NEPOTISM is an attempt to concentrate power. It places families or intimates into political or economic organizations so that they become a unit of power and—if necessary—to extend that power.

The practice of nepotism began in the 1000s under the rule of the Pope of the Catholic Church. In 1015, Pope Benedict VIII appointed Giovanni and Teofilatto, his brother and cousin respectively, to be cardinal-deacons. Giovanni later becam