“We have always loved you and thought you worthy of our protection as a man of an earnest and modest character.”
Yes, note the past tense there? That was the thought that Pius had held up to that point. He continues on to say:
“Therefore, conduct yourself henceforth so that we may retain this our opinion of you, and may behold in you only the example of a well ordered life.”
Not exactly any kind of exoneration, when you read it in context.
“...but there is not a contemporary author to give a single instance, where he ever passed any of his time in female company”
A blatantly false assertion, since the famous “Banquet of the Chestnuts” was described by a contemporary, and attests that Borgia continued to satisfy the same appetites during his papacy.
“..[T]he professionally celibate young Cardinal”
Again, demonstrably false, unless “professionally celibate” only means that he was keeping the appearance of celibacy for the sake of his profession, and not in actuality. We know he could not have been actually celibate, as he already had fathered several children. Or were those virgin births?
“Also, there are rumors of other mistresses and other children, but they are unsubstantiated, and Alexander only recognized four children (Cesare, Giovanni, Lucrezia, Gioffre) as his.”
According to the research of Durant in “The Renaissance” (http://books.google.com/books?id=sjzi56FhIeIC), Stefano Infessura called the Giulia Farnese, the mother of one child, “the Pope’s concubine”. He also records that Cardinal Farnese, her brother, admitted the child was Alexander’s. Far from this relationship being ended when he ascended, Alexander installed her in a palace with Lucrezia near his own quarters, so that he could more easily continue his dalliances. Then there is another child, by another mistress, spoken of in Burchard’s diary as well.
If all you have to offer is to turn a blind eye to the actual evidence while offering up lame quotes from apologists that most Catholic scholars even admit have failed to rehabilitate the man, please just save it.
I’ve read much of Burchard’s Diary (you can find a good amount of excerpts online). The “Banquet of the Chestnuts” is a forgery and was added later. Burchard was not at all into sordid gossip.
Also, recall that Stefano Infessura was in the employ of Alexander’s enemies, and he was also one of the humanists (which, at the time, were always attacking the pontiffs).