The legate Contarini had declared to the emperor that, as the Protestants deviate in various articles from the common consent of the Catholic Church, it would be better, all things considered, to refer the whole matter to the pope and to the next council. ‘What can be hoped for from such a gathering?’ said Calvin. ‘There will not be one in a hundred willing and able to understand what is for the glory of God and for the good of the Church. It is notorious what sort of theology is held at Rome, principally in the consistory. Its first principle is that there is no God; its second, that Christianity is nothing but foolishness.’[73] Calvin does not mean that this is the doctrine which Rome professes, but only that the papacy behaves as if it were so. Having neither the true God nor true Christianity, it is in the Reformer’s sight without God and without faith. He continues—‘Suppose, then, that we have a council, the pope will be its president, the bishops and prelates will be judges in it.... They will come to it in the most deliberate manner to gainsay and to resist every thing which would infringe on their avarice and ambition, and on that tyrannical supremacy in the exercise of which they have no greater enemy than Jesus Christ. When the council is held, it will contribute rather to destroy than to put things again into a right state.’ Contarini had recommended to the bishops various reforms; such as to be watchful over their dioceses lest the religion of the Protestants should propagate itself in them; and to establish schools in order that people might not send their children to those of the Evangelicals. ‘He had indeed many other evils to deal with,’ said Calvin, ‘if he had a wish to give good medicine. The world is full of the worship of idols, in the shape of relics and images, to such an extent that there could hardly be more of it among the pagans. Every one makes gods for himself after his fancy (_à sa poste_), out of saints, male and female. The virtue of Christ is as good as buried, and his honor virtually annihilated. The light of truth is almost extinct; hardly any sparks of it remain.’[74] [Sidenote: Calvin’s Moderation.]