mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
Gianbattista’s looks aside, the specter of Olimpia hovered uneasily
over the conclave. Ambassador Giustiniani had heard the gossip that the
cardinal and his sister-in-law were sleeping together. He wrote, “Others
were aware of the fact that the pontificate would be subject to female
influence due to the boundless affection the cardinal showed his sisterin-law,
absolute arbiter of all the most serious affairs that concerned the
interests of his family, not without the opinion that his deeply rooted affection
involved more than platonic sympathies, which was a very important
point, considering the vehement spirits of that lady.” 13
Cardinal Antonio complained of the “cupidity and haughtiness
of his sister-in-law.” 14 He deplored the likelihood that despite Gianbattista’s
advanced age, his robust constitution would keep him alive for
years, with Olimpia at the helm of the Vatican.
Francesco Mantovani, the ambassador of Modena, summed up Gianbattista’s
strong points: he was highly educated, hardworking, and just.
But he added that Gianbattista would surely be handicapped in conclave
by his “coarseness of spirit and the greed of the sister-in-law.” 15
What the diplomats and cardinals were complaining about was not so
much Olimpia’s character but that such a character should be encased in
a female body. If Olimpia were Gianbattista’s brother-in-law instead of
his sister-in-law, her clever accumulation of power and wealth would
have been lauded. As a man, Olimpia would have been a remarkable asset
to any Holy Father. As a woman, she was his greatest vulnerability.
The casting of votes in conclave has a special name: a scrutiny. Twice a
day, morning and afternoon, cardinals would anonymously write the
name of a candidate on a folded piece of paper, disguising their handwriting,
and toss it into a chalice in front of Michelangelo’s daunting
Last Judgment, which was splayed across the wall behind the altar of the
Sistine Chapel. Visions of tortured souls being dragged to hell served as
a constant reminder of what was in store for cardinals who voted selfishly
and not according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Cardinal Antonio was confident of getting Mazarin’s candidate,
Cardinal Sacchetti, elected. But according to the old saying, “He who
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