Crime of Pope Boniface VIII

1. Boniface VIII


Pope Boniface VIII. strained the authority of the papacy "to a higher pitch than any of his predecessors." He was not only one of the most ambitious, but one of the most execrable and infamous of the popes, having been charged, by the authority of the powerful sovereign, Philip the Fair of France, with "denying the immortality of the soul," and " the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist;" and calling "the host a piece of bread to which he paid no respect;" and maintaining that " the pope, being infallible, could commit incest, robberies, and murders without being criminal, and that it was heresy even to accuse him of having sinned ;" and " that he openly proclaimed fornication to be one of the most beautiful laws of nature;" and that he " lived in concubinage with his two nieces, and had several children by both of them." John Villani copied and preserved, from authentic documents, some of his axioms, among which are the following: "Men have souls like those of beasts ; the one are as much immortal as the other." " The Gospel teaches more falsehoods than truths; the delivery of the Virgin is absurd; the incarnation of the Son of God is ridiculous ; the dogma of transubstantiation is a folly." " The sums of money which the fable of Christ has produced the priests are incalculable." "Religions are created by the ambitious to deceive men." " Ecclesiastics must speak like the people, but they have not the same belief." " It is no greater sin to abandon one's self to pleasure with a young girl or boy than to rub one's hands together." " We must sell in the Church all that the simple wish to buy."

This pope was, of course, infallible by virtue of the decision of the Council of Trent, which teaches that, "however wicked and flagitious, it is certain that they still belong to the Church;

sources:

"Middle Ages," chap, vii., p. 304, Harper & Brother's edition
THE VICES OF AN INFALLIBLE POPE. 223 Thompson, Richard