Pope Paul V has used his creation,…
March 1615 CE
Pope Paul V has used his creation, the Bank of the Holy Spirit, to finance the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, improvements to the Vatican Library, and the restoration of the Aqua Traiana, an ancient Roman Aqueduct (named after him Acqua Paola), bringing water to the rioni located on right bank of the Tiber (Trastevere and Borgo).
He had always encouraged Guido Reni.
A nepotist, as are so many of the popes of this age, his nephew Cardinal Scipione Borghese wields enormous power on his behalf, consolidating the rise of the Borghese family.
Paul welcomes the embassy of the Japanese samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga in Rome in November 1615.
Hasekura, a retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai, has headed a diplomatic mission to the Vatican since 1613, traveling through New Spain (arriving in Acapulco and departing from Veracruz) and visiting various ports-of-call in Europe.
He is conventionally considered the first Japanese ambassador in the Americas and in Europe.
Hasekura remits to the Pope a gilded letter, containing a request for a trade treaty between Japan and Mexico and the dispatch of Christian missionaries to Japan.
The Pope agrees to the dispatch of missionaries, but leaves the decision for trade to the King of Spain.
Although Hasekura's embassy is cordially received in Europe, it comes at a time when Japan is moving toward the suppression of Christianity.
European monarchs such as the King of Spain thus refuse the trade agreements Hasekura has been seeking.
This move will soon lead to the suppression of Christian proselytism by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.
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Southwest Europe
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