The Catholic Church and its popes have been around a long time, but you know what they
say about power.
Unfortunately, not every pope has been incorruptible.
Here are popes who were actually terrible people.
Of all the Holy Fathers to be notable for their less than sterling morality, Alexander
VI is unquestionably the most famous, In his nine years as pontifex, Alexander VI was accused
of murdering his political enemies with poison, unchecked nepotism, and various other things
that popes are definitely not supposed to do.
As for why he's so notable, you really only need to look at his name.
Before ascending to the papacy, Alexander VI was Rodrigo Borgia.
On the off chance that name doesn't ring a bell, the Borgias were one of the most powerful
families in Rome during the Renaissance and were so well known for their criminal exploits
that Showtime made a prestige drama about them that ran for three seasons.
Alexander VI in particular was considered so power-hungry and evil that he's literally
the final boss of Assassin's Creed 2, one of the only video games we can think of that
ends with the hero getting into a fistfight with the pope.
Pope Stephen VI held a special kind of grudge.
He hated his predecessor Formosus so much that he dug him up and put his dead body on
trial.
Steven propped the former pope's body up in a chair, assigned a deacon to speak for it,
and, by all accounts, started screaming at the corpse about how Formosus was an illegitimate
pope.
Formosus was found guilty on all counts, so Stephen meted out the very logical punishment
of chopping off the skeletal fingers that Formosus had used for blessings, buried him
in an unmarked grave, then dug him up again and had his body thrown in the Tiber river.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this didn't sit well with the population of Rome, especially once
the cadaver washed up on the banks of the Tiber and the holy skeleton began performing
miracles on the townsfolk.
"Ah!
Where’d you go?
Where’d you go?"
Stephen VI was deposed, imprisoned, and strangled to death.
As for Formosus, a few of Stephen's successors had him reburied with full honor, and also
made a new rule that officially prohibited putting dead bodies on trial, which was the
kind of rule that no one thought they actually needed to write down until then.
You've probably heard of The Divine Comedy, an epic poem from the 14th century that's
best known for its depiction of Hell.
Dante's Inferno consists of nine circles, which get worse and worse until you finally
get to the bottom.
If you backup a little and check out the eighth circle, however, you'll find a mention that
Hell is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Pope Boniface VIII, who it seems was not exactly
Dante's favorite person.
The reasons?
Well, Boniface is largely remembered for his downright authoritarian view of the Church's
role in the world.
After taking over from Celestine V, Boniface attempted to raise money to start a new crusade.
When that failed, he just went to war with Cardinal Jacopo Colonna instead.
It was during this conflict that Colonna's last holdout, the city of Palestrina, peacefully
surrendered after promises by Boniface that they would be spared.
Surprise!
The city was actually razed to the ground and the Earth salted so nothing could grow
there.
It's not often that you can compare a pope to Darth Vader, but with Palestrina as his
personal Alderaan, Boniface VIII certainly qualifies.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
While Rome had been the traditional home of the Catholic Church since about 33 A.D., there
was a period of about 70 years in the 14th century where the popes ruled from Avignon,
France, instead.
Eventually, however, Gregory XI decided that he wanted to regain control of the Papal States,
which kicked off the truly Game of Thrones-sounding War of the Eight Saints against Florence.
Sadly, this particular conflict did not involve the Mother of Dragons.
Instead, Gregory relied on some equally nontraditional tactics, including excommunicating every member
of the Florentine government and banning all religious services in the city.
When the Florentine citizens continued to hold religious services, Gregory instead authorized
his armies to seize their property and enslave the citizens themselves.