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mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

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Mistress <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vatican<br />

See was vacant. Gigli noted, “There was not a single day when <strong>the</strong>re<br />

were not many fights, murders, betrayals, finding many men and women<br />

killed in various places, and many were found without a head. Many<br />

headless bodies were found that had been thrown in <strong>the</strong> Tiber. Many<br />

houses were broken into and robbed at night. Doors were smashed,<br />

women were raped, o<strong>the</strong>rs killed, and many young girls disgraced,<br />

raped, and taken away.” 8 For once it was actually safer to be in Naples<br />

than in Rome.<br />

On July 19, fifty-five cardinals processed with great dignity into <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

tomblike accommodations in <strong>the</strong> Sistine Chapel to elect a new pontiff.<br />

It was a summer conclave, <strong>the</strong> dread <strong>of</strong> every cardinal. In <strong>the</strong> stifling<br />

heat, chamber pots grew rank and fetid. The smell <strong>of</strong> unwashed bodies<br />

oozed through red robes. And malaria struck, “<strong>the</strong> atmosphere being<br />

laden with putrid miasmas and sickening smells <strong>of</strong> decaying victuals<br />

that <strong>the</strong> potent perfumes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> young cardinals could not manage to<br />

disguise,” one chronicler reported. 9 Then fleas invaded <strong>the</strong> premises,<br />

eating <strong>the</strong> cardinals alive.<br />

The decision hastened by <strong>the</strong> spreading malaria, on August 6 <strong>the</strong><br />

candidate favored by France, <strong>the</strong> Florentine cardinal Maffeo Barberini,<br />

was elected pope and took <strong>the</strong> name Urban VIII. Barberini had been<br />

papal nuncio to France from 1604 to 1607, and his continued good relations<br />

with <strong>the</strong> French government disgruntled Spain. At fifty-five he<br />

was younger than most newly elected popes and promised a long reign,<br />

which disgruntled <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r cardinals, many <strong>of</strong> whom would never<br />

have ano<strong>the</strong>r chance to become pope. But to get out <strong>of</strong> that stinking<br />

malarial hellhole <strong>of</strong> a conclave, <strong>the</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> cardinals would have<br />

elected <strong>the</strong> devil himself.<br />

Urban had a square beard, hard, round eyes, and a snub nose that<br />

gave him <strong>the</strong> look <strong>of</strong> an alert schnauzer. The Venetian envoy Zeno was<br />

more flattering in his description. “His Holiness is tall, dark, with regular<br />

features and black hair turning grey. He is exceptionally elegant and<br />

refined in all details <strong>of</strong> his dress; has a graceful and aristocratic bearing<br />

and exquisite taste. He is an excellent speaker and debater, writes verses<br />

and patronizes poets and men <strong>of</strong> letters.” 10<br />

The Barberini family coat <strong>of</strong> arms featured three gold honeybees on<br />

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