Editing Pope Julius III (section)

===The Innocenzo scandal===
Julius' papacy was marked by scandals, the most notable of which is centered around the pope's adoptive nephew, [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]]. Innocenzo del Monte was a teenaged beggar found in the streets of Parma who was hired by the family as a lowly [[hall boy]] in their primary residence,<ref name="books.google.com.kh">‘’[https://archive.org/details/00book1593273669/page/215 <!-- quote=picked up by Julius in the streets of parma. --> Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes],’’ Eamon Duffy; p.215</ref> the boy's age being variously given as 14, 15, or 17 years. After the elevation of Julius to the papacy, Innocenzo Del Monte was adopted into the family by the pope's brother and was then promptly created [[cardinal-nephew]] by Julius. The pope showered his favourite with benefices, including the ''commendatario'' of the abbeys of [[Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey|Mont Saint-Michel]] in Normandy and [[Abbey of San Zeno, Verona|Saint Zeno]] in Verona, and, later, of the abbeys of Saint Saba, Miramondo,{{clarify|date=January 2024}} [[Territorial Abbacy of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata|Grottaferrata]] and Frascati, among others. As rumours began to circle about the particular relationship between the pope and his adoptive nephew, Julius refused to take advice. The cardinals [[Reginald Pole]] and [[Pope Paul IV|Giovanni Carafa]] warned the pope of the "evil suppositions to which the elevation of a fatherless young man would give rise".<ref>Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, Germany</ref>

The courtier and poet [[Girolamo Muzio]] in a letter of 1550 to [[Ferrante Gonzaga]], governor of Milan, wrote: "They write many bad things about this new pope; that he is vicious, proud, and odd in the head."<ref>Hor di questo nuovo papa universalmente se ne dice molto male; che egli è vitioso, superbo, rotto et di sua testa", ''Lettere di Girolamo Muzio Giustinopolitano conservate nell'archivio governativo di Parma'', Deputazione di Storia Patria, Parma 1864, p. 152</ref>

The poet [[Joachim du Bellay]], who lived in Rome through this period in the retinue of his relative, Cardinal [[Jean du Bellay]], expressed his scandalised opinion of Julius in two sonnets in his series Les regrets (1558), hating to see, he wrote, "a [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]] with the red hat on his head".<ref name="glbtq.com">Crompton, Louis (2004). "Julius III". glbtq.com. {{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |title=GLBTQ >> social sciences >> Julius III |access-date=16 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=11 October 2007}}. Retrieved 16 August 2007</ref><ref>E. Joe Johnson, ''Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment'',  USA, 2003, p. 69.</ref>  

The Pope's political enemies likewise made capital of the scandal. In Italy, it was said that Julius showed the impatience of a "lover awaiting a mistress" while awaiting Innocenzo's arrival in Rome and boasted of the boy's prowess in bed, while the Venetian ambassador reported that Innocenzo Del Monte shared the pope's bed "as if he [Innocenzo] were his [Julius'] own son or grandson."<ref name="glbtq.com"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Tharoor|first1=Ishaan|title=Notorious Cardinals: A Rogue's Gallery of Powerful Prelates|url=https://world.time.com/2013/03/13/notorious-cardinals-a-rogues-gallery-of-powerful-prelates/slide/innocenzo-ciocchi-del-monte/|access-date=20 May 2016|agency=Time Magazine|issue=THE VATICAN|publisher=Time Warner|date=12 March 2013}}</ref> "The charitably-disposed told themselves the boy might after all be simply his bastard son."<ref name="books.google.com.kh"/>

For some time afterwards, Protestants, too, seized upon the rumours in the cause of polemic. As late as 1597, in his work ''The Theatre of God's judgement'', the English Puritan clergyman [[Thomas Beard (theologian)|Thomas Beard]], asserted that it was Julius' "custome ... to promote none to ecclesiastical livings, save only his buggerers".  

Despite the damage which the scandal was inflicting on the church, it was not until after Julius' death in 1555 that anything could be done to curb Innocenzo's visibility. He underwent temporary banishment following the murder of two men who had insulted him, and then again following the rape of two women. He tried to use his connections in the College of Cardinals to plead his cause, but his influence waned, and he died in obscurity. He was buried in Rome in the del Monte family chapel. One outcome of the cardinal-nephew scandal, however, was the upgrading of the position of [[Papal Secretary of State]], as the incumbent had to take over the duties Innocenzo Del Monte was unfit to perform: the Secretary of State eventually replaced the cardinal-nephew as the most important official of the Holy See.<ref>See The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church&nbsp;– Biographical Dictionary&nbsp;– Pope Julius III (1550–1555)&nbsp;– Consistory of 30 May 1550 (I) for a summary of Innocenzo Del Monte's life based on Francis Burkle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer's authoritative biography, "The life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte"</ref>