mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
He had become a figurehead with very few duties. The ambassadors
avoided him. The Pamphilis loathed him. The Barberinis disliked him.
Cardinal Chigi, who ran a tight ship, kept the dunderheaded fake nephew
at a distance. But Olimpia was not satisfied with sidelining him. She
planted spies in his office to keep an eagle eye on his doings.
The cardinal nephew was expected to sell a certain number of benefices,
or take the money from vacant benefices, to pay for those business
expenses that were not reimbursed by the Vatican. Yet the first time
Cardinal Astalli-Pamphili did this, Olimpia complained to the pope.
The angry pontiff accused his fake nephew of graft and demanded he
hand the money over—to Olimpia.
Olimpia frequently told the pope of Astalli-Pamphili’s uselessness in
his office, giving detailed evidence provided by her spies. Innocent “began
to mortify the cardinal with injurious words and deeds, and thought
about firing him, saying that Cardinal Chigi could do the work without
him idly taking up space.” 14
The pope spoke to Chigi about getting rid of Cardinal Astalli-Pamphili,
who had proved to be the third embarrassing cardinal nephew in
a row. The Barberini cardinals, who had run the Vatican on behalf of
their uncle for twenty-two years, were proving remarkably efficient;
Olimpia was back and more involved than ever, and there seemed no
reason to have this phony nephew bumbling around pretending to
work.
But Chigi “wanted to do good for all. He was zealous that the palace
should not become a theater of new disturbances, and the subject of satirical
gazettes, and he did not want to appear a happy spectator at the
ruin of others or to be seen as stepping on their bodies to climb up.
Therefore, he tried to change the pope’s mind,” Cardinal Pallavicino
wrote. Cardinal Chigi told the pope that “firing the cardinal without
grave cause would expose the pope to the poor judgment of the world
for having, with so many signs of favor, raised an unworthy man, and
with such signs of disfavor lowered an innocent one.” 15
In the late fall of 1653, Cardinal Astalli-Pamphili noticed something
mysterious going on among the pope, Olimpia, and the Barberini
cardinals. Late-night meetings were held, from which he was
[ 337 ]