The Last Time a Pope Tried This

One more quotation from the Ackroyd book, TUDORS, which is the second volume in his ongoing history of England. I quoted him last week on Mary and Reginald Pole, and the week before on Henry VIII and the dispossession of the monasteries.

This week's lesson involves Pope Pius V and Mary's youngest Protestant sister Elizabeth.

In early 1570, Pope Pius V issued a bull in which he excommunicated Elizabeth as a paramount heretic and tyrant. It stated that 'the pretended queen of England' could no longer command allegiance, and that she was the 'servant of iniquity'. Its denunciation covered any person who obeyed her laws and commands. The Queen herself was now a legitimate object of attack by any assassin of the old faith; her death would speed his way to heaven. It was the last stand of medieval religion, the final occasion when a pope would try to depose a reigning monarch....

I'm certainly glad Popes don't do that any more. In honor of that milestone, I've invited Pope Pius V himself to have a seat at the head of today's blog entry, as you see.

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