On the 6th of January, 1590, Sixtus V., at his reception of the cardinals, announced to them this news.

Badoero, ambassador of Venice at Rome, leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "We must pray God to inspire the King of Navarre.
On the day when your Holiness embraces him, and then only, the affairs of France will be adjusted.

Humanly speaking, there is no other way of bringing peace to that kingdom." The pope confined himself to replying that God would do all for the best, and that, for his own part, he would wait.

On arriving at Rome, "the Duke of Luxembourg repaired to the Vatican with two and twenty carriages occupied by French gentlemen; but, at the palace, he found the door of the pope's apartments closed, the sentries doubled, and the officers on duty under orders to intimate to the French, the chief of the embassy excepted, that they must lay aside their swords.

At the door of the Holy Father's closet, the duke and three gentlemen of his train were alone allowed to enter.