WI: Pope Adrian VI Lives Longer

Adrian VI was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II was elected, and unlike many of his predecessors and successors, he actually seemed interested in church reform. However, the deck was stacked against him:

Obviously, the French were none to happy with the choice of Hadrian VI, whom they feared would be biased toward them and favor his former pupil the Emperor. And, they were not the only ones. In fact, the new pope himself was far from overjoyed upon hearing the news, saying he had "many reasons to be saddened". Indeed, when many Romans learned of his election they were outraged that a "northern barbarian" would be coming to rule the Eternal City. Yet, Pope Hadrian VI was to win more than a few enemies during this rather debased period of history for his simple holiness and moral integrity. This was a time when such qualities could just as often be a detriment as a benefit to a religious leader. Showing typical Dutch frugality and pragmatism, as soon as he arrived in Rome he cut back the lavish papal ceremonies and elaborate celebrations which cost so much money. That caused grumbling, but Hadrian VI also cut favors, and that could be downright dangerous.

Many came to admire him for his austerity, frugality and opposition to any form of corruption. However, others were inflamed against him by those elites who had lost their influence at the Papal court thanks to the reforming Dutchman. The all too frequent lapse into Church nepotism was immediately halted, Hadrian bluntly informing relatives who came seeking favors that, "he had not become pope in order to give away the property of the Church to his relatives". When confronted with anger from the Italian clergy over his cuts in spending Hadrian VI replied, "The pope is supposed to adorn churches with prelates, not prelates with churches."

His reign had been short, and often unpopular, but in an age when many Church leaders were hardly upstanding examples, Hadrian VI left behind a legacy of personal virtue. He was a man of impeccable moral character, zealous devotion to the Church and upholding her doctrines as well as being one of too few who recognized that the Protestant movement was something to be taken seriously and was more than a minor dissatisfaction that would quickly fade away
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So, let's let Adrian live a bit longer (not much, the man was 62 when he became pope, so I'd say it doesn't seem a stretch to let him live to around 1529/1530 (he'd be 70)), and somehow avoid both the poisoned cups and the malarial fevers that Rome might give him. How might this former theology professor and tutor to Karl V fare on the throne of St. Peter?
 
No feedback? I mean, would Henry VIII be able to get his damned annulment? Might he call an earlier alt-Council of Trent? I know he wished to limit the issue of papal dispensations, only to find that Leone X had promised future dispensations as a way of generating money for the papacy!
 
I doubt Adrian VI would grant Henry VIII an annulment, given his connections with Charles V. In the other hand, if he had lived the sack of Rome of 1527 wouldn't have happened. I think the greatest question here is: would he be obbeyed by the Curia?

Here is an excerpt from "The March of Folly", by Barbara Tuchman, that I find very revealing of the mood of Rome towards the "foreign" Pope:

Adrian did not appear in Rome until late in August 1521, almost eight months after his election, owing in part to an outbreak of plague. He made his intent clear at once. Addressing the College of Cardinals at his first consistory, he said that evils in the clergy and Papacy had reached such a pitch that, in the words of Saint Bernard, “those steeped in sin could no longer perceive the stench of their own iniquities.” The ill repute of Rome, he said, was the talk of the whole world, and he implored the Cardinals to banish corruption and luxury from their lives and, as their sacred duty, to set a good example to the world by joining him in the cause of reform. His audience was deaf to the plea. No one was prepared to separate personal fortune from ecclesiastical office, or do without the annuities and revenues of plural benefices. When the Pope announced austerity measures for all, he met only sullen resistance.

Adrian persisted. Curia officials, former favorites, even Cardinals were summoned for rebuke or for trials and penalties. “Everyone trembles,” reported the Venetian Ambassador, “owing to the things done by the Pope in the space of eight days.”

He issued rules to prohibit simony, reduce expenses, curb the sale of dispensations and indulgences, appoint only qualified clerics to benefices and limit each to one, on the innovative theory that benefices should be supplied with priests, not priests with benefices. At each effort, he was told that he would bankrupt or weaken the Church. Served only by two personal attendants, isolated by language, despised for his lack of interest in arts and antiquities, in every way the contrary of an Italian, he could do nothing acceptable. His letter to the German Diet demanding the suppression of Luther as decreed by the Diet of Worms was ignored, while his admission that in the Roman Church “sacred things have been misused, the commandments have been transgressed and in everything there has been a turn for the worse” alienated the papal court. Against popular protests and demonstrations, satiric pasquinate, insults scribbled on walls and the non-cooperation of officials, Adrian found the system too entrenched for him to dislodge. “How much,” he sorrowfully acknowledged, “does a man’s efforts depend on the age in which his work is cast!” Utterly frustrated, the outsider died unmourned in September 1523, after a year and two weeks in active office.
 
I doubt Adrian VI would grant Henry VIII an annulment, given his connections with Charles V. In the other hand, if he had lived the sack of Rome of 1527 wouldn't have happened. I think the greatest question here is: would he be obbeyed by the Curia?

Here is an excerpt from "The March of Folly", by Barbara Tuchman, that I find very revealing of the mood of Rome towards the "foreign" Pope:

The deck being stacked against him is going to make it hard, but surely if he lives longer his reforms might be more lasting? I read somewhere that had Mary I had an heir or at least successfully pushed the restoration of Catholicism in England, Edward VI's reign would be considered the abomination rather than hers.
 
The deck being stacked against him is going to make it hard, but surely if he lives longer his reforms might be more lasting? I read somewhere that had Mary I had an heir or at least successfully pushed the restoration of Catholicism in England, Edward VI's reign would be considered the abomination rather than hers.

Except that the Pope is in a different position to the king/queen of England. And Hadrian would have to at least play nice with some of the Roman families - if only to get them on his side, in order to influence the curia. Perhaps if he can convince one or two of the more influential cardinals (not quite sure how, though) to work with him on pushing the more minor reforms through...
 
So, how’s this for a secondary POD.

Adrian gets elected in January 1522. But he only arrived in Rome in August. However, on the way there, he’s decided to start learning Italian. Which, by the time he arrives in the Eternal City isn’t brilliant (perhaps more like Lodewijk Bonaparte’s ‘konijn van ’Olland’ rather than ‘koning van Holland’), but it shows the Romans that this barbarian is at least willing to accommodate them.
 
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