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by Caroline Linton
You thought a little resignation was bad? How about the pope whose syphilis
was so bad he couldn’t preach, or the one who threw orgies, or the one who had a
kid with his sister? Caroline Linton runs through the biggest scandals the
church has ever seen—from modern pedophilia all the way back to a dead pontiff
on trial in 897.
Benedict’s resignation came as a real shock—he’s the first pope to resign in
nearly 600 years, with the last resignation being Gregory XII, who
stepped down in 1415 to end a church schism. The 85-year-old pontiff
announced
he would be stepping aside on Feb. 28 due to declining health, citing his
“incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.” Taking over in
April 2005, Benedict was a surprising pick for pope to begin with: Born Joseph
Ratzinger in Germany in 1927, he was a member of the Hitler Youth during World
War II, although he insisted he was never part of the Nazi Party. As a cardinal,
Benedict was one of the most conservative in the church, making his pick all the
more unusual after popular reformer Pope John Paul II.
Victims Groups Implicate Pope Ratzinger in Sex Abuse Cover Up
Pedophilia in the American Church, 2001-present
There were always the whispers about American
Catholic priests sexually abusing children—with one bishop
apparently warning of the consequences as far back as the 1950s—but the
church’s role in covering up the abuse came to light in 2002 when the
Boston
Globe published an in-depth investigation into defrocked priest John Geoghan,
who had been suspected of molesting an estimated 150 children over a 30-year
period. Geoghan would eventually be convicted in criminal court and sentenced to
10 years in prison and murdered two years into his sentence. But the real
scandal was that the church had not only known about the allegations against
Geoghan, they had moved him from parish to parish, sent him to therapy, and
tried to cover it up—even after he was defrocked in 1998. After the Geoghan
case, hundreds of other instances were uncovered, including in Los Angeles,
where the church agreed to pay over $600 million in 2007 to settle with victims
dating back decades.
Vatican Commission Endorses Birth Control—Then Pope
Takes It Back, 1960s
The Catholic Church and birth control have had a
long, complicated relationship. When the pill was introduced in the 1960s, Pope
John XXIII appointed a commission called the Study of Problems of Population,
Family, and Birth (featuring one Polish bishop named Karol Wojtyla, who would go
on to become Pope John Paul II) to study whether birth control could be
incorporated into the church doctrine. But surprise, surprise: the
commission recommended to Pope Paul VI, who had taken over in 1963 and
expanded the commission to 58 members, that the ban on contraceptives be lifted.
The
findings were leaked in 1967, making it all the more heartbreaking for
Catholics who wanted contraceptives when Paul rejected the findings in a 1968
paper called
Humane Vitale. In the 40 years since, it’s believed that up
to 98 percent of American Catholics have used artificial birth control at some
point in their lifetimes.
Pope Pius XII and Holocaust, 1940s
The Catholic Church’s relationship with Jews has always been tumultuous—it
wasn’t until 1965 that the Vatican rejected the notion that Jews were
responsible for the death of Christ, and the Vatican didn’t recognize Israel
until 1993. Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, has long been known as
“
Hitler’s
pope” for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust—especially since he served
as No. 2 to the previous pope and before that as special envoy to Germany. At
Israel’s national Holocaust Museum, a wall panel criticizes Pius’s conduct
during the war, although it was updated in 2012 to include instances when the
church’s “neutrality” saved lives. Fair assessment? The Vatican insists Pius
used quiet diplomacy, and that if he had spoken out publicly, there could have
been more deaths. And in a book published in February 2013, British historian
Gordon Thomas claims Pius gave his blessing for the establishment of safe houses
in Vatican City, and that he instructed priests to conduct a secret operation to
hide Jews.
Secret Papers Published, 1869-70
It turns out
VatiLeaks isn’t the only time secret papal papers have been leaked. At the
First Vatican Council in 1869—convened by Pope Pius IX to deal with the creeping
influence of rationalism, liberalism, and materialism—the church introduced what
would later become one of its most important teachings: that the pope is
infallible. But apparently the papal security is not so infallible:
secret papers from the council ended up published in German newspapers.
Church Denies Galileo and Science in General,
1600s-1992
For those who despair over the Catholic Church’s opinion on birth control,
there is historical precedent for reversing science—and even apologizing
centuries later. Take Galileo Galilei, the 16th-century scientist who declared
that Earth is a planet in the solar system and orbits around the sun. This, of
course, went against church teachings at the time, which saw Earth as the center
of God’s universe. When Galileo published his findings, the church banned the
book, ordered him to appear before the Inquisition in Rome, and threatened him
with torture. It doesn’t take a
Zero Dark Thirty fan to guess what
happened next: Galileo, age 68 and sick, publicly recanted his findings.
Unfortunately, he didn’t live until 1822, when the Church finally lifted its ban
on his book. (He made it until 1642). The Vatican in the 1960s endorsed
Galileo’s findings, and in 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the actions
taken against Galileo.
