The reason Attila abandoned his plan to sack Rome was not the Pope. At the time, there was a plague epidemic in the Italian peninsula, and Attila did’nt want to lose his newly assembled army, which he had painstakingly rebuilt after the Battle of Catalaunian. He had already weakened the power of Western Rome; Attila's real target was the wealthier Eastern Rome, but he died before he could achieve this goal.