Worst Popes in History

Here are eleven of those stories, revealing some of those men who claim to be the vicars of God in Earth in spite of their power-hungry, sexually immoral, and ungodly characters during their term as head of the universal Church.

 

1. Pope Stephen VI:  had his predecessor exhumed, tried, de-fingered, and thrown to the river

Cadaver Trial

Stephen VI was Pope from 896 to 897. Fueled by his anger with Pope Formosus, his predecessor, he exhumed Formosus’s rotting corpse and put “him” on trial, in the so-called “Cadaver Synod” in January, 897.

With the corpse propped up on a throne, a deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff, who was condemned for performing the functions of a bishop when he had been deposed and for receiving the pontificate while he was the bishop of Porto, among other revived charges that had been leveled against Formosus in the strife during the pontificate of John VIII.

The corpse was found guilty, stripped of its sacred vestments, deprived of three fingers of its right hand (the blessing fingers), clad in the garb of a layman, and quickly buried; it was then re-exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. All ordinations performed by Formosus were annulled.

The trial excited a tumult. Though the instigators of the deed may actually have been Formosus’ enemies of the House of Spoleto (notably Guy IV of Spoleto), who had recovered their authority in Rome at the beginning of 897 by renouncing their broader claims in central Italy, the scandal ended in Stephen’s imprisonment and his death by strangling that summer. Talk about bad Popes.

2. Pope Benedict IX:  the Pope who sold the papacy

Pope Benedict IX

Benedict IX was Pope from 1032 to 1044, again in 1045, and finally from 1047 to 1048, the only man to have served as Pope for three discontinuous periods, and one of the most controversial Popes of all time. Benedict gave up his papacy for the first time in exchange for a large sum of money in 1044. He returned in 1045 to depose his replacement and reigned for one month, after which he left again, possibly to marry, and sold the papacy for a second time, to his Godfather (possibly for over 650 kg /1450 lb of gold). Two years later, Benedict retook Rome and reigned for an additional one year, until 1048. Poppo of Brixen (later to become Pope Damascus II) eventually forced him out of Rome. Benedict’s place and date of death are unknown, but some speculate that he made further attempts to regain the Papal Throne. St. Peter Damian described him as “feasting on immorality” and “a demon from hell in the disguise of a priest” in the Liber Gomorrhianus, a treatise on papal corruption and sex that accused Benedict IX of routine homosexuality and bestiality.

3. Pope Sergius III:  ordered the murder of another pope and started the “pornocracy”

Sergius III

Sergius III was Pope from 897 to 911, and has been the only pope known to have ordered the murder of another pope and the only known to have fathered an illegitimate son who later became pope; his pontificate has been described as “dismal and disgraceful.” The pontificate of Sergius III was remarkable for the rise of what papal historians call a “pornocracy,” or rule of the harlots, a reversal of the natural order as they saw it, according to Liber pontificalis and a later chronicler who was also biased against Sergius III. This “pornocracy” was an age with women in power: Theodora, whom Liutprand characterized as a “shameless whore… [who] exercised power on the Roman citizenry like a man” and her daughter Marozia, the mother of Pope John XI (931–935) and reputed to be the mistress of Sergius III

4. Pope John XII: raped female pilgrims and invoked pagan gods
John XII was Pope from 955 to 964. On 963, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I summoned a council, levelling charges that John had ordained a deacon in a stable, consecrated a 10-year-old boy as bishop of Todi, converted the

Pope John XII

Lateran Palace into a brothel, raped female pilgrims in St. Peter’s, stolen church offerings, drank toasts to the devil, and invoked the aid of Jove, Venus, and other pagan gods when playing dice. He was deposed, but returned as pope when Otto left Rome, maiming and mutilating all who had opposed him. On 964, he was apparently beaten by the husband of a woman with which he was having an affair, dying three days later without receiving confession or the sacraments.

5. Pope Leo X: sold indulgences, killed cardinals

Leo X was Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He is known primarily for the sale ofindulgences to reconstruct St. Peter’s Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther’s 95 theses.
According to Alexandre Dumas, “under his pontificate, Christianity assumed

Pope Leo X

a pagan character, which, passing from art into manners, gives to this epoch a strange complexion. Crimes for the moment disappeared, to give place to vices; but to charming vices, vices in good taste, such as those indulged in by Alcibiades and sung by Catullus.” When he became Pope, Leo X is reported to have said to his brother Giuliano: “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.”

His extravagance offended not only people like Martin Luther, but also some cardinals, who, led by Alfonso Petrucci of Siena, plotted an assassination attempt. Eventually, Pope Leo found out who these people were, and had them followed. The conspirators died of “food poisoning.” Some people argue that Leo X and his followers simply concocted the assassination charges in a moneymaking scheme to collect fines from the various wealthy cardinals Leo X detested.

6. Pope Alexander VI: nepotism, orgies and the rise of the Borgia family

Pope Alexander VI

Alexander VI was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is the most controversial of the secular popes of the Renaissance, and his surname (Italianized as Borgia) became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era. Originally Cardinal Borgia from Spain, Pope Alexander’s claims to fame were taking over much of Italy by force with the help of his son Cesare (yes, his son), a racy relationship with his daughter Lucrezia

Alexander's daughter, Lucrezia Borgia

(some say her son was his), and his affinity for throwing large parties, bordering on orgies, that usually culminated with little naked boys jumping out of large cakes.

