Dark Mysteries of The Vatican. H. Paul Jeffers

of the book Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes by Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.R. Sipe, and Patrick J. Wall, presented their account of what they called the Catholic Church’s 2000-year paper trail of sexual abuse. They wrote that the letter was “significant” because it reflected the Church’s “insistence on maintaining the highest degree of secrecy.”

      Forty-six years after Pope John XXIII signed De Modo Provedendi di Causis Crimine Soliciciones and pledged the Church to secrecy about sex abuse of youths by the clergy, Pope Benedict XVI in his tour of the United States and in Australia apologized privately to individuals who were abused by priests and frequently spoke publicly on the subject. To a World Youth Day audience in Sydney, Australia, he declared, “These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. They have caused great pain and have damaged the Church’s witness. I ask all of you to support and assist your bishops, and to work together with them in combating this evil. Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people.”

      CHAPTER 5

      Murder in Holy Orders

      The archives of the Vatican contain evidence that being pope has been one of history’s most dangerous jobs. Through the centuries many have been murdered or assassinated. The first was Pope John VIII. In 882, he was poisoned and then clubbed to death by scheming members of the papal court. According to Matthew Brunson’s The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See most murders of pontiffs occurred in the Middle Ages, especially in a period described by Cardinal Cesare Baronius in Annales ecclesiastici as “the Iron Age of the Papacy,” from 867 to 964, when powerful families had popes elected, deposed, and murdered to advance political ambitions, or as vengeance. Of the twenty-six popes during this era, sixteen died by violence.

      The most tantalizing of the murders was that of John XII (955–964). “Just 18 years old when he was elected pontiff, John was a notorious womanizer and the papal palace came to be described as a brothel during his reign. He died of injuries after he was caught in bed by the husband of one of his mistresses. Some legends say that he died of a stroke while in the act of love.”

      Theories and claims of murderous cabals blossomed following the death of Pope Clement XIV in 1771. He “was reportedly so racked with guilt over disbanding the Jesuits that he spent his last years terrified of being poisoned.” Following his death, there were so many stories about his possible murder that a postmortem was conducted. It found nothing to implicate the Jesuits.

      The following is a list of murdered pontiffs and the manner in which they are thought to have been removed from The Pope Encyclopedia:

      John VIII (872–882): Poisoned and clubbed to death

      Adrian III, St. (884–885): Rumored poisoned

      Stephen VI (896–897): Strangled

      Leo V (903): Murdered

      John X (914–928): Suffocated under a pillow

      Stephen VII (VIII) (928–931): Possibly murdered

      Stephen VIII (IX) (939–942): Mutilated and died from injuries

      John XII (955–964): [Killed while caught in the act with a mistress by the woman’s outraged husband] or suffered a stroke while with a mistress or murdered by an outraged husband

      Benedict VI (973–974): Strangled by a priest

      John XIV (983–984): Starved to death or poisoned

      Gregory V (996–999): Rumored to have been poisoned

      Sergius IV (1009–1012): Possibly murdered

      Clement II (1046–1047): Rumored poisoned

      Damasus II (1048): Rumored murdered

      Boniface VIII (1294–1303): Died from abuse while a French captive

      The most bizarre story of a pope is that of Stephen VII. In “896, [he] set in motion the trial of his rival, who had been dead for 9 months.” Author Mark Owen noted in an article on the notorious pontiffs that the body of Pope Formosus was dragged from its tomb and placed on a throne. Wrapped in a hair shirt, the corpse was provided with legal counsel, who remained silent while Pope Stephen raved and screamed.

      “The crime of Formosus,” Owen recorded, “was that he had crowned emperor one of the numerous illegitimate heirs of Charlemagne after first having performed the same office for a candidate favored by Stephen.

      “After Stephen’s rant, the corpse was stripped of its clothes and its fingers were chopped off. It was then dragged through the palace and hurled from a balcony to a howling mob below, who threw it into the Tiber River. The body was rescued by people sympathetic to Formosus and given a quiet burial. Stephen was strangled a few years later.

      “In 964 Pope Benedict V raped a young girl and absconded to Constantinople with the papal treasury, only to reappear when the money ran out.” A church historian called Benedict “the most iniquitous of all the monsters of ungodliness.” He was also “slain by a jealous husband. His corpse, bearing a hundred dagger wounds, was dragged through the streets before being tossed into a cesspit….

      “In October 1032, the papal miter was purchased for eleven-year-old Benedict IX. Upon reaching his 14th year, a chronicler wrote that Benedict had surpassed in wantonness and profligacy all who had preceded him.”