The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

l80 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
IV. had, therefore, to be prepared beforehand for the gravest
difficulties. In spite of this he was quite ready to give effect
to the intentions of those who had elected him, with regard
to the matter of the council. Only a few days after his
election, on December 31st, 1559, he declared to the Imperial
ambassador, Francis von Thurm, that it was his desire speedily
to summon a general Council.^ He also insisted on his
determination to do so to the Cardinals, in a Congregation
on January 4th, 1560.2 He solemnly confirmed and renewed
the election capitulation in a bull of January 12th. ^ The
appointment of a reform commission of fourteen Cardinals,
of which Angelo Massarelli was made the secretary.* clearly
showed the wishes of the Pope with regard to the principal
task of the Council. Pacheco reports to the Spanish king,
as early as January i8th, that it was also the Pope's
intention to confirm the earlier decrees of the Council of
Trent. ^
The principal difficulty, now as on former occasions, was
to secure unanimity of opinion among the most powerful
Catholic rulers, the Emperor and the Kings of France and
Spain, before the assembly of the Council.
The attitude of the Emperor, Ferdinand, at first gave reason
to hope for the best. His ambassador extraordinary. Count
Scipione d'Arco, who arrived in Rome in February, was
commissioned to raise the question of the Council.® Arco
obeyed his orders, but at the ceremony of the ohedieniia on
February 17th, 1560, he kept silence on this crucial matter,
plainly out of consideration for the attitude adopted by the
Protestant princes at the Imperial Diet of the preceding
1 Francis von Thurm to the Emperor on January i, 1560, in
SiCKEL, Konzil, 23.
^ See the *reports of Pacheco and Vargas to Philip II., of
January 7 and 9 (Simancas Archives) used by Voss, 15.
=* Raynaldus, 1559, n. 38. Le Plat, IV., 613 seqq. Complete
in the *Regest. Vat. 1918, in Ehses, Concil., VIII., 2 seq.
4 Massarelli in Merkle, II., 343. Cf. supra Chapter II.
* DoLLiNGER, Beitrage, I., 328.
* Cf. SiCKEL, Konzil, 38 seqq.