Count of Floridablanca was instantly alarmed, his voice even trembling:
"Y-you mean, against the Holy See..."
He did not even dare say the final word.
To someone like him, who had grown up under the church's influence since childhood, merely reducing the Holy See's control over Spain would already have been the best possible outcome. He had never imagined that the Crown Prince of France would be so bold!
This was practically blasphemy, a monstrous act of rebellion...
Joseph patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't be nervous. I'm not going to do anything to the Holy See. I merely want it to return to what it originally was."
"What it originally was?"
"That's right." Joseph nodded. "The Holy See ought to be God's representative in the world, devoted wholeheartedly to serving the Lord, rather than wasting its energy managing taxes, bureaucrats, and territories like some secular monarch.
"You know, the Holy See originally had no territory at all. Even the city of Rome should not belong to it.
"As clergy, all they need is a church and their devout souls.
"Yet secular desires have taken hold of those impure clerics. Greedily, they seized vast tracts of land—Lazio, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, and more—and stretched the hand of political ambition toward every nation in Europe."
He drew a deep breath. "So the way the Holy See ought to be is to remain in the Vatican and sincerely serve God."
Count of Floridablanca did not dare respond, but his mind swiftly pictured the situation described by the Crown Prince of France—without the Papal States to rely upon, the Holy See, withdrawn into the Vatican, would indeed be unable to dictate terms to Spain's church. Then, with a single edict, His Majesty the King could thoroughly complete the church reforms.
In truth, Joseph had left