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mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

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Eleanor Herman<br />

effect, permitted two homosexuals to marry and commit sodomy with<br />

only a slap on <strong>the</strong> wrist as penalty.<br />

Innocent refused to believe <strong>the</strong> story and vehemently defended his<br />

employees in <strong>the</strong> datary. However, given <strong>the</strong> fact that his reputation and<br />

<strong>the</strong> reputation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> entire church were at stake, <strong>the</strong> pope agreed to<br />

launch an investigation. He sent word for Cardinal Cecchini to come<br />

immediately to <strong>the</strong> papal audience chamber. Eaten up by gout, Cecchini<br />

hobbled breathlessly to <strong>the</strong> pope, hoping that he had been restored to<br />

favor. Instead, he heard devastating rumors <strong>of</strong> forgery in <strong>the</strong> datary.<br />

The datary <strong>of</strong>fices were searched for <strong>the</strong> Portuguese bull, but it was<br />

not found. A copy was found in <strong>the</strong> chancery, <strong>the</strong> department responsible<br />

for establishing new dioceses and benefices. The copy <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> forged<br />

bull had been made by a certain Giuseppe Brignardelli, who had already<br />

sent <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> original to Portugal. Brignardelli, it was discovered,<br />

had fled. But when Cardinal Cecchini’s investigators questioned his<br />

wife, she said that three days before her husband’s disappearance her<br />

nephew had shown up with thirteen thousand scudi from Francesco<br />

Mascambruno to help him escape. When Mascambruno’s lodgings<br />

were searched, <strong>the</strong> investigators found fourteen thousand gold pieces,<br />

countless vases and plates <strong>of</strong> pure gold and silver, and bank records<br />

showing enormous deposits. They also found seventy forged papal bulls,<br />

which Mascambruno was evidently holding until payment arrived.<br />

Several <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bulls were in <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> being forged, which revealed<br />

how he had done it. Official letters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seventeenth century<br />

were works <strong>of</strong> art, with magnificent calligraphy and pleasing spaces<br />

between <strong>the</strong> paragraphs. Mascambruno had written a summary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

bull at <strong>the</strong> top <strong>of</strong> a long sheet <strong>of</strong> parchment, an innocuous dispensation<br />

for third cousins to marry, for instance. The pope, casting barely a<br />

glance at <strong>the</strong> summary, signed at <strong>the</strong> bottom <strong>of</strong> a large white space.<br />

Back in his <strong>of</strong>fice, Mascambruno cut <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> top <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> document and<br />

wrote a new text, permitting homosexual acts, for example. Then<br />

he attached <strong>the</strong> lead bulla dangling from red ribbons at <strong>the</strong> bottom<br />

and sent it <strong>of</strong>f, not through <strong>the</strong> datary but through <strong>the</strong> chancery,<br />

where his accomplices worked. Investigators discovered a network <strong>of</strong><br />

coconspirators across Europe, corrupt <strong>of</strong>ficials in different nunciatures<br />

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