At the turn of the year 1200/01, the Pope subjected the candidates for the imperial coronation to a critical examination. In the Bull "Deliberatio domni pape Innocentii super facto imperii de tribus electis", the Pope set out the reasons for and against the suitability of the respective candidates: Philip's nephew Frederick II was put aside due of his youth, and Philip himself was in the eyes of the Pope as "the son of a race of persecutors" of the church ("genus persecutorum") because his father Frederick Barbarossa had fought against the Papacy for years. In contrast, Otto's ancestors were always loyal followers of the church. Otto had also sworn extensive concessions to the Holy See in the Neuss oath on 8 June 1201, assuring him that he would not strive for a union of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of Sicily. Thus, the Pope chose the Welf and excommunicated Philip and his associates. The papal judgment for Otto had no major effect in the empire.