490 Readings in European History or occupied, likewise all who shall consciously lend aid, counsel, or support in such undertakings, either publicly or privately, shall, by the very act, incur the sentence of ex- communication ; corporations, moreover, which shall show themselves guilty in these matters, we place under the interdict. We strictly command all prelates and ecclesiastical per- sons above mentioned, in virtue of their obedience, and under penalty of deposition, that they shall not hereafter acquiesce in any such demands, without the express permis- sion of the aforesaid chair. Nor shall they pay anything under pretext of any obligation, promise, or declaration made in the past, or which may be made before this notice, prohibition, or order shall be brought to their attention. Nor shall the above-mentioned laymen in any way receive any such payments. And if the former pay, or the latter receive anything, they shall incur, by the act itself, the sentence of excommunication. No one, moreover, shall be freed from the above-mentioned sentences of excommuni- cation or of the interdict, except in the article of death, without the authority and special permission of the apos- tolic see, since it is our intention to make no kind of com- promise with so horrible an abuse of the secular power; and this notwithstanding any privileges, whatever their tenor, form, or wording, conceded to emperors, kings, or other persons above mentioned, for we will that such con- cessions as are in conflict with the preceding prohibitions shall avail no individual person or persons. Let no man at all, therefore, violate the page of this our decree, pro- hibition, or order, or with rash assumption contravene it. Whoever shall presume to attempt this, let him know that he shall incur the indignation of omnipotent God and of the blessed Peter and Paul, his apostles. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the sixth day before the Kalends of March, in the second year of our pontificate.
