Editing Scipione Borghese (section)

==Biography==

===Early life and cardinalship===
He was born in [[Artena]] with name Scipione Caffarelli, the son of Francesco Caffarelli and Ortensia Borghese. Because his father ran into financial difficulties, Scipione's education was paid for by his maternal uncle Camillo Borghese. Upon Camillo's election to the papacy as [[Pope Paul V]]<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/53.201/ "Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1577–1633)", Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History]</ref> in 1605, he quickly conferred a [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]]ship on Scipione and gave him the right to use the Borghese name and coat of arms.

In the classic pattern of papal [[nepotism]], Cardinal Borghese wielded enormous power as the Pope's secretary and effective head of the [[Roman Curia|Vatican government]]. On his own and the Pope's behalf he amassed an enormous fortune through papal fees and taxes, and acquired vast land holdings for the Borghese family.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}

===Cardinal===

Scipione received many honours from his uncle. He became [[Cardinal-nephew|superintendent general of the Papal States]], legate in [[Avignon]], archpriest of the [[Lateran]] and [[St. Peter's Basilica|Vatican]] basilicas, prefect of the Signature of Grace, Abbot of [[Subiaco, Italy|Subiaco]] and [[San Gregorio da Sassola]] on the Coelian, and [[Vatican Library|Librarian of the Holy Roman Church]]. He also assumed the offices of [[Grand Penitentiary]], secretary of the Apostolic Briefs, [[Archbishop of Bologna]], protector of [[Germany]] and the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], of the Orders of [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]], [[Camaldolese]] and [[Olivetans]], of the [[Basilica della Santa Casa|Shrine of Loreto]] and of the [[Swiss Guard]], and numerous other ecclesiastical positions. In each of these offices the cardinal received stipends. His income in 1609 was about 90,000 [[Italian scudo|scudi]], and by 1612 it had reached 140,000 scudi. With his enormous wealth, he bought the villages of [[Montefortino]] and [[Olevano Romano]] from Pier Francesco [[Colonna family|Colonna]], Duke of [[Zagarolo]] for 280,000 scudi.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}

As [[Cardinal Nephew]] (an official post until it was abolished in 1692), Borghese was placed in charge of both the internal and external political affairs of the Papal States. In addition, Paul V entrusted his nephew with the management of the finances of both the papacy and the Borghese family. 
[[Image:Galleria Borghese2.jpg|thumb|200px|left|The Villa Borghese]]
Borghese aroused a great deal of controversy and resentment by utilizing numerous "gifts" from the papal government to fund Borghese family investments. Identifying rental properties as the most efficient means to ensure financial stability, he purchased entire towns and other extensive properties, including approximately one-third of the land south of Rome.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}} Exploiting his authority as Cardinal Nephew, he often compelled owners to sell their holdings to him at substantial discounts. Borghese thus ensured that the fortunes of the family were not permanently dependent on ecclesiastical office.

Cardinal Scipione Borghese died in Rome in 1633 and is buried in the Borghese chapel in [[Santa Maria Maggiore]].

=== Private life ===
Contemporaries commented on the near-public scandals that resulted on occasions from Scipione's possible [[homosexuality]], reflected in his taste for collecting art with strong [[homoerotic]] overtones. In 1605, Scipione allegedly angered his uncle the pope by bringing [[Stefano Pignatelli]], to whom Scipione was closely attached, to Rome.<ref>V. Castronovo, 'Borghese Cafarelli, Scipione', Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol. 12 Rome, 1970</ref>

According to the later writer [[Gaetano Moroni]], Scipione:{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}
{{blockquote|...mindful for Stefano's affection, invited him to Rome and admitted him to his court, where Stefano acquired such an ascendancy over the cardinal that he did everything according to his advice. It was enough for envy and jealousy among courtiers to utter malicious and venomous calumnies against him, which prompted cardinals and ambassadors to report to the pope that Stefano was full of loathsome vices, and that for his nephew's honour, it was necessary to banish him entirely.}}

Scipione subsequently fell into a long and serious sickness, and only recovered when Pignatelli was allowed to come. The pope decided to keep a check on Pignatelli and had him ordained, the beginning of a career which led to him becoming a cardinal in 1621.<ref>G. Moroni, 'Pignatelli, Stefano, cardinale', Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, Vol 53, Venice, 1851</ref> Indeed, the Italian historian [[Lorenzo Cardella]]<ref>Lorenzo Cardella, ''Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa'', Rome 1794, vol. VI, p. 216-217</ref> notes that Pignatelli was cleared twice by the [[Roman Inquisition]] of having "improper influence" on Cardinal Borghese.

However, more recently published espionage reports of Giovanni Antonio Marta speak against the results of such official investigation and substantially confirm the homosexual inclinations of Cardinal Scipione. They include a report of a nobleman whom Scipione was said to love "to the point of insanity", and for whom he was determined to secure a cardinal's hat; as well as a darker episode where a young man of eighteen was supposedly murdered in Scipione's ante-chamber by his servants after leaving the cardinal's bed.<ref>Franco Mormando: [https://books.google.com/books?id=oeJ0qXzP9HsC&q=Marta&pg=PT93 Bernini: His Life and His Rome], University of Chicago Press, 2011. {{ISBN|9780226538518}}</ref>