Though the conventional view of The Prince is that it promotes a supposedly amoral ideology for political leaders to embrace, this is probably not the only reason the religious authorities banned the book and condemned Machiavelli.

Machiavelli's intention was not so much to give prescriptions or directives to princes on how to rule as it was simply to describe, using many examples from both ancient and modern times, the actions that successful leaders have taken in order to obtain and hold power. In doing so, he revealed the hypocrisy, particularly regarding religion, of the European monarchs of his time and of the recent past. Machiavelli said of Ferdinand of Spain (without actually naming him) that "a certain monarch of our time presents himself as a defender of Faith and virtue but in reality is the extreme enemy of both." Given the violence, wars, and persecutions carried out not just by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain but by the French and English kings of the time, all of whom represented themselves as devout, this statement by Machiavelli must have struck home with the religious authorities who worked hand in hand with these monarchs. Henry VIII's secession from the church in Rome as well as the Protestant Reformation had yet to occur when Machiavelli was writing. But both of these historical processes would simply have reinforced the general point Machiavelli was making about the violence and constant wars engulfing Europe, which were started and perpetuated by supposedly pious leaders.

It was Machiavelli's honesty about this overall situation that resulted in his being demonized not just by the papacy but by the European ruling class in general. He was made into a byword for evil by those who may have never read The Prince or his other works but were familiar only with a caricatured view of them.