The difficulty with regard to France and Germany consisted in this, that politics forced both King and Emperor to consider the attitude of their Protestant subjects.  Yet both alike were unable to maintain their position as Catholic sovereigns, if they came to open rupture with the Papacy.  Ferdinand, as we have just seen, had expressed himself contented with the situation of affairs at Trent.  But the French prelates still remained in opposition, and the French Court was undecided.  Cardinal Morone, upon his arrival at Trent, began to flatter the Cardinal of Lorraine, affecting to take no measures of importance without consulting him.  This conduct, together with timely compliments to several Frenchmen of importance, smoothed the way for future agreement; while the couriers who arrived from France, brought the assurance that Ippolito d’Este’s representations had not been fruitless.  Pius, meanwhile, was playing the same conciliatory game in Rome, where Don Luigi d’Avila arrived as a special envoy from Philip.  The ambassador obtained a lodging in the Vatican, and was seen in daily social intercourse with his Holiness.[47] But the climax of this policy was reached when Lorraine accepted the Pope’s invitation, and undertook a journey to Rome.  This happened in September.  The French Cardinal was pompously received, entertained in the palace, and honored with personal visits in his lodgings by the Pope.  Weary of Trent and the tiresome intrigues of the Council, this unscrupulous prelate was still further inclined to negotiation after the murder of his brother, Duke of Guise.  It must be remembered that the Guises in France were after all but a potent faction of semi-royal adventurers, who had risen to eminence by an alliance with Diane de Poitiers.  The murder of the duke shook the foundations of their power; and the Cardinal was naturally anxious to be back again in France.  For the moment he basked in the indolent atmosphere of Rome, surrounded by those treasures of antique and Renaissance luxury which still remained after the Sack of 1527.  Pius held out flattering visions of succession to the Papacy, and proved convincingly that nothing could sustain the House of Guise or base the Catholic faith in France except alliance with the Papal See.  Lorraine, who had probably seen enough of episcopal canaillerie in the Council, and felt his inner self expand in the rich climate of pontifical Rome, allowed his ambition to be caressed, confessed himself convinced, and returned to Trent intoxicated with his visit, the devoted friend of Rome.

[Footnote 47:  Sarpi says that Don Luigi resided in the lodgings of Count Federigo Borromeo, a deceased nephew of the Pope.]