Venice, once a centre of free thinking, suffers under a climate of terror brought about by the Inquisition. The church’s most powerful weapon will be a new type of inquisition, controlled by the Pope himself. He will use it to curtail the spread of a competing religion, and eliminate those who betray the faith. It will stop the flow of new ideas let loose by the printing press, and repress the birth of modern scientific thought. A new campaign in the battle for the souls of Europe's Christians is about to begin.