7, Pope Innocent IV:  introduced torture on the Inquisition

Pope Innocent IV

Innocent IV was Pope from 1243 to 1254. Certainly the Inquisition represents the darkest of Roman Church history, and it was Innocent IV who approved the use of torture to extract confessions of heresy. He aggressively applied the principle that “the end justifies the means.” It is shocking to learn about the deranged instruments of torture that were used on so many innocent people. One of the most famous people to suffer at the hands of Roman inquisitors was Galileo. The church condemned Galileo for claiming that the earth revolved around the sun.

Scene after Innocent's "ad extirpanda" delivered.

8. Pope Urban VI: complained he did not hear enough screaming when his Cardinals were tortured

Pope Urban VI

Urban VI was Pope from 1378 to 1389. He was the first Pope of the Western Schism (which ultimately lead to three people claiming the Papal throne at the same time). Once elected, he was prone to outbursts of rage. The cardinals who elected him decided that they had made the wrong decision and they elected a new Pope in his place, so he took the name of Clement VII and started a second Papal court in Avignon, France. Later he would launch a program of violence against those he thought to have been conspiring against him, imprisoning people at will and mistreating them brutally. Later historians have considered seriously that he might have been insane.

The second election threw the Church into turmoil. There had been antipopes, rival claimants to the papacy, before, but most of them had been appointed by various rival factions; in this case, the legitimate leaders of the Church themselves had created both popes. The conflict quickly escalated from a church problem to a diplomatic crisis that divided Europe. Secular leaders had to choose which pope they would recognize. The schism was repaired forty years later when all three of the (then) reigning Popes abdicated together and a successor elected in the person of Pope Martin V.

9. Pope John XV: split the church’s finances among his relatives
Pope John XV

Pope John XV

John XV was Pope from 985 to 996. The Pope’s venality and nepotism had made him very unpopular with the citizens, as he split the church’s finances among his relatives and was described as “covetous of filthy lucre and corrupt in all his acts.”

10. Pope Clement VII: his power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked

Pope Clement VII

Clement VII was Pope from 1523 to 1534. A member of the powerful Medici family, Clement VII possessed great political and diplomatic skills – but he lacked the understanding of the age necessary to cope with the political and religious changes he faced. His relationship with Emperor Charles V was so bad that, in May 1527, Charles invaded Italy and sacked Rome.

Imprisoned, Clement was forced into a humiliating compromise which forced him to give up a great deal of secular and religious power. Eventually, Clement became ill and never recovered. He died on September 25, 1534, hated by the people of Rome, who never forgave him for the destruction of 1527.

11. Pope Gregory VII:  one who claim boastful attributions to himself.

The Dictates of Hildebrand (a set of principles which had been initiated by Gregory decades before he ascended the throne as Gregory VII) states;

Pope Gregory VII absolving Emperor Henry IV.

Pope Sexual Abuse Scandal: Benedict Implicated In Cover-Up Of Wisconsin Abuse Case

CLICK THIS TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE:

Pope Sexual Abuse Scandal: Benedict Implicated In Cover-Up Of Wisconsin Abuse Case

As a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials did not punish or even hold a trial within the Catholic church for a Wisconsin priest who may have molested as many as 200 deaf boys, according to The New York Times.

The Times reports that despite warnings from "several" bishops to then-Cardinal Ratzinger about Father Lawrence Murphy, a priest at the St. John's School For The Deaf in St. Francis, WI, the Vatican chose not to act and ultimately allowed Murphy to go unpunished before his death in 1998.

A man who hid child abuse and calls gays evil?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1311781/How-decent-Catholics-Pope-hid-child-abuse-calls-gays-evil.html

"How can decent Catholics back the Pope - a man who hid child abuse and calls gays evil?

By JOHANN HARI
Last updated at 11:18 AM on 14th September 2010
Comments (131)
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Let me appeal to Britain's Roman Catholics now, in the final days before Joseph Ratzinger's state visit begins.

I know that you are overwhelmingly decent people. You are opposed to covering up the rape of children. You are opposed to telling Africans that condoms 'increase the problem' of HIV/Aids. You are opposed to labelling gay people 'evil'. The vast majority of you, if you witnessed any of these acts, would be disgusted and speak out.

Yet over the next fortnight, many of you will, nonetheless, turn out to cheer for a Pope who has unrepentantly done all these things.

I believe you are much better people than this man. It is my conviction that if you impartially review the evidence of the suffering he has inflicted on your fellow Catholics, you will stand in solidarity with them - and join the protesters.

Pope Benedict XVI: Joseph Ratzinger was personally in charge of the part of the Vatican responsible for enforcing Catholic canonical law across the world, including on sexual abuse, for 25 years
Some think Ratzinger's critics are holding him responsible for acts that were carried out before he became Pope, simply because he is the head of the institution involved.
This is an error. For more than 25 years, Ratzinger was personally in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the part of the Vatican responsible for enforcing Catholic canonical law across the world, including on sexual abuse. He is a notorious micro-manager who, it is said, insisted every salient document crossed his desk.

