upon Francis I. and his successors the right of presentation to the
bishoprics and abbacies in his dominions. The work of reform, which
should have claimed special attention at the Lateran Council, was
never undertaken seriously. Some decrees were passed prohibiting
plurality of benefices, forbidding officials of the Curia to demand
more than the regulation fees, recommending preaching and religious
instruction of children, regulating the appointment to benefices,
etc., but these decrees, apart from the fact that they left the root
of the evils untouched, were never enforced. The close of the Lateran
Council synchronises with the opening of Luther's campaign in Germany,
for the success of which the Council's failure to respond to the
repeated demands for reform is to a great extent responsible.

In any scheme for the reform of the abuses that afflicted the Church
the reformation of the Papal Court itself should have occupied the
foremost place. At all times a large proportion of the cardinals and
higher officials were men of blameless lives, but, unfortunately, many
others were utterly unworthy of their position, and their conduct was
highly prejudicial to religion and to the position of the Holy See.
Much of the scandalous gossip retailed by Platina in his /Lives of the
Popes/, and by Burcard[4] and Infessura[5] in their /Diaries/ may be
attributed to personal disappointment and diseased imaginations, but
even when due allowance has been made for the frailty of human
testimony, enough remains to prove that the Papal Court in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was not calculated to inspire
strangers to Rome with confidence or respect. Such corrupt and greedy
officials reflected discredit on the Holy See, and afforded some
justification for the charges levelled against them of using religion
merely as a means of raising money.