Anticipating Your Anticipation

Sir Briggs hesitated, "As I said before, Father Gleiner has explicitly refused me. Now that the Cologne Parliament has made its decision, he is even less likely to—"

Henderson's lips curled into a cold smile, "Gleiner has been involved in Cologne's political circles for a long time, so he doesn't care too much about the loss of Church assets. But the interests of the archpriests, parish priests, and even the Cultivator in the Church School will be greatly affected after the Church gives up its land and taxes."

"We should start with them. On one hand, we can influence the Church Party in the Cologne Parliament, and on the other hand, we can get them to incite public opinion in Cologne to march outside the Prince-Bishop's Palace."

The Cologne Parliament is located to the east of the Prince of Münster Prince-Bishop's Palace.

Sir Briggs ' eyes lit up immediately.

Indeed, the main source of income for local Church is the tenancy on their land and their share of the Tithe. The clergy would certainly be very unhappy if the Holy See used these two things to "bribe" the Cologne government.

If this group were to spread the message that "joining the Holy Trade Alliance would be harmful to Cologne," even if Parliament had already begun negotiations for membership, it certainly wouldn't be able to proceed smoothly. No, Parliament would most likely change its decision.

"You're right." He immediately grabbed his coat and headed outside. "We'll go find Father Dressler now."

Henderson asked, "Who is that?"

"The archpriest of the suburbs of Münster, he wielded considerable influence among the clergy."

The archpriest is the person in charge of the specific church affairs of a city, managing all the parish priests in the area, and his power is second only to the bishop. In large cities like Münster, the inner and outer areas are managed by two archpriests respectively.

"Please don't rush," Henderson gestured for him to sit down. "We need to carefully develop a plan, such as how to persuade him and how to proceed with the subsequent actions."

The next morning, Sir Briggs, with a complete plan in mind, confidently drove to Father Dressler's home in the south of the city.

However, to the United Kingdom's surprise, the priest sent his Servant to tell him that it was absolutely impossible to contact the "Protestantism heretics".

Sir Briggs was not discouraged and immediately went to the residence of another high-ranking clergyman as planned, but was also firmly refused.

The bewildered counselor then approached two more priests, but failed to secure an opportunity to persuade them.

That afternoon, in the unassuming Church of Saint Salvati, a dozen highly influential high-ranking priests surrounded two France, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Mr. Portalis, you mentioned yesterday that the patronage of all clergy would be increased," Father Dressler said, looking at the young man before him. "I'd like to know, will this money come from the Holy See? After all, the Münster Church have almost no income going forward."

Portalis was there on behalf of the Holy See to read the decree to the Münster Church.

The documents he brought showed that the Church would no longer need to pay the Holy See fees such as ordination fees, common service fees, and first-year bishop fees.

At the same time, the allowances, or salaries, of all clergy will increase by 10% to 18%.

When the news spread, the clergy throughout Cologne were overjoyed – they didn't care who managed the Church assets, as long as they had more money in their own hands, that was a good thing.

Soon, the priests began to promote the benefits of the Holy Trade Alliance to the faithful—a task assigned by the Holy See. Motivated by the "pay raise," everyone worked very hard.

Portalis replied in fluent German, "Of course not. You know, the Church Reformation will cover the whole of Europe, and the Holy See can't possibly come up with that much money."

Father Dressler and the others exchanged glances, their expressions turning cold. Was the Holy See making empty promises again?

"Where does that increased worship come from?"

Portalis said unhurriedly, "It mainly comes from the Apostolic Perpetual Fund. The rest comes from the Saint Isidore Society, the Legal Consultation Society, and the income from the Holy Ribbon Fee."

"Oh, and every year, 50% of the surplus from these revenues has to be handed over to the Holy See."

Father Dressler's eyes widened. "Of all these things you've mentioned, aside from the ceremonial fee—please forgive me, I've never heard of the others."

The priest's fee is the fee that a priest charges for baptizing a faithful person, officiating at a wedding, or a funeral.

Portalis smiled and said, "The Apostolic Perpetual Fund is an Investment Fund belonging to the Church, and the Holy See will send people to manage it for Church in various regions. The principal comes from the assets of local Church and Monastery, and the Holy See will also invest a portion."

The Church in this era was very wealthy.

In addition to the accumulated income from Church lands and Tithe over the years, the major Monastery receive many Nobility devotees every year, who are people who decide to spend the rest of their lives Cultivator, including second sons without inheritance rights and Nobility ladies who cannot get married.

These people would bring some real estate or cash with them when they came to the Monastery. They were not allowed to marry or have children, so their inheritance would be left to the Monastery.

A parish priest immediately said, "Mr. Portalis, I'm afraid this money cannot be used casually. You see, church repairs, charitable work, and Church School all require a lot of money—"

The deputy priest next to him added, "And the Church often sets aside some money for investment, but based on past experience, the returns aren't that great."

"The Apostolic Perpetual Fund will primarily invest in the Holy Investment Bank," Portalis said confidently.

"Let me give you a brief introduction. This is a bank established with funds from all member countries of the Trade Alliance. It does not accept any private investment; only national governments can become shareholders."

"The portion of the Holy See's investment comes from the Apostolic Perpetual Fund."

"This bank will be authorized by all member states to have a higher priority in repayment than any company, individual, or even government."

The so-called right of repayment is the right to receive priority repayment from the borrower in the event of Debt Default.

"At the same time, Holy Investment Bank only issues loans to national-level projects, which are usually guaranteed by the relevant government, making the possibility of default almost negligible."

"I believe there is no more stable and reliable investment than this. Its returns will certainly be much higher than the Church's previous investments."

C

Yes, he was definitely exaggerating. Even in the 21st century, government-guaranteed loans can default, let alone in the early 19th century when financial awareness was lacking.

But this is still much lower than the default rate of private lending.

The World Bank, in later generations, has never lost money.

Joseph directly applied the methods of the French Church Reformation to the Holy See's reformation.

However, other countries did not have the same rapid industrial development France, so the fund could only invest in other areas.

Just then, Holy Investment Bank needed a large sum of money as principal. The two parties were a perfect match.

The voting rights in the World Bank that the Holy See acquires through equity investment are roughly equivalent to France's voting rights.