LEO McKINSTRY: The Left are using the Pope's visit to attack a Church which gives me strength
PETER HITCHENS: Question - who said: 'Not all sex involving children is unwanted and abusive'? Answer - the Pope's biggest British critic

STEPHEN GLOVER: I disagree with many of his teachings. But it's those who oppose Pope Benedict XVI's visit who are the real bigots
Hans Küng, a former friend of Ratzinger's, says: 'No one in the whole of the Catholic Church knew as much about abuse cases as this Pope.'
We know what the methods of the Church were during this time. When it was discovered that a child had been raped by a priest, the Church swore everyone involved to secrecy and moved the priest on to another parish. When he raped more children, they, too, were sworn to secrecy and he was moved on to another parish. And on, and on.

More than 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped as part of this misery-go-round.
He let priests go free to rape again and again

The Church insisted all cases be kept from the police and dealt with by their own 'canon' law - which can 'punish' child rapists only to prayer, penitence or, on rare occasions, defrocking.
Ratzinger was at the heart of this. He refuses to let any police officer see the Vatican's documentation, even now. But honourable Catholics have leaked some of them anyway. We know what he did. Here are three examples.

In Germany in the early Eighties, Father Peter Hullermann was moved to a diocese run by Ratzinger. Hullermann had already been accused of raping three boys. Ratzinger didn't go to the police. Instead, Hullermann was referred for 'counselling'.
The psychiatrist who saw him, Werner Huth, told the Church unequivocally that he was 'untreatable [and] must never be allowed to work with children again'. Yet he kept being moved from parish to parish, even after a sex crime conviction in 1986. He was last accused of sexual abuse in 1998.

In the U.S. in 1985, a group of American bishops wrote to Ratzinger begging him to defrock a priest called Father Stephen Kiesle, who had tied up and molested two young boys in a rectory.

Ratzinger refused for years, explaining that he was thinking of the 'good of the universal Church' and of the 'detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke among the community of Christ's faithful, particularly considering the young age' of the priest involved. He was 38.
Kiesle went on to rape many more children.

Think about what Ratzinger's statement reveals. Ratzinger thinks the 'good of the universal Church' - your Church - lies not in protecting your children from being raped, but in protecting the rapists from punishment.

In 1996, the Archbishop of Milwaukee appealed to Ratzinger to defrock Father Lawrence C. Murphy, who had raped and tortured up to 200 deaf and mute children at a Catholic boarding school. His rapes often began in the confessional. Ratzinger never replied.
Eight months later, there was a secret canonical 'trial'. But Murphy wrote to Ratzinger saying he was ill, so it was cancelled. Ratzinger advised him to take a 'spiritual retreat'. Murphy died years later, unpunished.

These are only the cases that have leaked out. Who knows what remains in the closed files?

In 2001, Ratzinger wrote to every bishop in the world, telling them allegations of abuse must be dealt with 'in absolute secrecy ... completely suppressed by perpetual silence'.
That year, the Vatican lauded Bishop Pierre Pican for refusing to inform the local French police about a paedophile priest, telling him: 'I congratulate you for not denouncing a priest to the civil administration.' The commendation was copied to all bishops.
It would be anti-Catholic to cheer him

Once the evidence of an international-conspiracy to cover up abuse became incontrovertible to any reasonable observer, Ratzinger's defenders shifted tack and said he was sorry and would change his behaviour.

But this June, the Belgian police told the Catholic Church it could no longer 'investigate' child rape on Belgian soil internally, and seized the documents relating to child abuse from the offices of a Church commission.

If Ratzinger was repentant, he would surely have congratulated them. He did the opposite. He called them 'deplorable' and his spokesman said: 'There is no precedent for this, not even under communist regimes.'

He still thinks the law doesn't apply to his institution. When Ratzinger issued supposedly ground-breaking new rules against paedophilia earlier this year, he put it on a par with . . . ordaining women as priests.

There are people who will tell you that these criticisms of Ratzinger are 'anti-Catholic'. What could be more anti-Catholic than to cheer the man who facilitated the rape of your children? What could be more pro-Catholic than to try to bring him to justice?
This is only one of Ratzinger's crimes. When he visited Africa in March 2009, he said that condoms 'increase the problem' of HIV/Aids.

His defenders say he is simply preaching abstinence outside marriage and monogamy within it, so if people are following his advice they can't contract HIV.
But in order to reinforce the first part of his message, he spreads overt lies, claiming condoms don't work.

In the Congo, I watched as a Catholic priest said condoms contain 'tiny holes' that 'help' the HIV virus - not an unusual event.

Pope John XII

More interesting facts about Pope John XII



Raped female pilgrims and invoked pagan gods



John XII was Pope from 955 to 964. On 963, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I summoned a council, levelling charges that John had ordained a deacon in a stable, consecrated a 10-year-old boy as bishop of Todi, converted the Lateran Palace into a brothel, raped female pilgrims in St. Peter's, stolen church offerings, drank toasts to the devil, and invoked the aid of Jove, Venus, and other pagan gods when playing dice. He was deposed, but returned as pope when Otto left Rome, maiming and mutilating all who had opposed him. On 964, he was apparently beaten by the husband of a woman with which he was having an affair, dying three days later without receiving confession or the sacraments.


Here's another bizarre one:


Pope Stephen VI: had his predecessor exhumed, tried, de-fingered, and thrown to the river.

