Pope Clement XI sent the Franciscan Lorenzo Cozza (later Cardinal) to Samuel in 1703 with the hope that the Patriarch might conclude union with Rome. He in fact signed a declaration of his renunciation of Orthodoxy, and his embrace of Catholicism ten years later was conveyed to the Pope in consistory on 28 April 1713. Samuel was immediately attacked by his former co-religionists, leading Clement XI to try to enlist the protection of European leaders for the Patriarch, including that of Louis XIV, the King of France.