mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
as king, and his wife, Olimpiuccia, as queen. Olimpia was delighted at
this suggestion. She would be the grandmother of a queen. The Barberinis
promised to field at their own cost an army of twelve thousand
men, and started recruiting. The pope would raise his own army to
march south in short order and would outfit the papal galleys to bombard
Spanish coastal fortresses.
“The pope, almost beside himself due to his old age, easily gave into
all their plans,” Gregorio Leti wrote. 16 And indeed, the pope’s approval
of this harebrained scheme seems proof that he was losing his faculties.
Spain would never let Naples go without a fight, and Spanish forces
were infinitely more powerful than papal ones. France was too far away
to offer timely support if, indeed, she ever sent it. For centuries, ardent
French promises of dispatching men and ships to defend the pope or
conquer the infidel were followed not by the expected tromp of boots
and snap of sails but by a bewildering silence.
As Olimpia and the Barberinis secretly prepared for the invasion,
word came from the viceroy of Naples that the king of Spain had been
informed of their treachery. Neapolitan fortresses were on full alert; additional
soldiers were recruited. City walls and gates were manned by
crack soldiers ready to open fire on any suspicious visitors. The Spanish
fleet was bobbing along the coast ready to sink any papal or French vessels.
The conspirators were flabbergasted. Now all their plans were undone.
How on earth could Spain have found out? They had been so
careful with their coded letters and disguised messengers. But Olimpia
had a clue as to who had betrayed them. She believed it was Cardinal
Astalli-Pamphili, a loyal advocate of Spain, but she needed irrevocable
proof to present to the pope. Then she could send the cardinal nephew
packing.
Olimpia met secretly with Decio Azzolini and asked him to nose
around Cardinal Astalli-Pamphili’s office, using his ability to decode
ciphers, and bring her evidence that the cardinal nephew was the traitor.
She promised to make him a cardinal in the upcoming creation if
his efforts were successful. Azzolini, who had always shown the greatest
friendship to Astalli-Pamphili, poked, prodded, bribed, coaxed, and
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