I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1364 The Busy Archbishop
"Money!" Count Rusiva suddenly shouted. "No matter what, the name and address on the draft are correct. They can't deny it even if they want to."

"You have the calmest mind in all of Switzerland!"

Count Elach praised him, then immediately pulled his colleague up and jumped into the carriage.

However, after most of the day, they returned to the gates of Versailles Palace looking ashen.

Several banks presented them with confirmations from Viscount Norbert that he had cancelled the bills of exchange—not a single franc of the 40 francs reached the French officials.

Baron Frey stared blankly at the fountain in front of Versailles Palace, muttering, "So, we've been tricked?"

Count Elah clutched his head in agony and squatted on the ground, as if he were being tortured.

That's a whopping 40 francs!
Not to mention that the Bern Parliament would not forgive him, the money also included 20,000 francs of his own money. It can be said that his life was completely ruined.

Baron Frey's legs went weak, and he simply knelt on the ground and began to pray: "God, please save us..."

……

In a room on the second floor of the apse of Notre Dame Cathedral, Archbishop Beaumont was carefully studying a map of North America, referring to several documents.

He has not yet received the assessment notice from the Vatican's review committee, but based on previous assessments, the overall failure rate is over one-fifth!

Especially for high-ranking priests, the assessment content is extremely complex, and more than half of them have to retake the exam.

The Archbishop of Boulogne's experience serves as a constant reminder and impetus for everyone.

Although the mentor sent by the Papacy was blocked in Marseille by the French Church through various means, Boulogne was in a state of constant fear—if that damned mentor came to Paris, patted his head and gave him a lecture, he would immediately become the laughing stock of the people.

A series of urgent knocks came at the door. Archbishop Beaumont had barely uttered the first syllable of "please" when a priest rushed in in a panic.

Beaumont raised his head in displeasure: "Father Cornier, I told you not to bother me lately..."

“I’m sorry, Your Excellency, but you must see this,” Father Cornier said, placing a newspaper in front of him. “It is said that more and more people are expressing their support for him…”

Archbishop Beaumont picked up the newspaper and saw the headline on the front page: "On the Imperative Church Reform".

He frowned immediately; the article was signed Father Grégoire.

"Who is this person?"

He continued looking down, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

The article begins by citing the poor performance of the French clergy in this assessment, arguing that the Church's vast wealth has led to the decline of mid- to high-ranking clergy, causing them to neglect their theological studies and even their service to God.

Gregoire then mentioned that the reason why Protestants were able to "steal" a large number of believers across Europe was because they were not obsessed with money, thus demonstrating extremely high efficiency and "deceiving" good people with their integrity.

Therefore, the French Church must now undergo a thorough reform.

First, it is necessary to sever ties with money, such as relinquishing control over tithes or even relinquishing church property, with the government allocating funds for the expenses required to serve God.

Secondly, the Church should be made more just and efficient, with a transparent selection process for clergy and reduced deductions from clergy salaries. Ideally, the French government should pay clergy salaries. This would also reduce the time the Church wastes on financial matters, allowing it to focus more on theology.

Archbishop Beaumont's face darkened. How could someone use the Vatican's assessment to slander the Church and even propose some kind of Church reform!

He thought for a moment, then instructed Father Cornier, “Find an excuse to transfer Father Grégoire to Nice.” He suddenly glanced at the North American map on the table: “No, just send him to Saint Louisiana.”

Father Cornier said cautiously, “Your Excellency, I’m afraid we can’t do that… The matter of church reform has been discussed everywhere lately, and Father Grégoire has a great reputation among the priests. Dealing with him could have unpredictable consequences.”

Archbishop Beaumont rubbed his forehead in frustration. Lately, all the archbishops had been busy dealing with assessments, and they hadn't expected such a big mess to happen below.

He could only gesture to his secretary: "Go and inform Archbishop Chartres and Archbishop Tours that there will be a meeting at the Saint-Germain-des-Prés Monastery tomorrow at noon."

The next day.

As soon as Archbishop Beaumont's carriage stopped beside the steam railcar station, he saw a priest standing on the station steps, giving a speech to dozens of people around him.

As he got closer, he finally heard the man's words clearly: "Those archbishops and priests can't even pass theological exams."

“If this continues, we and the church will be punished by God…”

The people in front of the station nodded in agreement—no one told them how difficult the "theological" exams conducted by the high-ranking priests were.

Archbishop Beaumont initially intended to have his men disperse the crowd giving the speech, but then he noticed seven or eight more priests gathering around. He hesitated for a moment, then turned around, bowed his head, and quickly boarded the steam railcar.

This is Joseph's open scheme.

Ordinary clergy wouldn't care about tithes or church property, but they all hoped the French government would be responsible for paying their salaries—the church leadership had been withholding their pay under various pretexts, while everyone knew that civil servants' salaries were paid in full and on time. Those clergy who had previously become primary school teachers were the best example of this.

The open selection process for clergy also resonated deeply with ordinary clergy.

In fact, they would be quite satisfied as long as all the clergy were filled, let alone open selection. This is because it would mean many people would be promoted—currently, there are a large number of vacant clergy positions, while the archbishops collect the salaries paid to those positions.

This led to widespread support for church reform among ordinary clergy.

Talleyrand entrusted the task of shaping public opinion to Sieyès, a man skilled in political maneuvering. In just over half a month, Sieyès quickly ignited the debate on church reform among clergy and even the general public.

Archbishop Beaumont sat down in the first-class seat of the car, casually took a copy of the Paris Commercial from the newspaper bag hanging on the wall, opened it, and immediately frowned.

The front page featured an interview with Archbishop Talleyrand, mainly discussing church reforms, in which he expressed his support for the reforms.

Although Talleyrand no longer interfered in church affairs, his influence remained enormous.

Beaumont immediately thought that the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Science, Technology and Education both wanted the tax authorities to take over the tithe.

In other words, they would strongly support church reform, since the church abandoning tithes is one of the reforms.

Things are getting a bit tricky...

As Archbishop Beaumont pondered his options, the steam railcar had already stopped not far from the Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey.

Archbishop Tours was waiting in front of the monastery. Upon seeing him, he hurried over, but his face darkened as he bowed and said, "Have you received the notification? We will be conducting the assessment in three days..."

Archbishop Beaumont took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, saying, "I've heard that Archbishop Briand has arrived in Strasbourg and will soon be able to meet His Highness the Crown Prince. Perhaps it won't be long before the Papacy's people are driven out of France."

(End of this chapter)