51).
It has often been remarked that both Julius and Leo raised money by the sale of indulgences with a view to the building of S.Peter's, thus aggravating one of the chief scandals which provoked the Reformation.
In that age of maladjusted impulses the desire to execute a great work of art, combined with the cynical resolve to turn the superstitions of the people to account, forced rebellion to a head.

Leo was unconscious of the magnitude of Luther's movement.

If he thought at all seriously of the phenomenon, it stirred his wonder.

Nor did he feel the necessity of reformation in the Church of Italy.

The rich and many-sided life of Rome and the diplomatic interests of Italian despotism absorbed his whole attention.