Papal Bull On COVID-19! [MT-PMT, Open, Reactions/Aid]

[Il Borgia Vaticano]

EQUUS ALBUS

This Papal Bull has been inscribed on the date of Twelfth of March, in the Twentieth and First century of our Lord.

(i.) Recognizing the great severity of the current outbreak of the COVID-19 Coronavirus that has swept across the world in the past few months, we are utilizing this bull to aid in the prevention and containment of this new plague. As head of a global religion and of a global power, it is our duty to our flock to both protect their immortal souls, but also to provide aid to the corporeal bodies. We of the church, like Christ, must do all we can to serve and aid the sick and the dying all over the world. Yet, we must also be pragmatic in our actions, lest we also shoot ourselves in the foot and hurt those we must protect. We urge all peoples, regardless of their faith or their recognition of our authority, to think rationally. To not panic in the face of this pandemic. It is a serious matter, but terror and fear only serve to weaken our resolve. Do not hoard needed supplies when you do not need them! This only hurts the truly ill and cripples the healthcare system. Avarice driven by fear is still avarice, a deadly sin.

(ii.) In accordance with measures enacted by secular governments to limit exposure to this disease, all masses across the entirety of the world are to immediately be suspended. This will remain in effect until the COVID-19 virus has a vaccine and has largely been contained. It is recommended strongly to the faithful invest time in prayer and meditation to make up, in a way at least, for the loss of time within the house of god. Dedicate yourselves to the rosary and to the creeds promulgated by the ecumenical councils, as well as follow the ecclesiastical calendar and read your bibles according to them. We have instructed our monastic orders to double their acts of prayer for the sins of the world. May god protect them. In matters of secular rule, the whole of the Papal dominions of Italy, Spain, Mediterranean and Low Countries are immediately under total lockdown. All large gatherings are cancelled until further notice, and none are to leave their homes at all. Services for needed supplies will be explained further below. The nobility are to return to their estates will only their most essential retinues, servants, slaves and family. Staff for estates must be culled to a bare minimum to minimize potential spread of disease. No travel in our out of the empire of The Papal States is to be permitted. Pilgrimages are cancelled until further notice. All foreign nationals within the borders of the Papal States are to be expelled immediately.

(iii.) While the clergy will no longer be performing the mass, their duties will not be alleviated any time soon. The now abandoned churches will utilized until further notice as places of rest and room for those infected with the COVID-19 virus. As the hospitals of the world become overburdened and full, we will ease their load by allowing access to these halls of god. Doctors and Nurses will still remain the practitioners of medicine, but the Vatican bank will be opening its coffers for the training of members of our clergy to aid in this if the population of medicinal aid becomes spread thin. Those coffers will also be spent on developing a vaccine for the disease. Any aid from foreign powers in these endeavors is appreciated. The duty of non-medicinal clergy will be to maintain and administrate these Houses of Illness, to provide accommodations to both doctors and the ill. They shall also continue to practice their traditional roles in the rites of the faithful.
In regards to the people of Italy, Spain, and our various lands locked at home and under quarantine...you will be delivered food and needed supplies by the church. There will be no need to leave your homes. This will indeed burden he coffers of the church, but under a system designed by the Inca and adapted by Pope Pelagius III for this kind of emergency, we believe the risks are paltry in comparison to the needs. The medicine is bitter, but it is medicine nonetheless.

Written by His Holiness Pope Victor IV, episcopus servus servorum Dei.

