mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
brutally, publicly, when people threw stones at her in the street and
spat on her, Olimpia was known to shrug and quote an old Italian saying.
“I am like a beaten horse,” she would say. “The beatings just make
my coat glossier.” 9
Over time Olimpia’s thirst for revenge and her stony face would
cause the world to believe she was coldhearted. Indeed, it is a common
mistake to think that those with strong leadership qualities never shed a
tear in grinding sorrow, that they never feel the throbbing pain of a
broken heart, that betrayal does not cut them as deeply as it does the
easygoing. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Those who dominate,
given their quick intelligence and high expectations, often feel the blow
more keenly, suffer more cruelly, cry more bitterly.
And the fact that Olimpia’s revenge was always so calculated, so
deadly, was proof of how much she truly did care, of how much she had
loved and hoped, of how deeply she felt betrayed. Those who had caused
her bitter pain would suffer bitter pain themselves. It was, after all, only
fair.
With the priest scandal, Olimpia had learned a valuable lesson that
she would never forget. She had learned that she, a weak female, had
the strength to break authority—the authority of the church, of the
family, of society in general. And her tools in tearing down authority
were lies, manipulation, and outright resistance. Only with these tools
could she balance the handicap of being female. Given the cruelty men
were always imposing on women, she must have viewed these weapons
as permissible in her fight against injustice, in her right to protect herself.
Sforza, who had over the course of decades so carefully crafted his
standing in the community, was devastated. The bishop was furious at
him. The Holy Roman Inquisition frowned upon him. He had escaped
excommunication by the skin of his teeth. His neighbors and business
contacts either pitied him or ridiculed him behind his back. Sforza’s
well-intentioned efforts to protect his family had backfired disastrously.
Given the magnitude of his disgrace, maybe Sforza was no longer upand-coming.
Maybe now he was down-and-going. And it was all Olimpia’s
fault.
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