Ask a Question
or
Create a Poll
  1. Home /
  2. Questions /
  3. Social Sciences
  4. / Religions
  5. / Religions A - Z
  6. / Christian Religions
  7. / Christian Denominations
  8. / Catholic Religion
  9. / The Pope And The Vatican
  10. / Papal History

by Cheshire Puss on May 15th, 2008

Cheshire Puss

Question

Help answer this question below.

If you are to choose the most saintly of the Popes, which would you pick? Saint John XII, Pope John XX, Saint Alexander VI, or Saint Leo X?

  • Like
  • Report
Share:
Other

Answers. 4 helpful answers below.

  • by iwnit on May 15th, 2008

    iwnit

    1) "John XII (c. 937–May 14, 964), was Pope from December 16, 955 to May 14, 964."

    "Pope John XII was a coarse, immoral man, whose life was such that the Lateran was spoken of as a brothel, and the moral corruption in Rome became the subject of general disgrace.

    An account of the charges leveled against him from Patrologia Latina includes:

    Then, rising up, the cardinal priest Peter testified that he himself had seen [John XII] celebrate mass without taking communion. John, bishop of Narni, and John, a cardinal deacon, professed that they themselves saw that a deacon had been ordained in a horse stable, but were unsure of the time. Benedict, cardinal deacon, with other co-deacons and priests, said they knew that he had been paid for ordaining bishops, specifically that he had ordained a ten-year-old bishop in the city of Todi... They testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse. They said that he had gone hunting publicly; that he had blinded his confessor Benedict, and thereafter Benedict had died; that he had killed John, cardinal subdeacon, after castrating him; and that he had set fires, girded on a sword, and put on a helmet and cuirass. All, clerics as well as laymen, declared that he had toasted to the devil with wine. They said when playing at dice, he invoked Jupiter, Venus and other demons. They even said he did not celebrate Matins and the canonical hours nor did he make the sign of the cross."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XII

    So that was not a particularly saintly one. And of course, he was never canonized.


    2) "There has never been a Pope John XX, because the 20th pope of this name, formerly Petrus Hispanus, decided to skip the number XX and to be counted as John XXI instead. He wanted to correct what in his time was believed to be an error in the counting of his predecessors John XV through XIX."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XX

    So this one never existed anyway.


    3) "Pope Alexander VI (1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503), born Roderic Llançol, later Roderic de Borja y Borja (Italian: Borgia), who was Pope from 1492 to 1503, is the most controversial of the secular popes of the Renaissance and one whose surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era."

    "Alexander gave away the temporal estates of the papacy to his children as though they belonged to him. The secularization of the church was carried to a pitch never before dreamed of, and it was clear to all Italy that he regarded the papacy as an instrument of worldly schemes with no thought of its religious aspect. During his pontificate the church was brought to its lowest level of degradation. The condition of his subjects was deplorable, and if Cesare's rule in Romagna was an improvement on that of the local tyrants, the people of Rome have seldom been more oppressed than under the Borgia.

    Alexander VI has become almost a mythical character, and countless legends and traditions are attached to his name. Alexander was not the only figure responsible for the general unrest in Italy or for the foreign invasions, but he was ever ready to profit by them. Even if the stories of his murders (including the rumor that his first murder was at the age of 12), poisonings and immoralities are not all true, there is no doubt that his greed for money and his essentially vicious nature led him to commit a great number of crimes. For many of his misdeeds his son Cesare was as guilty as his father as well.

    The one pleasing aspect of his life is his patronage of the arts, and in his days a new architectural era was initiated in Rome with the coming of Bramante. Raphael, Michelangelo and Pinturicchio all worked for him, and a curious contrast, characteristic of the age, is afforded by the fact that a family so steeped in vice and crime could take pleasure in the most exquisite works of art."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

    Here it is, the infamous Borgia pope. Not a very saintly one either.


    4) "Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (11 December 1475 – 1 December 1521) was Pope from 1513 to his death. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses."

    "Several historians have suggested the likelihood that Leo may have been homosexual. In particular they have drawn upon the account of Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540). Writing in 1525 only a few years after Leo’s death, Guicciardini declared[1], At the beginning of his pontificate most people deemed him very chaste; however, he was afterwards discovered to be exceedingly devoted - and every day with less and less shame - to that kind of pleasure that for honour's sake may not be named. The precise description around Leo’s behaviour set out by Guicciardini, suggests that contemporaries would clearly have recognised the charge. Libellous tracts of the time again reiterated Leo’s predilection towards sodomy – naming Count Ludovico Rangone and Galeotto Malatesta among his lovers."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_X

    His sexual orientation would not have let him qualify as a saint at that time, probably.


    5) again, none of the three existent popes of this list has been canonized. We must also consider that at that time, it was not a problem for a pope to be married (because they were not priests).

    Personally, I would canonize the last one. I have nothing against homosexuality.

    • Like
    • Report

    2 comments | Post one | Permalink

  • by Cheshire Puss on May 15th, 2008

    Cheshire Puss

    I am surprised of how little notice our catholic brethren have on these holly men.

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by vasti on May 15th, 2008

    vasti

    Very funny!

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by James_P1099 on October 6th, 2011

    James_P1099

    I agree with the fist article by lwnit.

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading If you are to choose the most saintly of the Popes, which would you pick? Saint John XII, Pope John XX, Saint Alexander VI, or Saint Leo X?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

Related Questions

Professionally Researched

ANSWERBAG BUZZ

Most saintly popes
Good paradoxes
Saintly murder
Then rising up the cardinal priest peter testified that he himself had seen john xii celebrate mass without taking communion john bishop of narni and john a cardinal deacon professed that they themselves saw that a deacon had been ordained in a horse stable but were unsure of the time
Saintly popes

Answerbag

a Demand Media company