[Il Borgia Vaticano]

Cardinal-Secretary of State, Francisco de Borja-Critical Condition

Cardinal Joaquin Santiago Gonzalez de Borja-Montalvo-Minor Illness

Stefano de Medici-Borgia, CEO of Medici Aeronautics, Duke-Emeritus of Tuscany-Deceased from Illness

King Carlos V de Borja-Deceased from Illness

Jean de Borgia, Archbishop and Steward of Avignon, Duke of Valentinois and Comte de Avginon-Minor Illness and in Seclusion

Cardinal Alfonso de Borja, Designated Regent of The Kingdoms of Hispania-Deceased from Illness

[Il Borgia Vaticano]

A Letter from His Most Catholic Majesty, The King of Spain

To the peoples of Iberia and those who read this abroad,

I am writing to notify the world of my own ascension to the thrones of Spain, Portugal, and our lands abroad. This comes at a time of great crisis and peril for the world. Obviously, then, it is my duty to notify our allies and enemies alike of our assumption of the throne god has ordained I occupy. My eldest and reactionary brother, Carlos V, has succumbed to the plague sweeping through the lands of terra firma. May God judge his cruel soul justly. As Alfonso, his heir by the Treaty of La Mancha, has also succumbed to the plague our Holy Father has elected to crown me as King. I'm the youngest surviving child of Pope Pelagius III, as my elder brother Francisco is currently in critical condition with the selfsame disease. He passed over Francisco for that reason, plus the Secretary of State is among the few of us who takes their vows of celibacy seriously (Carlos V only did so because he saw heirs as pointless given the Treaty).

You may be wondering...why did I feel the need to write this in a time of crisis like this? Because the seamless transition of power will benefit the state in protecting its people from the disease. Uncertainty in monarchical succession could breed chaos and further civil war, something that would ultimately multiply the sufferings of the people and its spread. The other reason is to clarify how my reign will differ from my brother's. Firstly, I did not want this crown. Already I feel it burning my neck and breaking it. I still do not want it, but I will always obey his holiness. In a better world, I would abolish it, enacting liberal and christo-socialist rule for the Spanish people. Yet I cannot, and will not. Not yet. The people need protection. Not drastic changes in the midst of emergency. Yet all will see a lighter hand. My brother was a staunch traditional autocrat. His Carlist* philosophies were cruel and ignored the people's liberties and welfare for self-aggrandizement. You will not see this with me. Note: Me. Not: Us.

There will be no coronation. The pope has crowned me in the Castel Sant'Angelo where he has entered seclusion. I am en route to self-isolate at the Alcazar of Segovia. No, I am not changing my name. I will be known as King Viracocha of Spain, Son of Lady Ocollo of the Tahuantinsuyu, Son of Pelagius III.

Thank you.

From,
His Catholic Majesty, Viracocha de Borja, the King of the Spanish, King of Castile, of León, of Aragon, of Portugal, of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, of Navarre, of Granada, of Seville, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Sardinia, of Córdoba, of Corsica, of Murcia, of Jaén, of the Algarves, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, of the East and West Indies, of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea; Duke of Parma, of Brabant, of Gandia and Modena; Count of Flanders, of Roussillon, and of Barcelona; Lord of Biscay and of Molina de Aragón; Captain General & Supreme Commander of the Royal Armed Forces; Sovereign Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece and of the orders awarded by the Spanish state.

[France et Navarre]

A Letter from Monsieur The King

To Our Fellow Catholic Kingdoms on Earth,

We wish to notify the world we will be immediately taking measures to abide by the Papal Bull, Equus Albus, and that France as well will be entering immediate lockdown until further notice. Foreign travel will cease until further notice as well. The nobility of Versailles have been quarantined to their apartments, as the outbreak has made its way to our gilded halls. All Salons will cease operation until the disease as passed, similarly so will outdoor excusrions to the various parks that surround the palace. Food and supplies will follow the Bull's precepts as well.

We congratulate our colleague and fellow Catholic monarch, King Viracocha, on his ascension to the throne of Spain. Our mutual pact of non-aggression will continue as per the usual. Though the Bourbon claims to the throne of Spain remain notwithstanding.

From,
His Most Christian Majesty, Louis XXI, by the Grace of God, King of France and of Navarre

[Il Borgia Vaticano]

Cardinal-Secretary of State, Francisco de Borja-Deceased from Illness

Cardinal Joaquin Santiago Gonzalez de Borja-Montalvo-RECOVERED!

