mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
“We must think about this man because he does not think about himself.”
11 The pope presented Chigi with several bags of gold—the enormous
sum of three thousand scudi—for his expenses in establishing an
honorable household in Rome. Chigi was shocked to receive such a gift
but accepted it to please the pope.
Imitating the pope, when Cardinal Astalli-Pamphili discovered that
Chigi’s Roman palace was mostly bereft of furniture, he declared that
he would give him one thousand gold pieces to furnish it. Chigi was
horrified at the announcement but finally had to accept the gift to avoid
offending the cardinal nephew.
The rigorous Fabio Chigi squirmed in discomfort at the gift-giving
culture of Rome, which often blurred into bribery and influence buying.
“He disliked giving and receiving,” wrote Cardinal Pallavicino,
“this trafficking in gifts of the ambitious and the self-interested, and the
ostentation of the wasteful. He preferred to give alms to the poor rather
than fatten the powerful with gifts.” 12
Within days of his arrival in Rome, Chigi learned that etiquette demanded
he give presents to Cardinal Astalli-Pamphili and Camillo as
an expression of gratitude for his good fortune. Not to do so would be
the cause of great offense, and he would acquire the reputation of being
either ignorant or cheap. Chigi bowed to the reigning custom, but his
gifts were thoughtful rather than sumptuous—hard-to-find spices from
the Orient, rare books, exquisite perfumes, and delicious pastries. “But
having allowed himself to overcome his repugnance to giving, he remained
inflexibly opposed to receiving.” 13
Chigi’s incorruptibility was the talk of Rome. He refused bribes and
gifts from the French and Spaniards alike, and from family factions in
Rome; stranger yet, the pope had to force him to accept incomes and
benefices becoming his office. Unlike other courtiers, Chigi was as
friendly to those known to be in disgrace at court as he was to the favorites,
treating all with equal kindness and respect. No one in the Vatican
had ever seen anything like it.
Before Chigi had been called to Rome, Innocent had given in to Cardinal
Astalli-Pamphili’s pleas to keep him a monsignor. Making the
older, wiser man a cardinal would give him more power than that of
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