Pope Leo X and Indulgences, 1513-1521
Who wouldn’t want to buff up those church coffers? After all, St. Peter’s
Basilica is pretty and not going to fix itself—and Johann Tetzel’s expression
“as soon as the coin from the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs” is
very catchy. That seemed to be Pope Leo X’s reasoning in the early 1500s when he
not only allowed but
actively encouraged Catholics to pay for their sins to be forgiven. But fear
not, he was not totally devoid of scruples: he put heftier price tags on sins
such as murder and incest. The whole scandal did not exactly blow over, as one
outraged monk named Martin Luther announced his displeasure with the practice in
document called the
Ninety-Five Theses. The rest, of course, is
Protestant history.
Pope Julius II Charged With Lewd Sex Acts, 1511
Even the whole indulgence thing was a step up from Leo’s predecessor, Pope
Julius II. To start, Julius issued the dispensation that allowed Henry VIII to
marry Catherine of Aragon, despite that she had briefly been married before.
Clearly not a fan of the church’s celibacy oath, Julius also
fathered at least one illegitimate daughter and had several mistresses. In
1511, the church brought charges of lewd sex acts against him, calling him a
“sodomite covered with shameful ulcers.” He was known to spend most of time with
small boys and male prostitutes, and he was the first known pope to contract
syphilis. On Good Friday in 1508, he was apparently so ill with syphilitic sores
that he couldn’t even deliver Mass. But his legacy is not all bad: a great
patron of the arts, Julius laid the foundation stone for a new St. Peter’s
Basilica, was a friend to several great artists of the time, and even
commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, although
Julius did force the artist to finish before he was ready.
Alexander VI, the Worst Pope Ever, 1492-1503
It’s such a dubious honor, but historians generally agree that Pope Alexander
VI was the worst pope ever. A member of the notorious Borgia family, Alexander
was famous for throwing orgies, including
one rager in 1501 called the “Joust of the Whores,” in which 50 medieval-era
strippers undressed around the pope’s table. Alexander and his family then threw
chestnuts on the floor for the women to fight over—and the man who had sex with
the most women would collect jewels and fine clothes. That’s not all. Clearly
also not a fan of celibacy, Alexander had six sons and three daughters by
various women, although he did give them some fairly decent jobs in the church.
He died from a poisoned apple, likely coming from his pathological son.
Innocent VIII and the Golden Age of Bastards,
1484-92
Alexander VI (his tomb pictured here) must have been trying to live up to
predecessor, Innocent VIII, who reigned over the “Golden Age of Bastards.”
Innocent like to brag about his own “bastards,” having publicly acknowledged
eight illegitimate sons (although many more were suspected). But he wasn’t just
having sex with women—he also was firm believer that witchcraft existed and
expanded the church’s crusade against witches in 1484.
Sixtus IV Has Child
With His Sister, 1470s
Think about this the next time you visit the Sistine
Chapel: it was commissioned by Sixtus IV, who had six illegitimate
children—including one that was the result of an incestuous affair with his
sister. He also collected a tax on church prostitutes and charged priests for
keeping mistresses—although
historians say this only increased the prevalence of homosexuality in the church.
Pope John XII Allegedly Murders Men, Turns Papal
Palace into Whorehouse and More, 955-64
Maybe Alexander VI should be offended that
Pope John XII holds the title of worst pope ever. Not only was John XII
considered lazy and childish, he has also been accused of invoking demons,
murdering and mutilating men, and was an arsonist and gambler. His reign as pope
did not last long, as he died in his early 20s, allegedly in bed with a married
woman. Oh right: he has also has been accused of turning the papal palace into a
“whorehouse” with adulterous acts, including with his own niece and his father’s
long-term girlfriend.
Pope Stephen VI Tries His Dead Predecessor, 896-97
Well at least it’s a scandal that is not about sex, right?
Pope Stephen VI apparently wanted revenge against his predecessor, Pope
Formosus—despite that Formosus had already died, so it would appear that Stephen
had won whatever battle there was between the two of them. Stephen had
Formosus’s nine-month-old corpse dug up, and then dressed up the cadaver and put
it on trial. Perhaps unsurprising at this point, Formosus’s rule was declared
invalid—and as extra revenge, Stephen had the three fingers that had been used
to issue blessings chopped off. But history got the last laugh on Stephen: a
deadly earthquake shortly afterward was taken as a sign from God, and rioters
arrested him and threw him in a dungeon, where he was later found strangled to
death.
Pope Joan, the First Woman Pope, Est. 800
No, this is not the plot of a Louise Erdrich novel (see
Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse). There is a mythical tale
of a woman known as Pope Joan, who in the 9th century disguised herself as a man
and served as pontiff for two years. Although the Catholic Church dismisses it,
there are an estimated 500 chronicles of her existence. Believed to
have been born in Mainz, Germany, Pope Joan was allegedly led to Athens “dressed
in clothes of a man by a certain lover of hers.” From there, she is believed to
have made her way to Rome, where she became a cardinal and then eventually a
pope. So how was her secret discovered? According to legend, she went into labor
two-and-half years into her papacy. That’s where the story becomes less
clear—some say she and the baby were killed on the spot (likely) or that she was
sent to a convent and her son grew up to be bishop of Ostia (very unlikely, but
so romantic).
Gasp! A Black Pope, 189-199
In
days before most popes were Italian, second-century Pope Victor I hailed from
North Africa, and he certainly made an impact on the church: he was the one who
changed the language of Mass from Greek to Latin, although Latin Masses did not
catch on until the fourth century. Victor has since been canonized, with his
feast day on July 28.
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