The several Archbishops in the room were instantly stunned speechless.
Such a major matter as replacing Cardinal Archbishops, yet the Holy See had made its decision in haste without even notifying these archbishops from Spain to return to Rome for discussion.
Seeing the shock and resentment written across their faces, Campos felt a powerful surge of satisfaction well up inside him.
Back when he had followed His Majesty Carlos III in reforming the church, these Archbishops had harried him until he was run ragged with every overt and covert tactic imaginable. This time, he had finally washed away his old humiliation!
When the Crown Prince of France had told him that he could make the Church bow its head to the Spanish government, he simply had not believed it.
Yet the Holy See had truly removed three Cardinal Archbishops.
What Campos did not know was that, this time, the Roman Curia had come begging Joseph for help—
Several thousand citizens of Rome had surrounded St. Peter's Basilica. Though they had committed no extreme acts, they had sent representatives to the Pope several times, demanding an Electoral Parliament and secular self-governance.
Amid the protesters' day-and-night cries, everyone in the Holy See had become like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, terrified that these people might one day lose their patience and storm inside.
And after Austria withdrew from Northern Italy, France was the only one left that could help the Holy See suppress the rebellion.
Joseph readily promised to have the Holy See pay to "hire" the Republic of Milan's army to quell the unrest. The condition was that the Holy See "rectify" the Spanish Church.
The Pope and several dozen Archbishops discussed it for only half an hour before deciding to "sacrifice" three colleagues from Spain in