The duke, being determined to extinguish these threatening flames, resolved to claim the influence of the pope, with his treasures and even his soldiers; for the _vicar_ of Him who forbade the sword to be drawn possesses an army. Besides, Clement VII. was one of the cleverest politicians of the age, and his advice might be useful. As Pietro Gazzini, Bishop of Aosta, was then at Rome, the court of Turin commissioned that zealous ultramontanist to inform the pope of what was going on at Geneva. Gazzini begged an audience of Clement, and having been introduced by the master of the ceremonies on the 11th of July, 1529, he approached the pope, who was seated on the throne, and, kneeling down, kissed his feet. When he arose, he described all the acts committed by the Lutherans at Geneva and in the _valleys of Savoy_. 'O holy father,' said he, 'the dangers of the Church are imminent, and we are filled with the liveliest fears. It is from Upper Burgundy and the country of Neufchatel that this accursed sect has come to Geneva. And now, alas! what mischief it has done there!... Already the bishop dares not remain in his diocese; already Lent is abolished, and the heretics eat meat every day; and, worse still, they read forbidden books (the New Testament), and the Genevans set such store by them that they refuse to give them up, even for money. These miserable heretics are doing extreme mischief, and not at Geneva only; Aosta and Savoy would have been perverted long since, had not his highness beheaded twelve gentlemen who were propagating these dangerous doctrines. But this wholesome severity is not enough to stop the evil. Although his highness has forbidden, under pain of death, any one to speak of this sect and its abominable dogmas, there is no lack of _wicked babblers_ who go about circulating these accursed doctrines all over his territories. They say that his highness is not their king; and, making a pretence of the great expenses of the war, they vehemently call upon us to sell the little ecclesiastical property we possess.... The duke, my lord and master, is everywhere destroying this sect. _He is the barrier that closes Italy against it_, and in this way he renders your holiness the most signal service; but we need your help.' Gazzini closed his address with a demand for a subsidy. [Sidenote: BISHOP OF AOSTA AND THE POPE.]