Stephen VI was Pope from 896 to 897. Fueled by his anger with Pope Formosus, his predecessor, he exhumed Formosus's rotting corpse and put "him" on trial, in the so-called "Cadaver Synod" in January, 897.

With the corpse propped up on a throne, a deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff, who was condemned for performing the functions of a bishop when he had been deposed and for receiving the pontificate while he was the bishop of Porto, among other revived charges that had been leveled against Formosus in the strife during the pontificate of John VIII.

The corpse was found guilty, stripped of its sacred vestments, deprived of three fingers of its right hand (the blessing fingers), clad in the garb of a layman, and quickly buried; it was then re-exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. All ordinations performed by Formosus were annulled.



The trial excited a tumult. Though the instigators of the deed may actually have been Formosus' enemies of the House of Spoleto (notably Guy IV of Spoleto), who had recovered their authority in Rome at the beginning of 897 by renouncing their broader claims in central Italy, the scandal ended in Stephen's imprisonment and his death by strangling that summer.


SOURCE: 10 Worst Popes of all time

Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX: the Pope who sold the papacy



Benedict IX was Pope from 1032 to 1044, again in 1045, and finally from 1047 to 1048, the only man to have served as Pope for three discontinuous periods. Benedict gave up his papacy for the first time in exchange for a large sum of money in 1044. He returned in 1045 to depose his replacement and reigned for one month, after which he left again, possibly to marry, and sold the papacy for a second time, to his Godfather (possibly for over 650 kg /1450 lb of gold). Two years later, Benedict retook Rome and reigned for an additional one year, until 1048. Poppo of Brixen (later to become Pope Damascus II) eventually forced him out of Rome. Benedict’s place and date of death are unknown, but some speculate that he made further attempts to regain the Papal Throne. St. Peter Damian described him as “feasting on immorality” and “a demon from hell in the disguise of a priest” in the Liber Gomorrhianus, a treatise on papal corruption and sex that accused Benedict IX of routine homosexuality and bestiality.


SOURCE: 10 Worst Popes of all time

Pope John XII

More interesting facts about Pope John XII



Raped female pilgrims and invoked pagan gods



John XII was Pope from 955 to 964. On 963, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I summoned a council, levelling charges that John had ordained a deacon in a stable, consecrated a 10-year-old boy as bishop of Todi, converted the Lateran Palace into a brothel, raped female pilgrims in St. Peter's, stolen church offerings, drank toasts to the devil, and invoked the aid of Jove, Venus, and other pagan gods when playing dice. He was deposed, but returned as pope when Otto left Rome, maiming and mutilating all who had opposed him. On 964, he was apparently beaten by the husband of a woman with which he was having an affair, dying three days later without receiving confession or the sacraments.


Here's another bizarre one:


Pope Stephen VI: had his predecessor exhumed, tried, de-fingered, and thrown to the river.

Stephen VI was Pope from 896 to 897. Fueled by his anger with Pope Formosus, his predecessor, he exhumed Formosus's rotting corpse and put "him" on trial, in the so-called "Cadaver Synod" in January, 897.

With the corpse propped up on a throne, a deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff, who was condemned for performing the functions of a bishop when he had been deposed and for receiving the pontificate while he was the bishop of Porto, among other revived charges that had been leveled against Formosus in the strife during the pontificate of John VIII.

The corpse was found guilty, stripped of its sacred vestments, deprived of three fingers of its right hand (the blessing fingers), clad in the garb of a layman, and quickly buried; it was then re-exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. All ordinations performed by Formosus were annulled.



The trial excited a tumult. Though the instigators of the deed may actually have been Formosus' enemies of the House of Spoleto (notably Guy IV of Spoleto), who had recovered their authority in Rome at the beginning of 897 by renouncing their broader claims in central Italy, the scandal ended in Stephen's imprisonment and his death by strangling that summer.


SOURCE: 10 Worst Popes of all time

Joan Anglicus

Joan Anglicus (818-855)
Pope of Rome...
The Vatican has many secretes. Perhaps its most carefully guarded one throughout history is this: that for 2 years, 5months, and 4 days, between 853 and 855 A.D, the Pope was a woman.
Somewhere between Pope Leo IV (847-855) and Pope Benedict III (855-858), Joan, in the lifelong guise of a man, rose to the highest seat in Roman Catholic Church. She rule 2 1/2 years and would have ruled longer except that her true gender was exposed after a love affair that resulted in her giving birth to a boy during a public ceremony.
For 3 centuries, the Catholic Church has attempted to dismiss her as a myth, although over 150 church historians between the 13th and 17th centuries acknowledge her short reign...
Things were going well enough until in the 2nd year of her reign, she fell in love with her private chaimberlain, a blond youth of 20 named Florus. They became lovers, and to her horror, Joan found herself pregnant. She hoped to escape the Vatican for a period, to bear the child in secrecy and be rid of it, but circumstances kept her confined.
Then one day during a ceremonial procession from St. Peter's to the Lateran Palace, while she rode a horseback, she suffered the pangs of premature childbirth. The procession was halted. She was lifted from her horse and fell to the street and before the eyes of an astounded mob a premature infant was produced among the voluminous folds of the papal vestments.
The crowd, upon realizing that it was not a miracle but in fact a deception became enraged. Joan was tied to the tail of her horse, dragged through the streets of Rome and back to the spot where she has been exposed; there she was stoned to death.

