Laura Croft closed the thick dossier with lingering satisfaction, as if she had just finished an engrossing novel, eagerly anticipating its sequel. The Holy See had always been where money and power converged. No matter how doctrine condemned money and wealth, the intrigues and rent-seeking that flowed through the Vatican court could never be separated from the clinking of gold coins; otherwise, the Medici Family could never have produced so many Popes. Even now, in an era when the Holy See's influence and wealth had sharply declined, the Vatican still possessed incomparable influence.
Having heretical leanings in such an environment was hardly strange. What mattered was the extent and nature of the heresy. Colluding with wizards was unquestionably the gravest form of heresy; even a Pope could face deposition or excommunication. She now held a document denying the legitimacy of John XII's pontificate, as well as that of every Pope who followed him. Combined with John XII's colorful private life involving widows, his own father's mistresses, and even his nieces, along with the era of rule known as the "Pornocracy," this document might even slightly shake the Vatican's authority over the Catholic world.
However, Laura Croft was not foolish enough to believe that this document alone could overturn the rule of the Holy See. After all, Felix VIII, the "antipope" appointed by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, had been deposed; Benedict V was subsequently dethroned; and John XIII was forcibly installed by Otto I after he led troops into Italy. From then on began the struggle between papal and imperial power. The "antipope" became the Vatican's orthodoxy, while the Roman people's referendum to elect a Pope meant nothing.
Today's Vatican was neutral territory, the product of reconciliation, concessions, consultation, and negotiation among many nations. Even when so many priests in