Maffeo Gherardi (1406-14 September 1492) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. Gherardi cast the decisive vote that led to the election of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia as "Pope Alexander VI" in 1492.
Biography[]
Maffeo Gherardi was born in Venice in 1406, and he joined the Camaldolese Order as a youth. He later became Abbot of the Monastery of St. Michael on Murano, and he rose to become Abbot General of the Camaldolese Order. In April 1466, he was unanimously elected Patriarch of Venice, and he became a Cardinal-Priest under Pope Innocent VIII in 1489. On 3 August 1492, he arrived in Rome to vote in the Papal conclave, and he cast the decisive vote in favor of Rodrigo Borgia. On his way back to Venice, he died in Terni on 14 September 1492.