Just today i make some researches about her, but in the blogs/sites ive been, some says it was a myth, some says it really happened. Here are the links, but it is better to make your own research about this!^_^

wikipedia
socyberty.com
popejoan.com

Pope John XXIII

I recommend you to read all the content of this book about some of Popes' crimes.

CLICK HERE

Nevertheless, after hearing depositions from various witnesses, Sigismund’s Council agreed upon a long indictment against John XXIII. Subsequently, he was charged with incest, sodomy, adultery, rape, and the assassination of Alexander V. Following a perfunctory trial he was found guilty, deposed, imprisoned and strangled to death. When his funerary procession passed through the streets of Rome bystanders tossed clumps of mud and stones at his coffin; and his burial was done in secret, safe from the rebuke of the locals. During his reign he had been “called by some the most depraved criminal who ever sat on the Papal Throne; guilty of almost every crime; as cardinal in Bologna, 200 maidens, nuns and married women fell victim to his amours; as Pope he violated virgins and nuns; lived in adultery with his brother’s wife; was guilty of sodomy and other nameless vices; bought the Papal Office; sold Cardinalates to children of wealthy families; and openly denied the future life.”

Pope Martin V

Even still, Martin V’s reign exemplified the Church’s worst excesses – yet modern histories of this era often eschew specific examples of his depravity for vague denunciations of his character. For instance, Martin was so enraged that John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor who had died five decades earlier, had translated the Bible into English that he ordered Wycliffe’s corpse exhumed, crushed, and tossed into a river.

Christian apologists frame the 15 & 16th centuries as ‘decadent’, but the flagrancy of the wickedness, the intentional defiling of monasteries and convents, the deliberate spread and encouragement of prostitution, the legitimization of ‘communal baths’, and the growth of political subterfuge often goes unmentioned. Dr. Ludwig Pastor says of this period that “the prevailing immorality in Church orders exceeded anything that has been witnessed since the tenth century [and that] wanton cruelty and vindictiveness went hand in hand with immorality” (A History of the Popes - click to read this book).

Pope Sixtus IV

Giving further corroboration for the morals common to the age, the Catholic Encyclopedia says of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84):

“His dominating passion was nepotism, heaping riches and favors on his unworthy relatives. His nephew, the Cardinal Rafael Riario, plotted to overthrow the Medici; the pope was cognizant of the plot, though probably not of the intention to assassinate, and even laid Florence under an interdict because it rose in fury against the conspirators and brutal murderers of Guiuliano dei Medici. Henceforth, until the Reformation, the Reformation, the secular interests of the papacy were of paramount importance. The attitude of Pope Sixtus IV towards the conspiracy of the Pazzi, his wars and treachery, his promotion to the highest offices in the Church of undesirable people are blots upon his career. Nevertheless, there is a praiseworthy side to his pontificate. He took measures to suppress abuses in the Inquisition, vigorously opposed the Waldenses, and annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance.”

Better to find a prostitute says the Pope

No wonder, Gustaaf Cardinal Joos, a Belgian parish priest elevated to the Roman Catholic College of Cardinals on 21 October 2003, by Pope John Paul II, taught and preached the following:

"If a man thinks he needs sex or is going to explode, it is better to find a prostitute than seduce or rape a girl. At least there are no innocent victims involved".

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaaf_Joos

Indeed, they were exactly the men the true Apostles forewarned before they died:

“that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils". - 1 Timothy 4:1

Some Popes were elected by prostitutes

John XII and Benedict XIV were elected by two prostitutes, Theodora and Marzia. Pope John XII was a drunkard and profligate blasphemer, murderer, and rapist. Pope Alexander VI seduced his own daughter. John XXII was a pirate in his youth, etc. Sixty-four of the popes died by violence, twenty-six were deposed, yet these men were chosen by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and were infallible. Their accredited titles established by bulls, cannons, etc., are as follows: "Our Most Holy Lord God," "The Lamb of God," "More than God." A bull of Gregory VII says " that every Roman pontiff when ordained becomes holy." Feraris in Papa, Art. 11, No. 10, says: "He is above angels." Durand says: " The pope can trans substantiate sin into duty and duty into sin." Moscovius says: " The bishop of Rome cannot even sin without being praised, etc."

Man--God's masterpiece
Frank Crowell
R.F. Fenno & Company, 1916

Hennepin County Library
MINNETONKA, MN 55503

Pope Steven VII

In the latter part of the ninth century, Pope Steven VII. had the body of Pope Formosus exhumed; tried for heresy and condemned to be thrown into, the Tiber. The Formosus faction secured the body and buried it again. Then they got Pope Steven into prison, and strangled him there.

When the faction that elected Steven got into power again, under Pope Serigus III., they exhumed Pope Formosus'body again and threw it into the Tiber.

Nineteen centuries of Christianity and papacy
Burton, Ella A.

Sex Crimes and the Vatican plus the cover up

Sex Crimes and The Vatican

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...4490744010763#

Pope still protecting pedophile bishops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK9b2O_Wdnc

The Pope & The Pedophile Preist! (A Bedtime Story)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxGotajN66A

Proof Pope Hid Pedophile Priest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABd_K7i5V8

Pope 'led cover-up of child abuse by priests' (by Pope Benedict XVI)

The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary to be screened by the BBC tonight.

