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mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

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Mistress <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vatican<br />

treaty and prohibited his bull from being distributed. Like a bad wouldbe<br />

author, <strong>the</strong> pope couldn’t even get published.<br />

To his great disappointment, <strong>the</strong> real victor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Thirty Years’ War<br />

was France, which emerged from <strong>the</strong> conflict triumphant. Spain and<br />

Austria climbed out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ashes exhausted, though Spain was still too<br />

proud to sign a treaty with France and would continue <strong>the</strong> war, sort <strong>of</strong>,<br />

until 1659. Having trounced its ancient enemies, <strong>the</strong> path would be<br />

open for France to rise to glory under Louis XIV. But that was in <strong>the</strong><br />

future, and when <strong>the</strong> Treaty <strong>of</strong> Westphalia was signed, <strong>the</strong> brilliant Sun<br />

King was yet a slender ray, playing with toy soldiers.<br />

O<strong>the</strong>r parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world presented difficulties for <strong>the</strong> pontiff. Victorious<br />

Muslim fleets continued to conquer Venetian trading posts in <strong>the</strong><br />

Aegean, sweeping ever westward. England was ruled by <strong>the</strong> Puritans,<br />

<strong>the</strong> most virulent heretics ever seen, who cut <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> head <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Catholic<br />

sympathizer King Charles I in January 1649. They executed priests,<br />

stripped English Catholics <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong>ir possessions, and sent troops into<br />

Ireland, where <strong>the</strong>y massacred more than 100,000 Catholics.<br />

Looking fur<strong>the</strong>r afield, <strong>the</strong> pope’s missions to South America were<br />

fraught with personality conflicts. A nine-month journey from Rome,<br />

missions so far from Vatican control were <strong>of</strong>ten reduced to brawling<br />

among bishops and priests to see who could wield <strong>the</strong> most power. In<br />

North America, missionaries to Canada were being slaughtered by <strong>the</strong><br />

Iroquois.<br />

But <strong>the</strong> pope experienced some successes. In terms <strong>of</strong> spreading <strong>the</strong><br />

faith in Africa, his missionaries had received a friendly reception in<br />

Senegal in 1645 and had converted <strong>the</strong> king <strong>of</strong> Benin in 1648. Italian<br />

Capuchin monks had entered <strong>the</strong> kingdom <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Congo in 1646. In<br />

India <strong>the</strong> Jesuits were extremely active. The king <strong>of</strong> Ceylon became<br />

Catholic in 1644. In <strong>the</strong> Philippines, Innocent built <strong>the</strong> Dominican College<br />

<strong>of</strong> Manila to teach <strong>the</strong>ology and bestow academic degrees. The<br />

Christians in Japan had been destroyed, but in China <strong>the</strong>re were some<br />

150,000 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m.<br />

Missionary efforts were not all in <strong>the</strong> far-flung corners <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> globe.<br />

An ongoing program existed in Rome itself. The Jewish community<br />

was a source both <strong>of</strong> pride and embarrassment to <strong>the</strong> Holy See—pride<br />

[ 235 ]

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