhere to do me a favor, then I think the Holy Roman Empire will stand behind you!
” William admits that even though Felix's conditions seemed a little shrunk, he was still impressed.
"Oh, I wonder what else Your Majesty wants?"
"I hope that the churches everywhere will help me to promote the idea of the unification of the Holy Roman Empire, if you will, of course.
Prussia will send the materials to the churches, and the clergy will pass them on to the faithful!
” William's face was blank, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.
But listening to Felix's ears, Felix's face could no longer control the change.
From the moment the Holy Roman Empire was founded, the Holy Roman Empire was never unified, and not only because of the balance of power between the emperor and the princes.
At the same time, there is the problem of ideology, after all, the states have existed in isolation for thousands of years, and in such a situation, it is difficult to unify the Holy Roman Empire.
Historically, several of the Holy Roman Empire's most powerful emperors have also promoted the unification of the Holy Roman Empire.
But after the war was full of corpses, the Holy Roman Empire was still torn apart.
A situation in which the states are siloed.
Felix didn't think William could succeed, but Felix didn't think William could do it either, because Prussia's strength on the European continent was already obvious to all.
But William's words still made Felix see the ambition in William's heart.
Felix hesitated, he had to hesitate.
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If the Catholic Church promotes this idea among the faithful, there is no doubt that the Catholic Church will become the great enemy in the minds of the monarchs of the Holy Roman Empire except Prussia, after all, the influence of the Catholic Church in the minds of a considerable number of Catholics even exceeds the boundaries of nations and states.
"Of course, in return, once the Holy Roman Empire is unified, I will follow the example of Pepin, the ruler of the Frankish kingdom in history, and then I think the territory of the Papal States will be expanded by at least nearly half!"
William made a promise that made Felix extremely tempting.
Although the Holy See has such a strong influence in Catholicism, this does not mean how strong the Papal States are, it is precisely because of the great influence of the Holy See that all European countries have an unspoken rule for the Papal States, that is, to resolutely resist the expansion of the Papal States.
After all, once the Papal States expands, it is difficult to guarantee that the Pope, who has greatly increased his strength, will not breed the ambition to compete with secular monarchs for secular territories, coupled with the huge influence of the Holy See, I wonder which country can resist it!
It is true that there have been many popes in the history of the Holy See who wanted to expand the territory of the Papal States, but without exception they were unanimously resisted by secular monarchs.
Felix was thrilled, if he could expand the territory of the Papal States, then the influence of surrendering church property would no longer exist, and even Felix would immediately become one of the greatest popes in the history of the Holy See!
Some monarchs valued money more than territory, while others did the opposite, and for the Holy See, who had no worries about money but always wanted to expand the territory of the Papal States, if they could exchange the ecclesiastical property in the Holy Roman Empire for the expansion of the Papal States, then the deal would not be a loss, if not profitable.
It was precisely because he knew that Prussia and Giovanni had tried this issue that Felix had been so happy to reach a consensus with Prussia on the property of the church.
"Your Majesty, I have to say that this condition of yours really moves my heart, but what makes me wonder is, didn't Giovanni agree to this condition of Your Majesty?"
Felix calmed down a little and then asked William.
Hearing Felix's words, William felt a little regretful in his heart.
He did discuss this with Giovanni, but Giovanni was a complete God fanatic, or rather Giovanni valued faith more than anything else.
William consulted with him about the expansion of the territory of the Papal States and the Church's support for William.
But apart from religious freedom, Giovanni did not agree too much to William's other conditions.
In Giovanni's view, the property of the Church is used to worship God, and even if it is exchanged for the beautiful picture of the Papal States, Giovanni will never allow anyone to snatch these property belonging to God from the hands of the Church!
William shook his head and did not answer Felix's words, and then William chatted with Felix for a few more words, suggesting that Felix himself would support him, and Felix, who received a satisfactory answer, left William's palace.