Chapter 224
To simplify the situation, the Holy War Army of the Southern Six Nations can be understood as facing a total crisis. It was initially a war lacking justification, and the Pope, who directly wrote the declaration of war, no longer held the same authority as before.
When they had divine power, it was different, but now the priests were close to being just nagging foreigners (or traitors). They still received support from the people, but their status was somewhat ambiguous from the perspective of the nobility and the royal court.
The powerful figures did not react to the saying, “The saint has fallen, and you have abandoned humanity,” by saying, “Oh dear, what a wicked person.”
They merely expressed nuanced thoughts like, “Hmm, would it be acceptable to drive the priests out of the royal court now?” or “All those strange things added to the beer must have been the priests’ doing, right?” or “How much tax could we collect if we taxed the monasteries?”
There were no masochist rulers who desired a society where theocracy was higher than secular authority to begin with. A priest who cannot heal must return to their primordial duty as a guardian of moral ethics.
The reason they didn’t openly defy the Pope was simple: the Pope used divine power. Being the only user of divine power at this point meant he was the only one who received the Lord’s grace. It was certainly difficult to oppose him.
“Logically, it makes no sense to go to war.”
It was not that war was bad or that there were ethical condemnations regarding wielding swords against humans; ethics never mattered.
The issue was the economy.