Religion: Shedding the Dutch Curse

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Adrian VI was the first Pope to face the consequences of Martin Luther's reform movement. But his confession of ecclesiastical errors and call for reform at Nuremberg in 1522 antagonized the German bishops almost more than Luther did—and anyhow came too late. When the Pope died virtually unmourned after a pontificate of 20 months, someone hung laurels on the door of the papal physician who had failed to save his life. For 455 years after that, Adrian's disastrous tenure cast a "Dutch curse" over the possibility of another non-Italian Pope.

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