Oh my God! So many Popes, so little time… The one with the most terrible reputation was definitely Alexander VI Borgia. The name of this Spanish family, originally Borja, has passed to posterity as a byword to nepotism, debauchery and violence. Interestingly, Rodrigo Borja had become a cardinal in Spain, before even becoming a priest. He had nine children by three mistresses, the youngest of whom was 43 years his junior. He was elected pope at age 61, the very year America was discovered. Rivalries between Italian factions allowed this unexpected outsider to hit the jackpot by raising colossal bribes, and he became Pope Alexander VI in an extravagant coronation, despite much outcry from all of Europe.
Alexander VI introduced a mafia like system, naming relatives and allies as members of the Holy College. He named his son Cesare Borgia archbishop, using him as a henchman to eliminate opponents with knife or poison. He forcibly married his daughter Lucrezia Borgia three times to serve his political goals, first time when she was 13. Lucrezia’s second husband was murdered on her family’s behalf as she was still only 20. Her third wedding was celebrated by an orgy so spectacular that it was mentioned in the diplomatic archives of many European courts. Incest allegations within the family have never been proved, but they fit well in the picture. Alexander VI made a fortune by collecting bribes to sell cardinal titles to the wealthiest buyers. They usually were eliminated afterwards as a cardinal’s possessions went to the Pope. He was also famous for ordering the fanatic monk Savonarola to be tortured, hanged and burned, as he had cursed the corruption in the Church. Unsurprisingly, this Pope was the one who allowed the enslavement of native Americans. He died at age 72 in 1503, intoxicated in a banquet. His successor Pius III had the shortest reign of all Popes (17 days), but despite allegations of poisoning, no culprit was ever proven. Alexander VI left a sulphurous memory, and inspired Machiavelli as the prototype of “the Prince”. The corruption, cruelty and lechery in Rome brought a dire reputation on the Catholic Church, serving as an essential argument in the outcome of Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, who had spent time in Rome said that contemporary Pope Leo X had vetoed a measure against pederasty, common in the high clergy. Leo X lived in immoderate luxury, precipitating a financial crisis. The Pope’s extravagant income was dilapidated as soon as it was received. If you’re horrified, be aware that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Before that, Popes had routinely plundered the Church’s wealth to share it with their relatives and cronies, sold charges, had lovers of both sexes (list of sexually active popes), fostered children, and had their opponents tortured and murdered with gruesome refinement. All this is very well documented by an abundance of sources, and as there is just to much to deny, Catholics hardly try and just ignore it. A particularly infamous period seems to have been the 10th century. In medieval times, the Pope had been the supreme ruler, and controlled all the wealth in the lands under its authority. Pope Leo X is famous for the cynical quote “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it”. This was not a situation likely to attract men who loved their enemies and gave the other cheek. As Lord Acton put it in the 19th century, “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
The Reformation hit the Papacy hard. Almost half of Catholic Europe was lost, including very wealthy parts, so that incomes were greatly diminished, criticism of the Church spread, and it became more difficult to charge opponents with blasphemy. After the 16th century, the Popes were just staunch conservatives when not regressive. They notoriously condemned Galileo for claiming that the earth revolved around the sun. He was officially rehabilitated in…1981!
Anyway, the political influence of the Popes gradually deflated always more in front of scientific and philosophical progress, and the glamorous depravity of the Renaissance period was no longer heard of.
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