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What did Pope Alexander VI ask Girolamo Savonarola to do in 1495?
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Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola, painting by Fra Bartolomeo; in the Museo di San Marco, Florence.
In a brief dated July 21, 1495, Pope Alexander VI praised the work of Girolamo Savonarola and summoned him to Rome to personally pronounce his prophecies.1
Recognizing this as a potential trap, Savonarola declined the request, citing illness as his reason for delaying the journey. Following this, the Pope issued further briefs that escalated from praise to vituperation, eventually ordering Savonarola to Bologna under threat of excommunication and later forbidding him from preaching.1