In no case was this more true than in the election of 1523.

Deciding that if Adrian's methods were necessary to save the church the medicine was worse than the disease, the cardinals lost no time in raising another Medici to the throne.

Like all of his race, Clement VII was a patron of art and literature, and tolerant of abuses.

Personally moral and temperate, he cared little save for an easy life and the advancement of the Three Balls.

He began that policy, which nearly proved fatal to the church, of treating the Protestants with alternate indulgence and severity.