In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety.

The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the allegations they would be excommunicated.

The Panorama special, Sex Crimes And The Vatican, investigates the details of this little-known document for the first time. The programme also accuses the Catholic Church of knowingly harbouring paedophile clergymen. It reveals that priests accused of child abuse are generally not struck off or arrested but simply moved to another parish, often to reoffend. It gives examples of hush funds being used to silence the victims.

Before being elected as Pope Benedict XVI in April last year, the pontiff was Cardinal Thomas Ratzinger who had, for 24 years, been the head of the powerful Congregation of the Doctrine of The Faith, the department of the Roman Catholic Church charged with promoting Catholic teachings on morals and matters of faith. An arch-Conservative, he was regarded as the 'enforcer' of Pope John Paul II in cracking down on liberal challenges to traditional Catholic teachings.

Five years ago he sent out an updated version of the notorious 1962 Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis - Latin for The Crime of Solicitation - which laid down the Vatican's strict instructions on covering up sexual scandal. It was regarded as so secret that it came with instructions that bishops had to keep it locked in a safe at all times.

Cardinal Ratzinger reinforced the strict cover-up policy by introducing a new principle: that the Vatican must have what it calls Exclusive Competence. In other words, he commanded that all child abuse allegations should be dealt with direct by Rome.

Patrick Wall, a former Vatican-approved enforcer of the Crimen Sollicitationis in America, tells the programme: "I found out I wasn't working for a holy institution, but an institution that was wholly concentrated on protecting itself."

And Father Tom Doyle, a Vatican lawyer until he was sacked for criticising the church's handling of child abuse claims, says: "What you have here is an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child sexual abuse by the clergy and to punish those who would call attention to these crimes by the churchmen.

"When abusive priests are discovered, the response has been not to investigate and prosecute but to move them from one place to another. So there's total disregard for the victims and for the fact that you are going to have a whole new crop of victims in the next place. This is happening all over the world."

The investigation could not come at a worse time for Pope Benedict, who is desperately trying to mend the Church's relations with the Muslim world after a speech in which he quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor who said that Islam was spread by holy war and had brought only evil to the world.

The Panorama programme is presented by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by a priest when he was 14. He said: "What gets me is that it's the same story every time and every place. Bishops appoint priests who they know have abused children in the past to new parishes and new communities and more abuse happens."

Last night Eileen Shearer, director of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults said: "The Catholic Church in England and Wales (has) established a single set of national policies and procedures for child protection work. We are making excellent progress in protecting children and preventing abuse."

Source:

London Evening Stardard

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23369148-pope-led-cover-up-of-child-abuse-by-priests.do

No impeachment against the Pope

Catholics, through their cardinals elected a person who's probably going to be known as the worst Pope ever! This "Holy Father" was actively involved in the cover up or child sexual abuse. He protected the pedophile priests and ignored the pleas of victims!

In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbons reports on the trial of Pope John XXIII in 1415, during which "the most scandalous charges were suppressed: The Vicar of Christ was accused only of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy and incest."

And he wasn't even the worst of them. Jesus, there have been some bad popes over the years. Even in modern times, we've had a few serious losers; Pius XII, by many accounts, was way too friendly with Adolf Hitler.

So it's pretty hard to call the current occupant of the Throne of St. Peter the worst pope ever; there's plenty of competition.

But folks, the former Cardinal Ratzinger is turning out to be so awful that he's going to go down in history as one of the all time horrible leaders of a crumbling Catholic Church. This guy was actively involved in covering up child abuse scandals. He knew what was going on, and he not only ignored it -- he ordered the bishops to report the crimes only to Rome, and not to civil authorities. He's guilty not only of protecting the worst kind of criminals -- authority figures who prey on children -- but of actively seeking to prevent them from facing the consequences of their crimes.

If Bill Clinton was charged with obstruction of justice for lying about a (consensual) blow job (involving two adults), then Pope Benedict XVI ought to be indicted in every country that has similar statutes, starting with the United States. All it takes is one district attorney, one grand jury. The evidence is pretty clear. Then Interpol can put out a warrant for his arrest.

Of course, all that would do is keep the guy holed up in his nice, big house in Rome; the Vatican is its own sovereign nation, with its own laws and rules -- and I don't think Canon Law provides for obstruction charges (or any charges) against the head of state.

See, that's the thing: Nobody can touch the pope (bad metaphor). There's no procedure for impeachment. He's the least accountable head of state in the world; even military juntas and dictators can be overthrown by force, but I don't see any revolutionary cadre of young Cardinals rising up and turning the Swiss guards on Il Papa. Too bad: A nice middle-ages-style coup in the Vatican might be just the thing to shake up that moribund institution and remind its leaders that the rest of the world will only take so much abuse.

No impeachment against the Pope

Catholics, through their cardinals elected a person who's probably going to be known as the worst Pope ever! This "Holy Father" was actively involved in the cover up or child sexual abuse. He protected the pedophile priests and ignored the pleas of victims!

In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbons reports on the trial of Pope John XXIII in 1415, during which "the most scandalous charges were suppressed: The Vicar of Christ was accused only of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy and incest."

