mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

18
Crisis of Conscience
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We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury
of a disappointed woman,—scorned, slighted, dismissed
without a parting pang.
—Colley Cibber
Innocent, who usually agonized over every little decision,
had been putting off a big one. Ever since Francesco Maidalchini
became cardinal nephew in the fall of 1647, the pope had known
that he was completely unfit for the job. None of the burden of work
had been removed from the pontiff ’s elderly shoulders. Cardinal Maidalchini’s
tasks were shifted upward to where they had been while Camillo
played at the office—to Cardinal Panciroli and to the pope
himself.
But now the stalwart workhorse Panciroli was sick, and all the work
devolved upon the aged pontiff. Innocent could not keep up with it, especially
in a jubilee year when daily public ceremonies crammed his
schedule. With Panciroli in bed for days at a time, ambassadors, cardinals,
and municipal officials sometimes waited fuming in an antechamber
for hours until the pope could see them.
An efficient cardinal nephew would solve all the problems. “The responsibilities
of a cardinal nephew,” Leti explained, “. . . included being