In Medieval days the Church had the ability to scare the
public with excommunication and this gave them considerable
political power. Tim Vroom does not have the
ability to threaten the government with excommunication and
make it stick.
And even with this power there are quite a few stories of
people given sanctuary in monasteries which the civil
authorities nonetheless seized. For the one that came first
to my mind, visit Chapter 11
(The Slow Poisoners) of Extraordinary
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds and search for
the word "Barri". Then read the tale of La Tophania. (OK
that is not truly Medieval. But even then sanctuary was
often more theoretical than real.)
An additional note. That is a book that is mentioned quite
often, and despite having been in print for upwards of 150
years still sells. However virtually all mentions you will
encounter only talk about the first three chapters...