Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Papal Trivia

The new Pope has selected Benedict XVI as his regnal name, but some of the previous Benedicts have had some bad luck:

Benedict V was deposed by Otto I, and Benedict VI was deposed following Otto I's death and then strangled by order of Crescentius, the son of the notorious Theodora. This was after a period of over fifty years known as the Pornocracy (literally "rule by prostitutes"), where the popes were strongly influenced by Theodora and her daughter Maroiza.

Benedict IX was given the papacy by his father, at a young age in 1032, and had 3 seperate terms due to his first selling the office to his godfather and then being deposed twice.

But all of that pales in comparison to the Cadaver Synod, in which Pope Formosus' body was put on trial nine months after his death!

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