Stefano de Medici-Borgia, CEO of Medici Aeronautics, Duke-Emeritus of Tuscany-Deceased from Illness

King Carlos V de Borja-Deceased from Illness

Jean de Borgia, Archbishop and Steward of Avignon, Duke of Valentinois and Comte de Avginon-RECOVERED!

Cardinal Alfonso de Borja, Designated Regent of The Kingdoms of Hispania-Deceased from Illness

Thomas von Mansfeld, Prince-Archbishop of Liege, Viceroy of The Low Countries-Critical Condition

His Holiness Pope Victor IV-Deceased from Illness

CONCLAVE TO FOLLOW, SOON.

[Il Borgia Vaticano]

A Letter from the Acting Secretary of State

To the great population of Catholics throughout the world,

It is my solemn duty, writing here in the isolation of the monastic cell I've made for myself here in the Castel Sant'Angelo, to notify the world of the passing of His Holiness, Pope Victor IV. Though he ruled the Papal States and its empire for a very short time, he guided us all with a firm and fair hand though this time of crisis. It is sad to say that he like so many others, including many of the august members of this curia, succumbed to the COVID-19 pandemic just earlier this week. Though quite a young man, his ancestry of African descent put him at higher risk of fatal disease, yet this did not stop the pontiff from visting the sick of Rome and allowing them access to the Castel's lower levels. From this contact two weeks ago he contracted COVID-19, and within 10 days he was in critical condition before quickly succumbing as we said, yesterday. He refused ventilation to save another's life. As this is a pontiff's sacred body, there will be no autopsy nor donation to any world health group's needs to study this disease. We apologize for the inconvenience. The funeral is already completed, as this disease leaves no time nor reason for pompish rituals. In the time since then, I, along with Gian-Galeazzo de Colonna-Borgia (the gonfaloniere), have secured Rome and King Viracocha has ensured the stability of Iberia. With both the pope and the secetrary of state dead, it had to be done.

THE PROMULGATION OF HIS BULL, EQUSS ALBUS, REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL UNDONE BY THE NEXT PONTIFF.

As we do consider the next pontificate, we need to see the reality and its conflict with tradition. We cannot have hundreds of electors, their staff, and servants crowding in to the already plague ridden city of Rome. No, it cannot be done. Three will be no official conclave in the Sistine Chapel for this election. There is too much risk for such a thing to occur. Instead, we have ordered the immediate distribution of one copy of each of the secret ballot papers sent to each of the cardinals currently living across the world. Each are to write the name of their preferred candidate in their own blood and their own signature, of which will be sent to Rome to be tested to ensure the authenticity of the ballot. Whomever gets the most votes, wins. We do not have the time nor the resources for the 2/3 majority requirement. We understand that no matter whom is elected, their pontificate will be forever clouded with the potential of illegitimacy...but it has to be done.

From,
His Eminence, Cardinal Adriano Borgia, Duke of Seville, Abbot of The Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo, Head of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Prefect of The Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts

OOC: Yes, we have the DNA profile of every Cardinal in the Curia...don't ask why we just do.....

[McNernia]

OFFICAL COMMUNIQUE OF THE KINGDOM OF ARCHINIA

From:Foreign Minister Samantha Calgran
To:The Acting Cardinal Secretary of State
Cc:The Kingdom of France Et Navarre
Sec:
Sub:The Current COVID Sitituation

Greetings

I have conferred with the Archbishop of Cathcride who is in isolation within St Theodores Basilica and my colleague Dr Arwell on the Cabinet at the Ministry of health and we are most happy to hear that there has been some attempt to resolve the situation as public gatherings for MAss are deemed to be a rather large threat to the general good. We also mourn the Popes passing. A proposal has been floated and we have been in nominal lockdown for a while due to our relationship with the ROC on Taiwan. Sparing us the worst of it.

If you need aid you need only to ask.

Signed
-S.Calgran Foriegn Minister of the Kingdom of Archinia

OOC:Yes Im changing the name. All stuff remains the same.