And he wasn't even the worst of them. Jesus, there have been some bad popes over the years. Even in modern times, we've had a few serious losers; Pius XII, by many accounts, was way too friendly with Adolf Hitler.

So it's pretty hard to call the current occupant of the Throne of St. Peter the worst pope ever; there's plenty of competition.

But folks, the former Cardinal Ratzinger is turning out to be so awful that he's going to go down in history as one of the all time horrible leaders of a crumbling Catholic Church. This guy was actively involved in covering up child abuse scandals. He knew what was going on, and he not only ignored it -- he ordered the bishops to report the crimes only to Rome, and not to civil authorities. He's guilty not only of protecting the worst kind of criminals -- authority figures who prey on children -- but of actively seeking to prevent them from facing the consequences of their crimes.

If Bill Clinton was charged with obstruction of justice for lying about a (consensual) blow job (involving two adults), then Pope Benedict XVI ought to be indicted in every country that has similar statutes, starting with the United States. All it takes is one district attorney, one grand jury. The evidence is pretty clear. Then Interpol can put out a warrant for his arrest.

Of course, all that would do is keep the guy holed up in his nice, big house in Rome; the Vatican is its own sovereign nation, with its own laws and rules -- and I don't think Canon Law provides for obstruction charges (or any charges) against the head of state.

See, that's the thing: Nobody can touch the pope (bad metaphor). There's no procedure for impeachment. He's the least accountable head of state in the world; even military juntas and dictators can be overthrown by force, but I don't see any revolutionary cadre of young Cardinals rising up and turning the Swiss guards on Il Papa. Too bad: A nice middle-ages-style coup in the Vatican might be just the thing to shake up that moribund institution and remind its leaders that the rest of the world will only take so much abuse.

Pope Benedict XVI

POPE BENEDICT VII (JOSEPH RATZINGER)


The moral hypocrite in the Vatican
November 20, 2005
Jason Berry
latimes.com

Jason Berry's books include "Lead Us Not Into Temptation" and, with Gerald Renner, "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II."

CONSERVATIVE Catholics rejoiced at the election of Pope Benedict XVI because, as a cardinal, he had famously decried "moral relativism."

Now, however, the pope appears to be backtracking and, worse yet, he is tolerating a scandalous moral relativism by the Vatican secretary of state.

In 1986, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a global letter to bishops denouncing homosexuality as a "moral disorder." The language was harsh, much to the delight of conservatives.

But now that Ratzinger is pope, the church says that homosexual seminarians are to be treated with "respect and delicacy" if they are chaste, according to the newspaper Il Giornale, quoting from a leaked copy of a recently completed Vatican document on homosexuals in the seminary. That's a reasonable position, albeit a retreat from Ratzinger's denouncement of gays in 1986.

Perhaps more troubling for conservatives should be the pope's tolerance of the behavior of the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Six years ago, Sodano persuaded Ratzinger to halt a canon law case seeking the excommunication of a friend of his, an alleged pedophile, Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ order in Mexico.

After Ratzinger became pope last spring, Sodano injected himself into a Vatican investigation of Maciel. Sodano also invited his old friend to a prestigious religious conference in Lucca, Italy. No president or elected prime minster would tolerate his chief diplomat championing a priest with 20 accusations of pedophilia.

Sodano and Maciel became friends in the 1970s, while Sodano served as papal nuncio in Chile and Maciel was cultivating supporters of corrupt Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The allegations against Maciel date from 1976, when two former Legion priests sent the Vatican formal accusations, with names of other young victims from seminaries in Rome and Spain.

The Vatican ignored the charges, even as the number of alleged victims grew. The Legion's response has always been to attack the accusers, portraying Maciel as the victim of a conspiracy by men jealous of his success.

In late 2004, with Pope John Paul II dying, Ratzinger realized that he might become pope and launched an investigation of Maciel. At the time, Ratzinger's office had a backlog of 700 cases of priests whose bishops wanted them defrocked. He knew that the media would seize on the Maciel case as a coverup. As the investigation began, Maciel stepped down from the helm of the Legion, citing his age, 85.

Ratzinger sent Msgr. Charles Scicluna, a canon lawyer on his staff, to question witnesses in the United States and Mexico. In April, Scicluna heard testimony from 30 people, 20 of whom directly accused Maciel of abusing them. Scicluna has taken a papal vow not to comment on investigations. But witnesses spoke to journalists, praising Scicluna's moral probity.

In mid-May, as the investigation continued, Sodano's office inexplicably notified the Legion that there would be no canonical process against Maciel. Reporters responded to the statement by contacting the Vatican press office, which denied that the church was investigating Maciel. The Legion then crowed that Maciel was exonerated, a claim the press office never made.

After the announcement, however, two more witnesses gave testimony to Scicluna in Rome.

So who is in charge of the case, Sodano or the pope? Did Benedict abort the investigation with Scicluna still gathering information? Did Sodano force deception on the papal spokesman, who under church rules is not allowed to confirm a "secret" probe?

The Maciel case makes a mockery of canon law, and it is symptomatic of something deeper. As a 2004 Dallas Morning News investigation found, Catholic religious orders for years have sent allegedly abusive priests to other countries to avoid prosecution.

The Holy See is a signatory to a U.N. covenant on the rights of children. The Vatican cannot presume to remain above the law if it persists in shielding child molesters.

