It was this May and June of 1527 that Lutheran mercenaries called landsknechts attacked and pillaged Rome and took Pope Clement VII hostage. The 500th anniversary is just three years away.
Traditionally, historians counted this sacrilege as the end of the Renaissance and the slide toward the Reformation.
Many of the German soldiers were Protestants who eagerly looked forward to attacking papal Rome as a religious calling and to pillaging the famed wealth of the popes. They did a pretty thorough job of it.
Under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, many diaries and chronicles attest to the violence and looting that took place during the sack. The soldiers pillaged churches and palaces, tortured merchants to discover where they kept their fortunes, ransomed cardinals and prelates for thousands of ducats, and murdered men and women indiscriminately.
Contemporaries described how the relics of Saints Peter and Paul were trampled underfoot, the Sudarium of Christ was sold in taverns, and a priest was killed for not administering the sacraments to a mule dressed in ecclesiastical vestments. One group even elected Luther as pope and carried one of their own in his stead, dressed as the pope in ritual derision of the papacy.
Scholars estimate that at least ten percent of Rome’s population died in the sack and occupation of the city by the Imperial forces. Many other businesses and traders fled. It would take thirty years for Rome to reach its pre-Sack population.
https://www.sabaton.net/historical-facts/the-sack-of-rome/
"Monks and priests were brutally killed, and nuns were raped on sacred altars. People were cut, beaten and branded, their teeth and nails pulled out for the information about their valuables. Sources speak of molten lead being poured down throats and severed testicles in the streets. Tombs were looted and holy relics were carried away, often by famous artists and noblemen, who now served as porters for the soldiers."
Just as planning for the Olympics has to happen years ahead, I imagine that the descendants of the HRE will be making commemorative events and exhibitions, no? What should we look forward to?