In the early morning, in the city of Rome, a luxurious and huge motorcade was slowly leaving the city.
Thomas stood on the city wall, surrounded by many priests, and a group of people watched the caravan leave.
Thomas had changed into a purple robe.
The look of worry lingered on their faces and eyes. Everyone knew that once this convoy left, it would be a heavy blow to the Holy See and even the entire church.
Some priests could not help but speak.
"Your Majesty, have we really done nothing?"
"Your Majesty, are we just going to watch them leave?"
"Your Majesty, you can't let them go!"
A group of people were all talking, and their words had only one meaning, which was to stop the motorcade in front of them.
"Okay." Thomas turned around slowly and glanced at the priest beside him.
"Okay then, please take the church knights and stop a few purple-clothed archbishops, or, as you think in your mind, kill them all.
Anyone who is willing to do this will definitely support you. "
Thomas' voice was not loud, but it was as if he cast a silencing spell on everyone. The priests stopped talking for an instant.
Just kidding, who are the people leaving? They are the core senior leaders of the church with several purple-clad archbishops as the core, and they are also protected by church knights.
In terms of the status system of the church, let alone the cardinals, not even Thomas, the new chief archbishop, nor the previous chief archbishop Siegel had the right to stop them from leaving.
At the level of the Purple Archbishop, it is almost the ceiling of power in the church. Even if the strength of the various factions is not balanced, even if the chief archbishop nominally leads the Holy See, the identities of these twelve people are still something no one in the church dares to challenge and question.
Because according to the definition of the church, these twelve people are the spokespersons of the twelve main gods in the world. Provoking them is undoubtedly provoking the gods.
As a priest, everyone knows what it means to provoke the gods.
However, perhaps after today, the identity of the purple-robed archbishop will change, and the number of them will no longer be twelve.
Because the departure of this convoy means the disintegration of the previous church power structure. The Holy See will inevitably be divided from now on.
"But... Your Majesty, we cannot just watch the Holy See fall into division."
One cardinal ventured to speak, his words laced with sorrow.
"Once the Holy See is split, how will we control the churches in various places? The authority of the church may plummet from now on."
"This is not a problem you should worry about." Thomas glanced at the cardinal lightly, then turned his sights outside the city again, as if he was looking at an invisible distance.
"Don't say you don't dare to take action, even I, even the Italian king who wants to be crowned Emperor of Rome, don't dare to take action against this convoy.
Have you seen the situation on the sea? "
"What?" The priests were puzzled.
"You didn't see it, but I saw it." Thomas shook his head and sighed slightly. “I saw the empire’s navy, still riding the wind and waves on the sea, still so powerful and invincible.
Yes, the soldiers of the Emperor of Constantinople cannot reach Rome or Milan for the time being, but the entire ocean is still the ocean of the empire.
I don't see any possibility of this changing in the short term.
Do you want the whole of Italy to be isolated from the outside world, and do you want to be unable to enjoy the spices, porcelain and silk from the East in Rome?
If you don't want to, stop those stupid thoughts in your mind. "
The priests followed Thomas' line of sight and looked in that direction. Unfortunately, let alone the empire's fleet, there was not even a shadow of the sea.
Although Rome is very close to the Mediterranean Sea, it is not near the sea.
This is also the reason why this convoy, which clearly poses a major threat to the Holy See, can drive out of Rome so safely.
The Roman emperor's navy was already ready to receive this convoy.
Even though the empire continues to decline, the empire's navy is still invincible in the Mediterranean. Even the Arabs cannot compete with it.
It is precisely because of such a powerful navy that the empire can continue and be maintained.
As a coastal country, no one wants to provoke an opponent with a powerful navy.
"This is the best time, but not the most appropriate time." Thomas shook his head again and looked at Chaoyang with slightly squinted eyes.
"The glory of the sun has just illuminated the earth, and the night has not completely faded away. Your Majesty Siegel is a little too anxious."
After saying that, Thomas took the lead to walk down the city wall and walked towards the largest and most magnificent cathedral in Rome.
A new day has begun, and he still has many things to deal with. It is impossible for him to be here to see off this team.
Thomas's somewhat presumptuous words made the priests on the city wall look at each other.
But after exchanging glances, everyone could only remain silent.
Although Thomas' comments about Siegel would cause an uproar if spread, and would even shock the remaining Vatican, they were nothing compared to what happened during this period.
Perhaps, this is the beginning of a new era.
However, whether the beginning of this new era is good or bad, and where the future of the church will go, those priests who left Rome are not sure, and the priests who are standing on the city wall at the moment and choose to stay in Rome are also not sure.
Everything that happened during this period was so fast and violent that no one was prepared.
From that day when the church's chief archbishop Siegel expressed his attitude in his room, the situation in the entire city of Rome changed instantly.
Just two days later, at the meeting of the Archbishops, Siegel put his previously stated ideas to a vote.
As a result, it naturally aroused strong opposition and debate and was passed.
When the priests of the Sun God family were celebrating that their Archbishop Siegel was still able to firmly control the situation in the Holy See, no one knew that the situation would be beyond everyone's expectations.
On the day after the meeting of the Archbishops Conference ended, such a passage leaked out in the city of Rome. It was said that it came from the mouth of a certain purple-robed archbishop.
"If the Chief Archbishop decides to separate from the empire and break away from the emperor's control, then perhaps we will use our ancient rights to review the legality of this Archbishop's meeting and whether the Chief Archbishop is still suitable to lead the Holy See."
Rumors spread, and the entire city of Rome and the surrounding area was in uproar.
Everyone knew what the unnamed purple-clothed archbishop meant in his words, which was to hold a religious conference that had not been held in the church for hundreds of years.
It is a sacred and ancient institution that has only been held twice in the entire history of the church.
The first religious conference was when faced with a monotheistic religion that was allegedly founded by the Son of God. The conference decided that together with the imperial officials, that is, with the emperor, they would spare no effort to strangle this monotheistic sect.
At the same time, reforms in religious texts were carried out.
Eventually, Roman polytheism completed its evolution and successfully continued within the empire.
The second religious council took place when the Western Roman Empire was on the verge of collapse.
Facing the increasingly turbulent barbarian attacks, the Roman Catholic Church, which was very dangerous at the time, was divided into two factions.
One group advocated giving up the dioceses and secular power in the west and retreating to the east with the emperor. One group advocates preaching to the barbarians and maintaining the crumbling church and empire.
Thus, the Second Synod was held.
The system of the Twelve Bishops was established, and the Roman Church successfully reborn after the fall of Western Rome and became even more powerful than when the empire still existed.
So, what about this religious conference?
Will it continue to make the church stronger as before?
Then will the current chief archbishop be willing to do so?
