CHAPTER XXIX. CATHERINE DE MEDICI GIVEN TO FRANCE. (OCTOBER 1533.) This interview of the pope with the king might be more injurious to the Gospel than all the attacks of the Sorbonne. If Clement united sincerely with Francis against Charles; if Catherine de Medici became the pledge of union between Rome and France; would not the Reformation soon be buried by the mournful glare of the pale torches of this fatal marriage? Yet men still hoped that the projected interview would not take place. In fact, Henry VIII. and the emperor did all they could to prevent Francis from meeting the pope.[458] [Sidenote: THE INTENDED MARRIAGE.] But Clement VII., more charmed than ever with a matrimonial union between the family of the Florentine merchants and that of St. Louis, cared naught for the emperor or the king of England; and about the end of April 1533, he convoked a sacred college at Rome, to whom he communicated his plans. They already knew something about them: the Roman cardinals smiled and congratulated his Holiness, but the Spanish cardinals looked very much out of humour. The pope tried to persuade them that he only desired this marriage for the glory of God and of the Church. 'It is for _holy opportunities_,' he told them. No one dared oppose it openly; but, on leaving the meeting, the emperor's cardinals hurried to his ministers and informed them of the pontifical communication. The latter lost no time; they called upon all their friends, managed them with great ability, and, by dint of energy and stratagem, succeeded in holding a congregation at the beginning of June, at which none of the French cardinals were present. Not daring to oppose the marriage itself, Charles's prelates displayed extreme sensibility for the honour and welfare of the pope. They appeared to be suddenly seized with a violent affection for Clement. 'What! the pope in France!' they exclaimed. 'Truly it must be something more than the marriage of a niece to _move a pope from his seat_.' Then, as if Clement's health was very precious to them, and the Roman air excellent, the crafty Spaniards brought forward sanitary reasons. 'Such a journey would be dangerous, _considering the extreme heat of Provence_.'—'Never mind that,' cunningly answered the pope; 'I shall not start until after the first rains.' [Sidenote: IMPERIAL OBSTACLES.]