On Nov. 12, Pope Benedict spoke about "universal moral law," saying that "the rich patrimony of values and principles embodied in that law is essential to the building of a world which acknowledges and promotes the dignity, life and freedom of each human person." Sodano's highhanded tactics betray Benedict's remarks. The Maciel investigation is now a year old. Did Benedict cave in to Sodano's pressure, as he did in 1999, and abort the cause of justice?

With Cardinal Roger Mahony trying to seal away clergy files in California cases, the pattern from Rome to Dublin to Los Angeles is glaring.

Benedict XVI cannot credibly lecture us on moral law when his secretary of state reeks of hypocrisy. The pope should stand for justice by firing Sodano and putting Maciel where he belongs -- out of the priesthood.

PART TWO:



Before he became Pope in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and a top aide to Pope John Paul II. Some of those who accused Father Maciel of molesting them also alleged that Cardinal Ratzinger, who had responsibility for investigating all charges of sexual abuse with the church, attempted to cover up the charges against Maciel when they were brought to his attention in 1998. In April 2002, when ABC News reporter Brian Ross asked Ratzinger about Father Maciel, Ratzinger said, "You do not come to me," and then slapped Ross's hand aside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK9b2O_Wdnc

abcnews.go.com

The Blotter from Brian Ross
(ABC News)

Pope Gregory VII, Pope Leo XIII and Pope Piux X

Pope Gregory VII

Priestly celibacy and auricular confession ever have been, and are now, prolific sources of crime and licentiousness. Pope Gregory VII., in the eleventh century, imposed the unnatural law of priestly celibacy, notwithstanding the vehement protests of the priests, the vast majority of whom had wives and legitimate children. This decree, making priestly marriage a wrong and priestly celibacy a virtue, has honeycombed the Roman Catholic Church with corruption. The advantage to the Vatican system of having all ecclesiastics wholly separated from all legitimate connections with their native soil and natural interests, and the fixture in every kingdom of large bodies of men wholly devoted to the objects of the papacy, overpowered the voices alike of nature and of God.

Pope Gregory VII., and his infallible successors, in imposing priestly celibacy, were actuated by political rather than virtuous motives. This was generally admitted. Pope Pius II., himself the father of several children , once wrote these words: "Marriage has been forbidden to priests for good reasons, but there are better ones for permitting it to them."

4. Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII. was the father of several children, one of them being the eminent Cardinal Satolli, a man of conspicuous immorality. Bishop O'Connell, of Richmond, Virginia, is considered a reliable authority on the pontifical paternity of Cardinal Satolli.

5. Pope Pius X

In 1907 three thousand French priests signed and sent a petition to Pope Pius X., praying for the abolition of priestly celibacy. All of these priests were past the marrying age themselves, but were speaking from the weight of responsibility thrust upon them by confessions. This appeal was consigned to the papal wastebasket.

source:

Romanism a menace to the nation
Crowley, Jeremiah
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (December 7, 2009)

To see more of Popes' crimes, click this webpage CLICK HERE

John XII

John XII., A. D. 955-964.


A Profligate. Indicted for Incest, etc.

In the year 956, Octavian, a youth only eighteen years of age, the son of Alberic, Duke of Tuscany, the husband of Marozia, succeeded, through the influence of his faction, in having himself raised to the papal throne. The custom, now common with popes, of changing their baptismal name upon their accession, into one more ecclesiastical in form, was first introduced by John XII. 'His pontificate lasted till the year 964. Though young in years, this unworthy occupant of the papal chair was old in profligacy, and brought disgrace upon his exalted office by his many vices and shameful excesses. . . When (King) Otho was informed, upon the authority of the leading citizens of Rome, that John XII. was stained with the guilt of immorality, simony, and other vices equally heinous, he dismissed the charges with the remark: " He is still young, and may, with the example of good men before him, and under the influence of their counsel, grow better as he grows older." (Otho, while at Pavia, learned of treacherous conduct on the part of Pope John XII. towards him and) he set out for Rome, where he arrived November 2, A. D. 962; but John and (Prince) Adelbert, not daring to await his coming, had already fled, taking with them the treasure of St. Peter's Church. The Romans took the oath of fealty to Otho. . . He (Otho) convoked (A. D. 963) a synod to meet in St. Peter's Church, at which forty bishops and sixteen cardinals were present, for the purpose of deposing the Pope. . . This so-called Synod indicted the Pope on the charges of incest, perjury, blasphemy, murder, and others equally enormous.

This synod deposed Pope John XII., and elected Leo, a layman, who was called Pope Leo VIII., to the pontificate. Later, John XII. returned to Rome, and drove out the antipope, assembled a synod, declared the acts of the synod called by Otho null and of no effect, deposed and excommunicated Leo, and pronounced his ordination invalid.

No sooner had John gained this triumph over his enemies lhan he again went back to his former licentious habits and unseemly excesses. But though God may" tolerate such things for a time, His vengeance usually overtakes one in the end. John was suddenly stricken down with cerebral apoplexy, and died, at the end of eight days, without being able to receive the Holy Viaticum.

SOURCE: — Dr. Akog's Manual of Universal Church History, Vol. II., pp. 297, 298, 303, 304, 305.
Romanism a menace to the nation

By Jeremiah J. Crowley