“I have a way to solve the church’s budget shortage. Let’s hear it.”
“How about selling Bibles?”
The Cardinal tilted his head after hearing my suggestion.
“A Bible is, after all, a craft and a piece of art. But how could we make a large profit by selling Bibles?”
In the Tuscany Empire, printing technology hasn’t spread that widely.
Thus, the price of a single Bible or an academic book is roughly the price of a house.
For high-ranking individuals, that might not be much, but it takes an average of 3 months to a year to hand-copy a single book.
So, logically speaking, making a fortune by selling Bibles is virtually impossible.
“What if we printed Bibles as if stamping them out of a mold? To put it more simply, we can create a giant stamp with the Bible’s text on it and print it onto paper.”
“This is something I never thought of. Please, continue.”
One common misconception we have due to the Catholic Church’s history during the Reformation is that the clergy feared people reading the Bible. They supposedly claimed that if the Bible wasn’t written in Latin, it was “heresy,” and even banned printing and distributing the Bible.
However, in reality, the Catholic Church never claimed that the Bible had to be in Latin to be valid, nor did they ever ban printing the Bible for distribution.
In fact, the Church welcomed the Gutenberg printing press, as it helped produce many copies of the Bible.
‘Gutenberg even went into debt and was saved by the Archbishop of Mainz, which shows how much the Church supported the press.’
It’s likely the same here in the Papal States.
“What if we prepare hundreds of giant stamps with the Bible’s text and use them to print one page at a time? This way, we could produce a whole Bible much more quickly.”
I pulled a Bible from inside my coat.
It was printed in a Gothic font, a type optimized for printing.
“The font is quite good. It doesn’t have the elegance of a handwritten copy, but it will certainly help in spreading the Bible.”
“It’s impossible to sell a hand-copied Bible for 7 gold coins each, but if we sell them for 1.5 gold coins each, we could make a huge profit.”
Not many would want to own a hand-copied Bible at the cost of 7 gold coins and the labor of over a year.
Unless they were truly obsessed with the Bible.
But what if they could buy one for just 1.5 gold coins, without the long waiting time to have it hand-copied?
“I’m not exactly sure, as I haven’t started the business yet, but printing the Bible using a press would cost around 8 silver coins in materials and 1 gold coin in distribution costs. The profit per Bible would be around 5 silver coins. In other words, selling 100 Bibles would earn us 50 gold coins.”
50 gold coins isn’t a huge amount for someone like the Cardinal or me.
But what if we used economies of scale?
What if we sold Bibles across the entire Tuscany Empire or even the entire Albanian continent?
“If we sell each Bible for 1.5 gold coins, we won’t make a fortune per Bible. But with that price, people who can afford it will want one for their homes. If that happens, we could sell hundreds of thousands of Bibles.”
In this world, owning a Bible is a significant status symbol.
It’s not just about showing off wealth, but also about demonstrating that one is scholarly and devout.
The effect of showing off a Bible to others would be just as impressive as flaunting a foreign luxury car.
And since everyone believes in God and donates 10% to 20% of their wealth to the Church, how precious do you think the Bible, which contains the Gospel and God’s message, is?
‘There are probably people who would go so far as to spend their entire fortune to buy one.’
1.5 gold coins is affordable enough to try.
The Cardinal’s expression seemed quite pleased after hearing my plan.
“... Hm, hm. This is very good. A very desirable idea. It could solve the Church’s financial problems and also help strengthen the faith of the people.”
“And there’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”
“Speak freely.”
“With a slight expansion of my facilities, I could print thousands of Bibles every month. You’ll quickly notice by inspecting the Bible I’m holding that it’s a translation from 200 years ago in the Tuscany Empire’s language.”
In modern Christianity and Catholicism, translations of the Bible are naturally used in services.
But in pre-modern Europe, the Bible was read and services were conducted in Latin.
Here too, services are held in Romanian, which gives little theological authority, but the Bible was translated as a kind of ‘baby food.’
“But if we’re going to sell Bibles, wouldn’t it be better to have them blessed? We could sell Bibles blessed with holy water in the Pope’s name. That would surely be a great blessing for the people.”
The Bible I’m selling will only have a drop or two of holy water (salt water) in it.
However, the people buying it will likely claim they’ve purchased a Bible blessed by the Pope, and they’ll cry and pray over it.
Why? Because this is a barbaric age where even the common folk believe that if the king touches them, they’ll be healed.
“That’s something I can easily arrange.”
“And if you could also mention in your sermons at the churches throughout the Albanian continent why people should buy these Bibles, that would be even better.”
Clergy, no matter the era, often have an obsession with building grand churches.
When the church grows larger, their income increases, and they’ll have more congregants, making their ministry more fulfilling.
And to make that happen, they preach about tithing.
Clergy who are either obsessed with money or in dire need of funds preach such sermons every week.
Why? Because when they preach about tithing, money actually gets collected.
‘And in this era, where the clergy’s authority is absolute?’
Even those who don’t plan to buy would be convinced to do so.
“Of course, I’ll do that. But I’d like you to share the technology for making those printing presses with us.”
Since I’m now able to print Bibles blessed by the Pope and sell them, I had already planned to share the printing press technology.
That’s because things like seaweed farming can be treated as non-secretive, and if the villagers of Bio Village are managed well, they’ll keep secrets for about ten years.
But printing is a straightforward process—just press and it’s done.
‘I’ll bet the secret will be out within a year.’
Skilled craftsmen might even figure out how to build the machine in less than six months.
“This is for the Church, so I’m happy to share the technology with you. Here are the blueprints.”
“Thank you.”
Honestly, I’m the one who should be thanking him.
I know this war will undoubtedly end in defeat for them.
And once they incur massive losses in the construction of the cathedral, they’ll try to profit from indulgences.
If I move now, I can make a huge fortune.
“The Pope will be greatly impressed by your sincere intentions,” said the Cardinal.
“It’s an honor, Your Excellency,” I replied.
The Cardinal handed me a rosary he was wearing.
“This is a rosary I personally blessed. May Deus’s blessing be with you.”
Deus’s blessing, huh?
You’re probably not the ones who should be talking about that.
Do you think Deus would look kindly on a religion that’s lost its way?
Well, if Deus really did favor you, I’d fall into ruin, and you would continue to prosper.
After Fabio left, the Cardinal’s face lit up with a wide grin.
The reason was quite simple.
“I feel like I’ve moved one step closer to becoming the next Pope.”
Honestly, when the baron first asked to meet me, I thought it was absurd.
But since the Rothschild Baron is famous for being wealthy, I thought he might donate a lot, so I agreed to meet with him.
“Selling Bibles to make money. Adding a blessing from the Pope... It’s a rather lowly idea, but... Well, merchants are merchants, I suppose.”
Still, I didn’t mind it.
“The tithe from a prostitute’s earnings and the one from a nobleman’s fortune—they’re both just money in the end. Without money, clergy can’t even do their jobs.”
Of course, among cardinals, there are one or two truly virtuous and faithful ones.
But most high-ranking clergy are all obsessed with money.
If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have risen so high.
“Moreover, with secular rulers growing bolder and even rebelling against the Church, we were facing a financial crisis. But now, someone brings a solution? During the next conclave, they’ll all vote for me. They’ll realize that my power is needed if I want to continue enjoying wealth and status as a cardinal.”
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Muttering to himself, the Cardinal smiled contentedly and went to bed.
In his room, a servant was waiting on him.
It was a scene that most people buying Bibles would never see.