The giant fire spirit arrives extremely conveniently. After it has burned the city down, everybody, the poor, the (formerly) rich, the clergy, will start from nothing to rebuild their lives and society. Under such circumstances, their faith will serve them well. It will also be the real faith, not the archbishop's fill-your-pockets faith, because there will be nothing left to fill pockets with. You might call this a divine tribulation, after they had perverted Miraism.
Of course if Steven Seagal, pardon me, Sirius actually stops the fire spirit and the town is saved, it's all meaningless. In that case the whole town will probably just welcome Ashley back through some bullshit writing.