There was a time when it proved quite advantageous to be related to the Medicis! This, today’s saint–Charles Borromeo–discovered when his uncle, Giovanni Angelo Medici, became pope on Christmas Day, 1559. One of the first things that this new pope, who took the regnal name Pius IV, did was to summon his nephew Charles to Rome.

Butler reports that, upon Pius IV assuming the papacy that December 25th:

[O]n the last day of the same year [Uncle Giovanni, aka the Pope] created him (Charles) cardinal, and on the 8th of February following nominated him archbishop of Milan when he was in the twenty-third year of his age. The pope, however, detained him at Rome [where these honors were bestowed], placed him at the head of the consult or council, with power to sign in his name all requests, and intrusted him with the entire administration of the ecclesiastical state. St. Charles endeavoured as much as possible to decline these posts . . . but . . . he accepted the office of grand penitentiary (in charge of penances), wherein he was to labour for God and the people. He was also legate of Bologna, Romaniola, and the marquisate of Ancona, and protector of Portugal, the low countries, the catholic cantons of Switzerland, and the Orders of St. Francis, the Carmelites, the Knights of Malta, and others.

And only 23 years old!!

This kind of religious nepotism is neither unique to Renaissance Europe nor to the Roman Catholic Church. Consider the familial passing of the torch of control over religious empires in the United States in the past two decades:

• Franklin Graham runs the ministries of his late father, having taken charge of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association and Samaritan’s Purse International Relief. His annual base salary is between $500K and $1M–the exact amount shrouded by a lack of clear reporting. His father, who died in early 2018, left an estate estimated at $25M.
• Jerry Falwell, Jr., assumed control of his father’s Liberty [sic] University in 2007, when the founder of the Moral Majority movement died. Falwell, Jr., has a base salary in excess of $800K, making him the second highest-paid private college or university administrator in Virginia.

And just to show that nepotism does not require the death of the patriarch:

• Televangelist Kenneth Copeland–arguably the wealthiest pastor in the world, with an empire (I mean “ministry”) in excess of $100M–has managed to position his family members quite nicely. CBS News reports: “The bylaws indicate the president of the board is Copeland but Copeland’s family members also play a critical role. His wife is the vice president. The senior pastor, secretary and treasurer roles are filled by Copeland’s son-in-law. The operations vice president and CEO slots are both filled by Kenneth Copeland’s son, John.”

Not surprisingly, the interests of all these these family-based ministries have devolved into close affiliation with nationalism (or empirism), capitalism, and disdain for non-conformity…alas, quite the contrast with the life and words of Jesus of Nazareth.