Editing Pope Adrian VI (section)

==Papacy==
{{see also|Cardinals created by Adrian VI}}
He immediately entered upon the path of the reformer. The 1908 edition of the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' characterised the task that faced him:

:''"To extirpate inveterate abuses; to reform a court which thrived on corruption, and detested the very name of reform; to hold in leash young and warlike princes, ready to bound at each other's throats; to stem the rising torrent of revolt in Germany; to save Christendom from the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]], who from [[Belgrade]] now threatened [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], and if [[Hospitaller Rhodes|Rhodes]] fell would be masters of the [[Mediterranean]] - these were herculean labours for one who was in his sixty-third year, had never seen Italy, and was sure to be despised by the Romans as a 'barbarian'.''<ref name=loughlin>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope Adrian VI}}</ref>

His plan was to attack notorious abuses one by one; however, in his attempt to improve the system of [[indulgences]] he was hampered by his cardinals.  He found reduction of the number of [[Dispensation (canon law)|matrimonial dispensation]]s to be impossible, as the income had been farmed out for years in advance by [[Pope Leo X]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[File:Portrait of Pope Adrian VI.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Pope Adrian VI (1568)]]
Adrian VI was not successful as a peacemaker among Christian princes, whom he hoped to unite in a war against the Turks. In August 1523 he was forced into an alliance with the [[Holy Roman Empire|Empire]], [[Kingdom of England|England]], and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] against [[Kingdom of France|France]]; meanwhile, in 1522 [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] (1520–66) had conquered Rhodes.<ref>[https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-pope-adrian-vi/ "Pope Adrian VI". ''New Catholic Dictionary''] CatholicSaints.Info. 18 October 2018</ref>

In his reaction to the early stages of the [[Lutheran]] revolt, Adrian VI did not completely understand the gravity of the situation. At the [[Diet of Nuremberg]], which opened in December 1522, he was represented by [[Francesco Chieregati]], whose private instructions contain the frank admission that the disorder of the Church was perhaps the fault of the [[Roman Curia]] itself, and that it should be reformed.<ref>Pigafetta, Antonio and Theodore J. Cachey, ''The first voyage around the world, 1519–1522'', (University of Toronto Press, 2007), 128.</ref><ref>Hans Joachim Hillerbrand, ''The division of Christendom: Christianity in the sixteenth century'', (Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 141.</ref> However, the former professor and Inquisitor General was strongly opposed to any change in doctrine, and demanded that [[Martin Luther]] be punished for teaching [[Christian heresy|heresy]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

He made only one cardinal in the course of his pontificate, [[Willem van Enckevoirt]], made a [[cardinal-priest]] in a [[papal consistory|consistory]] held on 10 September 1523.<ref>[[Petrus Johannes Blok|P.J. Block]] and [[Philipp Christiaan Molhuysen|P.C. Molhuysen]] (1912), ''Nieuw Nederlandsch biographisch woordenboek(NNBW), deel 2'', part 2, p. 437. [https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/molh003nieu02_01/molh003nieu02_01_0948.php Free digitalised version] {{in lang|nl}}</ref>

Adrian VI held no beatifications in his pontificate but canonized Saints [[Antoninus of Florence]] and [[Benno of Meissen]] on 31 May 1523.<ref>{{Catholic |last=McMahon |first=Arthur Lawrence |wstitle=St. Antoninus |volume=1 |inline=1 |prescript=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Heuser |first=Herman Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ovnNAAAAMAAJ&dq=adrian+vi+benno+meissen+1523&pg=PA265 |title=The American Ecclesiastical Review |date=1948 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |pages=265 |language=en}}</ref>

Charles V's ambassador in Rome, [[Juan Manuel, lord of Belmonte]], wrote that he was worried that Charles's influence over Adrian waned after Adrian's election, writing "The Pope is 'deadly afraid' of the College of Cardinals. He does whatever two or three cardinals write to him in the name of the college."<ref>British History Online. ([http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol2/pp412-419 15 April 1522 entry])</ref>