 According to him, the Church must be renewed with the sword; until this was accomplished, there was no need to confess, since all priests, secular and regular, were unworthy.According to the Florentine chronicler Bartolomeo Cerretani, about twenty adherents of Savonarola formed a secret society and elected Peter pope.Tha latter, who was then twenty-five years old, assumed special ecclesiastical functions and anointed his followers with oil.