David Vance SubstackRead More
“Is the Pope Catholic” tends to accompany a question about bears defecating in the woods, as one of more common assumptions in popular culture! However history shows us that *some* Popes were not even Christian!
Take Pope Leo X. A Medici, he funded some of the Renaissance’s most famous artwork, but his extravagance drove the church’s finances into the red. So what to do?
To help balance the books, he relied heavily on the sale of indulgences – which is handing over money to the church to buy forgiveness for sins or, say, to get a dead relative out of Purgatory. It was this practise that triggered Martin Luther, whose “95 Theses” sparked the Protestant Reformation and tore apart the Catholic Church!
Take Pope Benedict IX. A “demon from hell’” and “so vile, so foul, so execrable that I shudder to think of it” are just a few of the words future saints and other popes have used to describe him. He was accused of murder, rape, and sodomy, and even of bestiality.
This Pope held the position three different times. His first spell as Pope ended with him fleeing Rome after a citizens’ rebellion erupted over his violent behaviour. 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.
And it’s not just these two!
There were other notorious Popes such as Pope John XII who stand out for egregious worldliness and depravity. He was known for his promiscuity, including hosting orgies and having sexual liaisons, and his papal residence was described as a brothel!
I’m not saying that more modern Popes fall into this level of hellish evil but it’s right we remain vigilant. Evil is capable of capturing any role in any organisation and in that regard the Papacy must be a prime target! So I wish this new Pope Leo well but I will remain vigilant.
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