Frankincense and Sulfur

Although the object displayed to the left of the high altar in the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute looked like the Ark of the Covenant, it was not actually the Ark of the Covenant.

Catholicism placed great emphasis on ritual. Sacred music and Mass settings were essential to the Mass.

Christianity had split itself apart over the Mass. Catholicism, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church each had their own rules. Compared with Protestants, Catholics spent far more on churches and religious implements.

Once churches became magnificent, there was no money left for other construction. If Britain faced flooding like Venice, they would simply pump the water out. Wizards could solve it with a Drying Charm. Why spend 4.5 billion euros on some Moses Project?

That plan was clearly useless. It had been under construction for two years, yet St. Mark's Square still flooded as usual. The Venetians had grown accustomed to it. Besides, major floods only came once every ten years; with or without that plan, life went on. What angered them was that the city government had sold off those palaces without informing them, as well as the tax increases.

It would have been one thing if building that dam worked. If it did not work after costing so much money, then the officials had certainly been embezzling funds.

Pomona did not know whether Severus had been healed after standing at that black spot in the "vortex" for so long last night. In any case, her stomach had been healed. After coming to Venice, she had finally had a pizza. There were hardly any restaurants open after eight in the evening, and those that were open were expensive. Only pizzerias were cheap and filling.

One advantage of being married was that she could openly eat plenty of cheese