Enjoy the Papacy

Overheard:

Haven't done an Overheard for a while; must get back into the habit.

Chairman: "Apparently there's going to be a comet blazing across the January skies that was last seen by the Neanderthals."

Hay: "You must remember it then."

The funeral of Pope Ratzinger has reminded me that we seem to have had a string of rather dour Popes who do little except run the Catholic Church in a predictable and monotonous manner.

Whatever happened to the days when Popes would really enjoy the Papacy and use it as their personal fiefdom, holding parties, orgies and spending lavishly? Some were even warlords, rampaging all over Italy to create a Papal State. 

Invariably the Cardinals and Archbishops were the Spare for some noble family and used the Church as a means of amassing a fortune outside of the direct line of inheritance to the family Dukedom.

It used to be that a Pope obtained the position through massive acts of bribery, such as Alexander VI, or Rodrigo de Borgia, as he was also known. Nepotism used to be rife in the Renaissance, with various Popes making their illegitimate children Cardinals.

Anti-Pope John XXIII (aka Baldassare Cossa, one of three simultaneous Popes) was sponsored by the Medici family, having been a pirate before becoming a Cardinal. He was ordained as a priest on the 24th May 1410 and elected Pope on the 25th. A very colourful character. The Medici were rewarded by being appointed the Vatican's bankers, which was a very lucrative appointment indeed.