I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1341 The Vatican should take the blame, of course.

“Everyone, calm down.” Archbishop Chartres gestured to his colleagues who were venting their anger. “Things aren’t as bad as they seem. Tithing is an ancient tradition, and the cabinet will likely reject this proposal.”

"Who knows if Roland and his ilk will engage in some kind of quid pro quo within the cabinet in exchange for support?"

Archbishop Beaumont nodded and said slowly, "The key is still His Highness the Crown Prince's attitude."

Archbishop Boulogne immediately stood up: "We'll go and explain our position to His Highness now!"

Archbishop Beaumont quickly grabbed him, saying, "You mustn't do that. Don't you know His Highness's character? The more uncompromising you are, the faster he'll make a decision that's detrimental to us."

The archbishops fell silent instantly.

In the past, even during the reign of Louis XV, as long as the Church was united, the king would not dare to forcibly go against the Church's wishes.

But the current Crown Prince not only enjoys the fervent support of the people, but also possesses the absolute loyalty of the army and control over intelligence, finance, law, public opinion, industry, and other aspects. The Church really doesn't dare to show even the slightest bit of toughness in front of him.

After a long pause, Archbishop Chartres whispered, "So... we're just going to do nothing?"

Archbishop Beaumont sighed: "We can demonstrate the Church's influence indirectly."

"First, we must plead with Her Majesty the Queen, but we must not mention the tithe directly. We should only mention the Church's contributions. Let Father Doom handle this."

Father Doom was Louis XVI's confessor and had a good personal relationship with Queen Marie Antoinette.

Archbishop Tours added, "We can also approach Archbishop Brian and ask him to intercede on our behalf. He is the most influential person in the cabinet."

Bomon coughed somewhat awkwardly: "Well, okay, we should try all the possibilities."

When Archbishop Briand faced difficulties with tax reform, he asked the Church for financial support, but the Church only gave him a few hundred thousand livres. From then on, his relationship with the Church deteriorated significantly.

“Archbishop Tours, you will go and persuade Archbishop Briand. Remember to bring plenty of gifts,” Beaumont instructed, then continued, “In addition, we must make up for the points we lost at the orphanage.”

"Starting today, all churches in the parishes will distribute bread free of charge to help as many orphans as possible and win public support. In this way, we can try to take some of the charitable work back from the public relief department."

As long as the church continues to make charitable expenditures, it can use this as grounds to demand that the tithes be kept in its own hands.

"Finally, we must spread the message to the public that 'only by personally handing over one's taxes to God's representatives can one be absolved of sins.' Remember, this must not be done too openly; let the priests below convey it in the most subtle way possible..."

The church leaders discussed the matter until nightfall before leaving Notre Dame Cathedral with solemn expressions.

To be fair, while their roundabout methods did not directly oppose handing over the tithe to the tax authorities, they effectively influenced the government's decision on the matter.

If it is successfully implemented, Joseph will have to put in a lot of effort to deal with it.

However, what Archbishop Beaumont and others did not expect was that before their plan could be conveyed to the lower parishes, an astonishing piece of news spread among all the French clergy.

In the corridor of Versailles Palace, the Archbishop of Boulogne, with a dark expression, angrily rebuked his two colleagues beside him: "Are those people in the Vatican insane? They even subject us to some kind of 'theological review'?"
"I earned my doctorate from the Sorbonne at the age of 35 and have written countless studies on the Bible, yet they doubt my theological level?!" 35 is the minimum age in France for obtaining a doctorate in theology.

Archbishop Tours frowned and said, "It is very likely that the Pope, in his power struggle with Archbishop Muzarelli, had the Council set up this review committee in order to demonstrate his own power."

Just yesterday afternoon, news came from the Vatican that the Council of Vaticans had officially decided to establish a Vatican Review Committee, ostensibly to "ensure that clergy do not neglect their theological studies due to secular affairs," and to conduct theological knowledge examinations for all clergy.

The review is conducted every two years. Those who fail can retake the exam once. If they still fail, they face punishment from the Vatican, such as being banned from holding priesthood and being assigned a tutor to supervise their study of the scriptures.

Any one of these would be an unbearable burden for a priest.

Moreover, the heads of the review committees are directly appointed by the Vatican, and it is said that a committee office has now been set up in Avignon and is sending reviewers to various provinces.

Archbishop Montmorency comforted him, saying, "It's alright. We can all recite the New Testament and the Old Testament fluently, and even many apocryphal texts. It's just that the test will take a little longer."

Archbishops Tours and Chartres, among others, looked away – their academic performance in school hadn't been great, and they had only obtained their theological degrees through family connections, so they were genuinely unsure of themselves.

"It would be best if we could avoid wasting this time."

Archbishop Chartres muttered to himself, then suddenly another thought occurred to him: "Wait, is the Vatican preparing to exert influence over our country?"

“That’s right,” Archbishop Tours’ eyes lit up, “We should all oppose this decision!”

Archbishop Montmorency sighed: "Do you think the Vatican could send that committee to Avignon without the permission of the royal family?"

"But why would the royal family support the Papacy?"

After centuries of struggle, France finally ended the Papacy's control over the French Church in the 16th century. Is it now going to invite the Papacy back?
Archbishop Chartres shook his head and said, "I don't quite understand either. Perhaps we should ask His Highness the Crown Prince about this directly."

Without further ado, that afternoon, Archbishops Chartres and Tours, as their representatives, went to the Crown Prince's reception room.

"What did you say?!" Joseph immediately slammed his cane on the marble floor in anger. "The Vatican has gone too far!"
“Our church has its own management system, and they actually want to interfere.”

"This is absolutely intolerable! I'm sending someone to lodge the strongest protest with the Pope and demand that he cancel this damned committee!"

The two archbishops were overjoyed upon hearing this. It seemed that even the royal family opposed the Papacy's actions.

After chatting for a while longer, the two took their leave and went to relay the good news to other church leaders.

Yes, how could Joseph possibly take on something like conducting a full-scale assessment that would offend all the clergy?

The villain should naturally be the Pope, who is the mainstay of the effort to "protect the interests of the French Church".

(End of this chapter)