Rodrigo worked in Curia, the administrative office of the Vatican, for four more Popes. He was ordained as a deacon when his uncle, Pope Calistus III, won the papacy. Doubting his own ability to maintain his position, and wishing to marry his cousin, Benedict decided to abdicate in May. [127:2] A letter of John is extant, in which he justifies Athanasius, Bishop of Naples, for having plucked out the eyes of Sergius, Duke of Naples, who favored the Saracens in despite of the papal anathemas.

In the 9th Century, Pope Stephen VI (sometimes called Pope Stephen VII) was elected to the papacy. [12] In September 1044, opposition to Benedict IX's dissolute lifestyle forced him out of the city again and elected Sylvester III to replace him. He was chiefly noted for his endowing monasteries with the goods of the poor, and for his opposition to the Emperor Leo’s edict against image worship. What?! Hence, a guaranteed spot in heaven. [134:7] Nor was his competitor, Clement VII, behind him in violence and crime. Benedict afterwards poisoned Pope Damasus II. ii., p. 300; Jortin, vol. Pressure over his conduct built to crescendo, leading Benedict IX to sell the Papacy to Gregory VI. A number of influential clergy and laity implored Emperor Henry III to cross the Alps and restore order. He died of the poison he had destined for another.” [138:5]. Elected pope at the age of eighteen, Alberic, his half brother, expelled him from Rome and imprisoned their mother Marozia. When elected he found on the pontifical throne a lay pope, one Constantine, who, after a violent struggle, was dislodged and punished with the loss of his eyes, [127:5] many of his friends sharing the same fate. This pope was called Os Porci, or Swine’s Mouth. He commenced the custom of dipping his pen in consecrated wine when signing the condemnation of heretics, [126:8] thus sanctifying murder with the blood of Christ. [131:8]. A German, Clement II, was chosen to succeed Gregory VI.

[130:3] Jortin remarks that “Baronius says, from Luitprandus, that it was the Devil who gave John that blow; but it seems not probable that Satan would have used his good friend in such a manner.

4 #4 Pope Benedict IX Via wikimedia.org In 1032 Benedict IX became the youngest pope to ever take the papal seat, with some accounts stating he was only 11 or 12 years old at the time of his promotion to the papacy, although official records state he was closer to 20. He came from the noble Medici Family, ruler of the Republic of Florence, with immense banking wealth. He compelled Henry IV to abdicate, but on his son Henry V marching against him, after a sanguinary struggle, he gave up to the emperor the right of investiture. The wholesale slaughter of innocent people was for nothing more than greed which included Belgrade (1096), the chief city of Orthodox Church after Constantinople, Yugoslavia (1096), Turkey, Syria, Antioch (1098) and Palestine.

He is noted for his cruel suppression of the order of Knights Templar, so as to appropriate their property. He handed to Hitler and Himmler a complete blueprint for the systematic elimination of key non-Catholic minorities across Europe as well as the establishment of death camps for their murder.

“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, HE IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, hidden under the veil of flesh.” Catholic National July 1895. '” [136:5], Jortin says that “Sixtus IV erected a famous bawdy-house at Rome, and the Roman prostitutes paid his holiness a weekly tax, which amounted sometimes to twenty thousand ducats a year.” [137:6]. Benedict then decided to abdicate in favor of his godfather, Gregory VI, provided he was reimbursed for his expenses. I hope she visits you again in the future as I would love to meet her in person! He had his predecessor, Celestine, put in prison, where he died. However, some controversies were too severe to conceal. Dante places him in hell. Believe fully that the Bible is God's preserved Word, final authority, and that all matters of faith and the practice thereof are to come from Holy Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21, etc.). After reigning for over a month, he decided to leave his post to marry his cousin.

His manner was labeled by many as slothful and childish. [132:6], ALEXANDER III (1159-81).

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He was the only pontiff in history seated to the papacy on three separate occasions, after selling his position twice for a vast sum of money.

Henry then had Clement II elected in December 1046. Each accused the other of simony, but Dioscorus opportunely died. “The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God..He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor and king of kings. Pope Innocent VII (1484 – 1492) fathered 16 illegitimate children by various women.

His life as a pope was so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it.” — Pope Victor III.

ii., p. 117; Mosheim, vol. He then appointed a fellow Bavarian to the role,who lasted only a little longer than his predecessor. Besides, as Michelet observed, Protestantism is after all only an estuary, and Catholicism the great sea.

He is said to have been well versed in scripture, and to have died a virgin in his eightieth year. [video], LOCKED UP IN BABYLON – Modern Church Bondage [podcast], International Criminal Roundup Underway: Arrests of Sealed Indictment Criminals, Children being Rescued in Tunnels: Happening Now [video]. He acted with no less violence in Rome: he persecuted the Colonnas with great ferocity: he seized Marino from them; he caused the prothonotary Colonna to be attacked, arrested and executed in his own house.
He promised that if we would give up Marino to him he would set my son at liberty; he has Marino: and my son is in our hands — but dead! Ruling the Papal States at age of twelve, but other accounts argue that he became a Pope at twenty. [123:4], Damasus gained the title of Auriscalpius Matronarum, ladies’ ear-scratcher. The last of the popes from the powerful Tusculani family, he was notorious for selling the papacy and then reclaiming the office twice.. He replied that he would do as his predecessors had done — that there were examples of infants in the cradle being made cardinals. At the time, Sylvester III also reasserted his claim. Behold thus does the pope keep his word.

For a religion that loves to lecture on right and wrong, involving itself in social issues it should keep its nose out of, and just generally being sanctimonious – it has an incredible history of abuse of power, wars, violence, sexual indiscretion, sexual abuse, hypocrisy, manipulation, discrimination, accumulation of wealth – and being just downright evil…and I’m not just talking about the Catholic variant! Historical List of Atrocities of the Popes, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Moments with Our Master 365 Day Devotional [book], Grow in Christ Edification Pack Special [books], 40 Bible Verses Every Disciple MUST Know!

Pope Boniface VIII (1294 – 1303) The Catholic encyclopaedia states, “. Serving the State not the Savior! This pontiff also had been excommunicated by John VIII. 11. Pope John XXIII (1410 – 1415) was accused by 37 clergy witnesses of fornication, adultery, incest, sodomy, simony, theft and murder. Should the Protestants object that they are in no way responsible for the crimes of the Papacy, we shall cheerfully concede the plea; but at the same time we beg to remind them that Catholics are also Christians, and that the historian must deal with the whole system through all the centuries. JULIUS II (1503-13).

“His love of money,” says Symonds, “was such that, when bishoprics fell vacant, he often refused to fill them up, drawing their revenues for his own use, and draining Christendom as a Verres or a Memmius sucked a Roman province dry. He instructed that ethnic Jews and other heretics were not simply to be murdered but ritually sacrificed by being burnt alive, consistent with, The “great schism” of 1378 lasted 50 years, where Italian and French Popes cursed each other.