Eight of the worst popes in church history
(CNN)Billed as a reformer and outsider, Pope Francis was elected five years ago. He took the helm as the Catholic Church wrestled with corruption and
the fallout of the
child sexual abuse
scandal. But this is hardly the first time that the church has been gripped by scandal.
Pope Alexander VI
BORN AS: Rodrigo Borgia near Valencia, Spain, in 1431.
TIME IN POWER: 1492-1503.
WHAT HE DID: To this day, the Borgia name is synonymous with scandal because of this guy's rule. (How many other papal families have a Showtime
series named after them?)There was controversy from the start with Pope Alexander VI, a wealthy Spaniard who allegedly bought the papacy by bribing
his fellow electors. Alexander also saw no problem appointing many of his relatives to positions of power, or killing off rival cardinals to claim
their valuable property for himself. And he was apparently quite the ladies' man, fathering several children with his many mistresses.
Pope Stephen VI
BORN AS: Birth name, date and birthplace unknown.
TIME IN POWER: May 896-August 897.
WHAT HE DID: Pope Stephen VI did not have a chummy relationship with his predecessor, Pope Formosus. And that's putting it kindly. When Stephen
came to power, Formosus had already been dead for months, but having his enemy six feet under was not enough punishment for the new Pope. He ordered
the rotting corpse exhumed, redressed in papal robes and placed on the throne to face trial. It's safe to say the verdict didn't go Formosus' way, so
Stephen commanded his body be dragged through the streets of Rome and dumped in the Tiber River. Though he won the so-called cadaver trial, Stephen
was strangled to death by one of his enemies barely more than a year later.
Pope Boniface VIII
BORN AS: Benedetto Caetani in Rome, circa 1235.
TIME IN POWER: 1294-1303.
WHAT HE DID: With his "my way or the highway" approach to the papacy, Pope Boniface VIII had a knack for starting fights. Among his many
enemies was the writer Dante Alighieri, whose criticism of the church led to his exile from Florence, Italy, at the hands of Boniface's cronies. But
his most heated feud was with France's powerful King Philip IV. In 1302, Boniface issued a papal bull -- the church's term for an official
proclamation -- which placed Europe's kings and their armies under his supreme command. Many rulers may have called "bull" on this, especially Philip,
who ordered Boniface's capture after he caught wind of the Pope's plans to excommunicate him.
Boniface died soon after, but not before earning himself a permanent spot in the eighth circle of Hell in Dante's "Inferno."
Pope Urban VI
BORN AS: Bartolomeo Prignano in Naples, Italy, circa 1318.
TIME IN POWER: 1378-1389.
WHAT HE DID: When your tenure tears the church in two, consider your spot on the "not a great pope" list secured. Pope Urban VI's election in
1378 triggered the Western Schism, also known as the time when there were two, and later, three, competing popes claiming the title of church leader
à la "Game of Thrones." Urban also had no problem using violence to dispatch his enemies. He called for the brutal killings of cardinals who plotted
against him, and legend has it he even griped that their screams weren't loud enough.
Pope Leo X
BORN AS: Giovanni de' Medici in Florence, Italy, in 1475.
TIME IN POWER: 1513-1521.
WHAT HE DID: A member of Italy's powerful Medici family, Pope Leo X had a taste for the finer things in life. He funded some of the
Renaissance's most famous artwork, but his big spending drove the church's finances deep into the red. To help balance the books, he relied heavily on
the sale of indulgences -- which is forking over money to the church to buy forgiveness for sins or, say, to get a dead relative out of Purgatory. You
might remember from history class that this pay-for-penance scheme angered many, including Martin Luther, whose "95 Theses" sparked the Protestant
Reformation and tore apart the Catholic Church.
Pope John XII
BORN AS: Ottaviano in Rome, circa 937.
TIME IN POWER: 955-964.
WHAT HE DID: He was only about 18 when he became Pope, and history claims that John XII ran the church in a way you'd expect from a hormonal
teenager with enormous power. From most accounts, it sounds like the papal palace under John XII was part-raucous frat party, part-seedy brothel.
Whichever version you believe, John XII was definitely not celibate, and legend has it he died of a stroke doing what he loved ... with another man's
wife.
Pope Benedict IX
BORN AS: Theophylactus in Rome, circa 1012.
TIME IN POWER: 1032-1044; April-May 1045; 1047-1048
WHAT HE DID: A "demon from hell'" and "so vile, so foul, so execrable that I shudder to think of it" are just a few of the kind words future
saints and other popes have used to describe Pope Benedict IX. This Pope held the position three different times, and was kind of like a really bad
cold that the church couldn't get rid of. His first spell as Pope ended with him fleeing Rome after a citizens' rebellion erupted over his violent
behavior. He then came back into power for a second stint but sold the papacy to his godfather, who became Pope Gregory VI. But Benedict was still not
finished. He returned to Rome years later, reclaimed the throne and then lost it again after German armies finally chased him out of Rome for good.
Pope Sergius III
BORN AS: Sergius in Rome. Birth date is unknown.
TIME IN POWER: 904-911.
WHAT HE DID: As a friend of Pope Stephen VI of "cadaver trial" fame, it should come as little surprise that Sergius III was also not a great
Pope. Sergius came to power at a time when several players laid claim to the title, and after declaring a number of his rivals anti-popes, he had at
least one of them killed. He's also said by some to be the father of Pope John XI, the product of Sergius' relationship with a Roman socialite named
Marozia.
edit on 23-4-2018 by LurkNoMore because: OCD