By James A. Haught | 23 February 2022
Freethought Now
While they posed as pillars of piety, many medieval popes were depraved criminals.
Sergius III (reigned 904-911) allegedly had two papal rivals strangled in prison. John XII (955-964) openly had mistresses, gave them church treasure, castrated one opponent, blinded another, and donned armor to lead the papal army. Benedict V (May 964-June 964) reportedly dishonored a girl and looted Vatican treasure. Boniface VII (974-985) apparently murdered a rival pope, was driven from Rome — stealing Vatican treasure as he left — then returned to murder a second rival and regain the papacy. Later, he was branded an antipope.
Benedict IX (1032-1048) sold the papacy to a successor for 1,500 pounds of gold and later used troops to seize power again. Boniface VIII (1294-1303) sent troops to kill 6,000 residents of Palestrina and raze the city. He decreed that salvation requires “that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff.” Urban VI (1378-1389) tortured and murdered cardinals who opposed him. Clement VII (1378-1394) was a rival pope at Avignon, France. A year before his papacy, he ordered troops to massacre 4,000 residents of Cesena.
A previous John XXIII (not the 1950s reformer) was removed by a council in 1414, and Edward Gibbon sardonically records in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: “The most serious charges were suppressed: the Vicar of Christ was accused only of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy and incest.”
The Catholic Church has a history …
The Vatican Hall of Shame https://t.co/hYByyYe40D via @ChurchAndStateN— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) May 11, 2022
But perhaps the best remembered of the lot would be Rodrigo Borgia, who became Alexander VI. Nephew of a pope, Rodrigo rose rapidly in lucrative church offices, while keeping mistresses and fathering illegitimate children. After the loathsome Innocent VIII died in 1492, Rodrigo bribed several cardinals (allegedly giving one four muleloads of silver), and the College of Cardinals put him on the papal throne as Alexander VI.
Soon, he made his teenage son Cesare an archbishop, then a cardinal. Cesare preferred militarism instead. Once he ordered bound prisoners — men, women and children — penned in St. Peter Square while he rode among them, slaughtering with sword and arrows for sport. Pope Alexander and Cesare’s sister Lucrezia watched from a Vatican balcony.
The Borgias were suspected of various murders. They employed cantarella, a variation of arsenic, which was dubbed “the liquor of succession.” Lucrezia was put into an arranged marriage at 13, and later became known as a legendary poisoner. Meanwhile, Alexander hosted renowned orgies.
Today in #History – 1492
Rodrigo Borgia is elected to the papacy as Pope Alexander VI.
The Borgias went on to become infamous for murder, intrigue, corruption, seduction and incest.
The Borgias really didn't care. pic.twitter.com/alG5Hs96TO— Sistorically_Accurate (@SistoricallyA) August 11, 2020
The story of this infamous family premiered on Showtime TV network some years ago and is currently available to binge on Netflix. Gifted actor Jeremy Irons plays the scheming, lecherous, cruel pope, reigning over plots and counterplots in weekly episodes. He hides naked young mistresses from his aging longtime lovers, while Cesare and another son compete for power. Rivals are poisoned.
The expensive series was filmed at elaborate lots outside Budapest, with a huge cast and realistic sets. It effectively recreates medieval Vatican life, tawdry street scenes, Roman spectacles, and battles by the papal army. Oddly, the producers chose to fictionalize a few scenes, and inserted a couple of fictitious characters — although it’s difficult to see why any added drama was needed.
This vivid series spotlights the terrible evils that occurred in the “Holy” See. Watch it to get a glimpse at the medieval papacy.
Reprinted with permission from the author.
James A. Haught is editor emeritus of West Virginia’s The Charleston Gazette-Mail and a senior editor of the Free Inquiry magazine. He is also the author of numerous books and articles; his most recent book is Religion is Dying: Soaring Secularism in America and the West (Gustav Broukal Press, 2010). Haught has won 21 national newswriting awards and thirty of his columns have been distributed by national syndicates. He is in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Contemporary Authors, and 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century. His website is haught.net."Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness" by James Haught. https://t.co/Mt7KVrhHMD pic.twitter.com/91SMfcVXlK
— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) March 18, 2019
Top 10 Worst Popes in History
Top 10 Alleged Dark Facts About the Mysterious Borgia Family
Top 17 Popes Who Didn’t Practice What They Preached
Be sure to ‘like’ us on Facebook
