John XII meets the Emperor
The following article concerns the controversial figure of John XII , one of the most dissolute popes in the history of the Church.
It was sent to Pills of History by Mauro Napoliello , former author of this article:https://www.pilloledistoria.it/13029/medioevo/vivere-nellalto-medioevo-manuale-di-sopravvigliamento.
In thanking him for his contribution, I invite you readers to immediately take a look at the post: the character is very interesting and out of the ordinary!
Happy reading.
Portrait of Pope John XII
We have always been used to thinking that the world of the Church is wrapped in a veil of goodness and mercy.
Priests, cardinal bishops and popes are the spokespersons of the concepts of humanity and peace on earth to men of good will.
Indeed, nowadays this is roughly how it works, but in the past ecclesiastical affairs were a bit more complicated.
First of the unity of Italy, the Church owned several territories of the central peninsula and her head, that is the Pope, has not always been an example of goodness and mercy.
John XII:a dissolute adolescent on the throne of Peter
John XII
Yes, there was a time when the Pope was the exact opposite of what we know today.
He was young, sexually active, even too active and pagan:the supreme pontiff in question was Pope John XII, the 130th anniversary of the Catholic Church.
We are in a very remote time, in the 10th century AD
In Rome at that time, the Prince Alberico he had assumed power in the city and aimed to reunite spiritual and military power in a single figure.
With the approval of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto of Saxony , Alberico ensured that on the death of the then Pope Agapito II, Octavian's son took over the office.
Thus it was that in 955 AD, the people of Rome witnessed the election of Pope John XII , the man who united spiritual power with temporal power.
Despite not having the age to do so, Octavian became pope at sixteen, a teenager at the head of the papacy who
distinguished himself for vices, carnal passions and ambitions for power:not really a sanctity!
Probably due to his noble descent and the circles he frequented, the young Octavian had not had a good education, that worthy of a pope and once he entered the Lateran Palace he combined some cooked and raw.
he He had an inordinate passion for women and young people , his rooms were teeming with prostitutes, a real harem who foraged with gifts and money.
Passionate about hunting, to the flock of the people he preferred the game of the woods.
In order not to miss anything, he loved to drink and get drunk , toasting often and willingly in honor of the ancient pagan gods, all completed by acts of personal violence and war actions against neighboring duchies.
The Church in disarray and the intervention of the Emperor
Given the situation, the emperor decided that it was better to spend some time in Rome with the young pontiff, in order to prevent the situation from worsening further.
So in 962 A.D. Ottone crossed the Alps with his army to spend the Christmas holidays in Rome.
In his presence, Octavian calmed down, swore fidelity and the situation at least for the moment returned ecclesiastically calm.
After the holidays, with the emperor's departure to Germany, everything returned exactly as before.
Prostitutes were called from brothels, even women walking around the city alone, were kidnapped by the Pope's
men.
The Vatican covered itself in debt, the roofs of the buildings collapsed and the sewers overflowed into the streets.
As if that were not enough, Giovanni began to plot behind Ottone.
The latter, having heard the news, moved again towards St. Peter's with the intention of ousting John.
The young pope, like a boy fearful of the incoming punishment, got into a carriage with two lovers and fled to a castle outside the city.
The Romans, exasperated, opened the doors to Otto and welcomed him as a liberator.
A synod was established to try Octavian who in the meantime sent a letter in which he excommunicated the emperor and the members of the synod and launched an anathema against the newly elected Pope Leo VIII.
The bizarre and somewhat comic fact begins now.
The return of John XII, revenge and death
The Pope is thrown out of the window by a jealous husband
The Romans, angry at having been excluded from the choice of the new pontiff, threw themselves against the imperial soldiers and almost left us the Ottone pens.
After a few weeks, the emperor went to war and it was then that taking advantage of the discontent of the people towards the new pontiff, John returned to Rome, with the consequent escape of Leo VIII.
The thing that makes you smile is that the Romans welcomed him with open arms:they probably found themselves in his vices.
At that point began the revenge of John: he tried all those who had slandered him during the synod and had them horribly maimed.
We are in 964 A.D. and a few months after his return, Pope John XII died, exactly on May 14, perhaps killed by the husband of some of his lover.
Sources say was thrown out the window.
At the age of twenty-seven he left the earthly world to end up no one knows where, certainly not in the circle of saints.
After all, this guy had turned the Church into the worst bar in Caracas ( Article written and sent by Mauro Napoliello ) ( Photo from :festivaldelmedioevo.it, ilmessaggero.it, fattiperlastoria.it and festivaldelmedioevo.it).