This change of colors on the part of Adrian has been accounted for in many ways. Johannes Magni himself suggested that it was the work of evil-minded counsellors in Rome. The more probable supposition is that Adrian had been influenced by Brask. If Church property was being confiscated, as Brask declared, Archbishop Trolle could be relied on to offer much more strenuous resistance than the prelate talked of as his successor. But the very reason which induced the pope to favor Trolle seemed to the king sufficient ground for supporting his opponent. It was precisely because of Johannes Magni's pliable and compromising temper that Gustavus would have rejoiced to see the mitre on his head. He was determined that Trolle, at any rate, should not wear it. So he sat down, as soon as Adrian's letter came, and wrote a warm reply to the College of Cardinals in Rome. "If our Most Holy Father," he said, "has any care for the peace of our country, we shall be pleased to have him confirm the election of his legate Johannes to the archbishopric, and we shall comply with the pope's wishes as to a reformation of the Christian Church and religion. But if his Holiness, against our honor and the peace of our subjects, sides with the crime-stained partisans of Archbishop Trolle, we shall allow his legate to return to Rome, and shall govern the Church in this country with the authority which we have as king, and in a manner which we believe will please God as well as all the princes of Christendom. We beg you, however, to use your authority in the Apostolic See in such way as not to harm our state, nor give the appearance of championing the crimes of Trolle against the tranquillity of a Christian people." Three days after writing this vehement despatch, the monarch sent off another, couched in language even more determined, to the pope. "We shall never," he declared, "allow that man to return as our archbishop. He not only is unworthy of the priesthood, he is unworthy even to live. We respect the Roman Church, and if need be would die in her behalf. But if she endeavors thus to ruin our country, we shall resist her till the last drop of blood is shed." This document was placed in the hands of Olaus Magni, brother of the proposed archbishop, with orders to inform the pope of the evils to which the Church in Sweden was exposed, and to use his utmost endeavor to secure the confirmation of the bishops. The missive, however, never reached the pontiff to whom it was addressed. Adrian was already dead and buried ere the document was penned; and when the messenger arrived in Rome, he found another pontiff, Clement VII., seated in the papal chair.[85]