mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
tives of equal or superior virtue, those offices that the Church gives to lay
people, and the associated stipends. . . . It is wise and praiseworthy that
he continues to care for, as he has in the past, his relatives and friends. In
fact, as the old proverb says, ‘It is not good to bind strangers to your own
navel.’ ” 2
Papal nepotism was exacerbated by the fact that the throne was not
hereditary, as in most secular monarchies. A cousin of Louis XIII would
still be a cousin of Louis XIV, with the same position and income. But
when a pope died, his relatives were immediately ousted from power
and replaced by a new family. Because popes were usually elected when
elderly and died after only a few years, their relatives had a limited
amount of time to squeeze the Vatican treasury dry, conclude prestigious
marriages, and obtain noble titles, castles, and lands. As soon as a
cardinal was elected pope, his family descended on Rome in hordes,
hoping to grab as much as possible before their elderly relative kicked
the bucket.
While popes gave their lay nephews dukedoms, they made their religious
nephews cardinals. There was a good reason for having a nephew in
close proximity. In an environment rife with violence—and numerous
popes into the Middle Ages were strangled, stabbed, or poisoned—a close
relative was thought to be the best bodyguard possible.
In 1538 Pope Paul III instituted the official position of cardinal
nephew. Living in the suite of apartments next to the pope’s, the
younger man would help his uncle in politics and diplomacy and truly
look out for his best interests. The cardinal nephew would have every
reason to keep the pontiff alive, unlike many other cardinals who
might be tempted to slip something into his wine to hasten the next
conclave.
The people of the Papal States were not, in principal, against cardinal
nephews or the enriching of the pope’s family. Sharing good fortune
with relatives was, after all, a Christian virtue, and all levels of
society did it. It was not the premise of papal nepotism but its execution
that was disliked. Excessive sums were given to the pope’s relatives,
often from taxes imposed on the daily bread ration of the poor.
Nepotism confined within the bounds of good taste would have been
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