Under pope Adrian VI, Pucci was accused of fraud in connection with the sale of indulgences, but he escaped punishment thanks to the intercession of Cardinal Giulio Medici, who after his election to the papacy in 1523 as Pope Clement VII cleared Pucci of all charges. In 1526 Clement entered on the War of the League of Cognac against Charles V, in which Clement was defeated and captured and Rome sacked. Upon the post-war rapprochement which Clement and Charles soon reached, Pucci was one of the keenest advocates of quickly reconquering Florence from Republican rebels. He then served as Cardinal-Bishop of Albano (1524) and Palestrina (1524–1531).