But he bore secret instructions from the Pope to bring about if possible a reconciliation between Henry and the queen, and in no case to pronounce sentence without reference to Rome.

The slowness of his journey presaged ill; he did not reach England till the end of September, and a month was wasted in vain efforts to bring Henry to a reconciliation or Catharine to retirement into a monastery.

A new difficulty disclosed itself in the supposed existence of a brief issued by Pope Julius and now in the possession of the Emperor, which overruled all the objections to the earlier dispensation on which Henry relied.

The hearing of the cause was delayed through the winter, while new embassies strove to induce Clement to declare this brief also invalid.

Not only was such a demand glaringly unjust, but the progress of the Imperial arms brought vividly home to the Pope its injustice.