Popular science says oxygen is poisonous, and the whole internet scolds me for being sick

Whether it's indulgences or other taxes paid by the people.

In fact, they are just a means for the Vatican to make money.

as we all know.

The Vatican also has the power to collect taxes.

Among them is the tithe, which is the so-called poll tax.

All Christians must teach this.

This is mandatory and requires paying one-tenth of your annual income.

If you don't pay it, you will be excommunicated.

They cannot receive God's protection, nor can they be buried in the church cemetery after death.

So this is a poll tax and we have to pay it.

Later a new tax was created, the Peterkin tax.

Nominally it is the fee paid to the Pope.

It was actually used to build St. Peter's Basilica.

Pope Innocent II at the time wanted to build a new church.

But at that time the church didn't know where to get a large sum of money.

So the Peter tax was added.

Next came indulgences.

It claims that as long as believers buy it, they can go to heaven.

All sins will disappear with the ding-dong of the indulgence.

There are various other expenses.

For example, when your child is born, he or she needs to be baptized.

When you get married, you need a priest to officiate.

When you die, you need to invite a priest to hold a ceremony for you.

And each of the above items is a must for ordinary people.

And each time it costs one-third of the average person's annual income.

There are also priests in some areas who threaten the families of the deceased.

If the deceased was not anointed.

If the soul cannot be redeemed after death.

Are you going to pay the anointing fee by threatening you directly like this?

And this cost is a huge amount.

To the extent that in some areas, land has to be mortgaged in order to pay the fees.

There are also ecclesiastical courts.

They make you pay a fine by listing various moral crimes.

I will just convict you of blasphemy and disrespect for God.

They can just take you away and fine you.

This is what some ordinary people do.

But for some wealthy businessmen and nobles.

These little tricks don't work at all.

But the Holy See also has ways to deal with wealthy nobles.

Just say you are a heretic and let the Inquisition judge you.

If all your property is confiscated, what can you do?
If you don't give in, all your property will be confiscated.

If you give in, that's great.

God is merciful, so the church only charges 30% of your total property as a confession fee.

It can save your life.

Do you think that's it?
Then you are wrong.

As a believer, are you not allowed to make a pilgrimage once in your lifetime?
Just like some modern online guides.

"A place you must visit once in your lifetime".

"You will regret it for the rest of your life if you don't eat xxx."

This is just a trick used by the Holy See.

Why do believers have to make a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime?
Because this is all business!

The pilgrimage route was prescribed.

Plan a route for you believers to go on pilgrimage.

Don't you have to eat, drink, defecate and urinate along the way?
In medieval Europe, traveling abroad was a huge expense.

The so-called pilgrimage is actually to allow believers to drive the development of tourism.

Force you to live in certain inns designated by the Vatican.

Otherwise you are impious and your pilgrimage is imperfect.

There are also some trials where you are directly punished to make a pilgrimage to a holy place.

Only through pilgrimage can the sins on you be absolved.

Are you going or not?
In this way, the Vatican can charge fees along the way.

This is why the Vatican needs to invent some so-called holy places.

The purpose is to make money using various methods.

This is still the case in the 21st century, and this approach still works.

There will be more direct ones later.

Directly sell the position of bishop for real money.

It is equivalent to selling official positions in ancient dynasties.

Some nobles covet the position of bishop.

Just sell it like this, as long as you have money, you can negotiate anything. In Ye Zhen's era.

There was even an extremely exaggerated incident.

The Bishop of Cologne sold it directly for the price of 3 tons of silver.

Imagine that someone is willing to pay such a high price.

After he becomes a bishop, will he try to earn it back?

In addition to selling priesthood, some monasteries also engaged in usury.

The annual interest rate is as high as over 50%.

Generally, some farmers cannot make ends meet.

They thought the monastery would be kind enough to lend them money to tide them over the difficult times.

I didn't expect the final annual interest rate to be so high.

If you can’t pay it back, the interest will compound.

In the end, the only way to repay the debt is to use the land.

In this way, the church will have more and more land.

Of course, businessmen have seen a lot of these things as they travel around the country.

Especially those who were directly labeled as heretics during the religious trials.

A businessman whose entire property was confiscated.

They remember these things very clearly.

Finally, that's what they think now.

The act of using sacred objects to make money.

For example, a monastery claims to own the crown of thorns left by Christ.

Possessing a legendary fragment of the True Cross.

A lower point would be to say that they possess the remains of a certain saint.

All of these are also a way to make money.

For example, selling certain holy objects to a monastery for a large sum of money.

Why did some monasteries want to be bought?

It's simple, they also need a gimmick to attract others to come and see.

Why should others go to your monastery?

Because you have something unique that cannot be replaced.

In fact, this is the way the Vatican exploits the monasteries below.

That’s right, the people in the Vatican don’t just exploit outsiders.

This is also true inwardly.

After all, holy objects need to be authenticated.

Without the approval of the Holy See, you can just pick up a piece of bone.

Who admits that what you have is a truly holy object?

Otherwise you will pay a large appraisal fee to the Vatican.

Otherwise, buy the holy relics from the Vatican.

It's all about making money.

So it has been passed down to the present day, and you can see
In this game, Ye Zhen proposed to find the sacred mirror.

It has never appeared before.

But these businessmen are so sharp.

They can find the key to everything.

The church just wants to make money.

They are too familiar.

So these businessmen are naturally thinking about this.

Could this be a new way for the church to make money?

Just wait for them to send the money?

In particular, they made huge profits under the guise of the angel's coming.

These businessmen do not say they want God's blessing.

He was also thinking about saving his own life.

After all, you delivered it personally, while the Inquisition came to take it personally.

This is different.

By then, you may lose both your money and your life.

Not only did I suffer, but I also lost all my money.

It would be better to take the initiative and send gifts directly to the door.

As the saying goes, don't hit someone who smiles.

In this way, the merchants might be safe.

So more and more businessmen came up with the same idea.

Some bishops think so too.

On the one hand, they could not confirm whether the angel had really issued such a mission.

Or was it Father Arnold's own behavior?

If all this was directed and acted by Father Arnold himself.

Father Arnold is too bold.

But they are not afraid if Father Arnold turns out to be a fake.

They have plenty of ways to deal with it. (End of this chapter)