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This is a list of sexually active popes, list of priests who were sexually active before becoming pope and popes who were legally married, and who belonged to the Catholic Church. Some candidates were sexually active before their election as pope, and it has sometimes been claimed that other Popes were sexually active during their papacies. Since such relationships were sometimes undertaken outside of the bonds of matrimony, and because sometimes the Pope was under a vow of celibacy, the Catholic Church considers these to be grave abuses and causes of scandal.

There have been 265 popes. There have been thirty-nine popes since 1585. None of them is known to have been sexually active during his papacy.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active at some time during their lives. Periods in parentheses refer to the years of their papacies.

Background

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed by many that like Peter, most of the Apostles were married and had families. It is clear from the New Testament (Mk 1:29-31; Mt 8:14-15; Lk 4:38-39; 1 Tim 3:2, 12; Tit 1:6) that at least the Apostle Peter had been married, and that bishops, presbyters and deacons of the Primitive Church were often married as well. It is also clear from epigraphy, the testimony of the Fathers, synodal legislation, papal decretals and other sources that in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a normal feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained, but still was a discipline practiced in the early Church.

Since the Middle Ages, the Latin (Western) rite of the Catholic Church has accepted priests and bishops only after they have taken vows of celibacy. Mandatory celibacy was enforced because there was so much political and economic power attached to the papacy. The Church therefore adopted celibacy as a matter of discipline, not as a matter of doctrine.

In this context, a celibate is a person who is not married. The discipline of priestly celibacy is not considered one of the infallible and immutable dogmas. Celibacy is not synonymous with sexual abstinence, although it entails sexual abstinence because of the requirement of sexual abstinence outside of marriage.

The Council of Trent held that virginity and celibacy were higher states than marriage but, more recently, popes have affirmed the gift and graces of both married and celibate states. In his Theology of the Body reflections July 7, 1983, Pope John Paul II said "The gift received by persons who live in marriage is different from the one received by persons who live in virginity and choose continence for the sake of the kingdom of God. All the same, it is a true gift from God, one's own gift, intended for concrete persons. It is specific, that is, suited to their vocation in life. We can therefore say that the Apostle stresses also the action of grace in every person—in one who lives in marriage no less than in one that willingly chooses continence."

Allegedly and factually sexually active popes

Married before receiving Holy Orders

It was permissible by canon law, and still is, for priests to have once been married before receiving Holy Orders.

• Saint Peter (Simon Peter), whose mother-in-law is mentioned in the Bible as having been miraculously healed (Matthew 8:14–15, Luke 4:38, Mark 1:29–31). According to Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, III, vi, ed. Dindorf, II, 276), Peter was married and had children and his wife suffered martyrdom. In some legends dating from at least the 6th century, Peter's daughter is called Petronilla. Clement of Alexandria wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children; When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them."
• Pope Siricius (384–399), who, tradition suggests, left his wife and children to become Pope. The number of Siricius' children is unknown. He issued a decree in 385 that priests should stop cohabiting with their wives.
• Pope Anastasius I (399–401) was succeeded by his son Pope Innocent I.
• Pope Felix III (483–492) was a widower with two children when he was elected to succeed Pope Simplicius in 483. It is said that he was the great-great-grandfather of Pope Gregory I ("the Great").
• Pope St. Hormisdas (514–523) was married and widowed before he took Holy Orders. He was the father of Pope St. Silverius.
• Pope Silverius (536–537) may have been married to a woman called Antonia. However this remains debated by historians.
• Pope St. Agatho (678–681) was married for 20 years as a layman and had one daughter. In maturity he followed a call to God. With his wife’s blessing he became a monk at the monastery of Saint Hermes in Palermo. It is thought his wife entered a convent.
• Pope Adrian II (867–872) was married before he took Holy Orders, to a woman called Stephania, and had a daughter. His wife and daughter were still living when he was elected Pope and resided with him in the Lateran Palace. They were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of Anastasius Bibliothecarius, the Church's chief librarian.
• Pope John XVII (1003) was married before his election as Pope and had three sons, who all became priests.
• Pope Clement IV (1265–1268) was married, before taking holy orders, and had two daughters.
• Pope Honorius IV (1285–1287) was married before he took Holy Orders and had at least two sons. He entered the clergy after his wife died, the last Pope to have been married.

Sexually active before receiving Holy Orders

• Pope Pius II (1458–1464) had at least two illegitimate children (one in Strasbourg and another one in Scotland), born before he entered the clergy.
• Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492) had at least two illegitimate children, born before he entered the clergy. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, he "openly practised nepotism in favour of his children". Girolamo Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions. The title Padre della patria (Father of the Fatherland) was suggested for him, precisely with suggestions that he may have fathered as many as 16 illegitimate children.

• Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) had one illegitimate son before he took holy orders. Academic sources identify him with Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence.
• Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585) had an illegitimate son before he took holy orders.

Sexually active after receiving Holy Orders

• Pope Julius II (1503–1513) had at least one illegitimate daughter, Felice della Rovere (born in 1483, twenty years before his election). Some sources indicate that he had two additional illegitimate daughters, who died in their childhood. Furthermore, some (possibly libellous) reports of his time accused him of sodomy. According to the schismatic Council of Pisa in 1511, he was a "sodomite covered with shameful ulcers."
• Pope Paul III (1534–1549) held off ordination in order to continue his promiscuous lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by his mistress Silvia Ruffini. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. There is no evidence of sexual activity during his papacy. He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first Duke of Parma.
• Pope Pius IV (1559–1565) had three illegitimate children before his election to the papacy.

Sexually active during their pontificate

• Pope Sergius III (904–911) was supposedly the father of Pope John XI by Marozia, according to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis, as well as the Liber Pontificalis. However, this is disputed by another early source, the annalist Flodoard (c. 894-966), John XI was brother of Alberic II, the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband Alberic I. Hence John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I. Bertrand Fauvarque underlines that the contemporary sources backing up this parenthood are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of late Pope Formosus.
• Pope John X (914–928) had romantic affairs with both Theodora and her daughter Marozia, according to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis: "The first of the popes to be created by a woman and now destroyed by her daughter". (See also Saeculum obscurum)
• Pope John XII (955–963) (deposed by Conclave) was said to have turned the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano into a brothel and was accused of adultery, fornication, and incest (Source: Patrologia Latina). The monk chronicler Benedict of Soracte noted in his volume XXXVII that he "liked to have a collection of women". According to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis, "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." According to The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, John XII was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held". He was killed by a jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery with the man's wife. (See also Saeculum obscurum)
• Pope Benedict IX (1032– became pope in 1044, again in 1045 and finally 1047–1048). He was accused by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of "many vile adulteries." Pope Victor III referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes... and other unspeakable acts." His life prompted St. Peter Damian to write an extended treatise against sex in general, and homosexuality in particular. In his Liber Gomorrhianus, Damian accused Benedict IX of routine sodomy and bestiality and sponsoring orgies. In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to pursue marriage.
• Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503) had a notably long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei before his papacy, by whom he had his famous illegitimate children Cesare and Lucrezia. A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, who later became Pope Paul III. Alexander fathered a total of at least seven, and possibly as many as ten illegitimate children. (See also Banquet of Chestnuts)

Rumoured to have had male lovers during pontificate

• Pope Paul II (1464–1471) is popularly alleged to have died of a heart attack while in a sexual act with a page.
• Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) was alleged to have awarded gifts and benefices to court favourites in return for sexual favours. Giovanni Sclafenato was created a cardinal by Sixtus IV for "ingenuousness, loyalty,...and his other gifts of soul and body", according to the papal epitaph on his tomb. Such claims were recorded by Stefano Infessura, in his Diarium urbis Romae.
• Pope Leo X (1513–1521) was widely thought to have had many active lovers, and alleged to have had a particular (albeit one-sided) infatuation for Marcantonio Flaminio.
• Pope Julius III (1550–1555) was alleged to have had a long affair with Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte. The Venetian ambassador at that time reported that Innocenzo shared the pope's bedroom and bed. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, "naturally indolent, he devoted himself to pleasurable pursuits with occasional bouts of more serious activity".

See also

• Legends surrounding the papacy
• History of clerical celibacy in the Christian Church

Notes

1. Priestly celibacy retrieved June 9, 2008
2. "De Rossi, 'Roma sotterranea', I, 180". Newadvent.org. 1911-02-01. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
3. "St. Peter's - Altar of St Petronilla". Saintpetersbasilica.org. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
4. "Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
5. Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) Pope St. Hormisdas
6. K. Dopierała, Księga Papieży, Pallotinum, Poznań, 1996, p. 106
7. * "Pope John XVII" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
8. "Catholic Encyclopedia article on Clement IV". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
9. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
10. "Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope Pius II". Newadvent.org. 1911-06-01. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
11. "Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope Innocent VIII". Newadvent.org. 1910-10-01. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
12. Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911
13. <The Life of Girolamo Savonarola (1959) by Roberto Ridolfi
14. Roberto. "The Talking Statues of Rome". Romeartlover.it. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
15. S. Miranda: Cardinal Giulio de Medici - Pope Clement VII (note 1)
16. "Alessandro De Medici | FRONTLINE". PBS. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
17. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni". Fiu.edu. 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
18. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Giuliano della Rovere". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
19. Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History from Antiquity to World War II, Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, Routledge, 2001
20. He was ordained priest only in 1519, but in 1493 he was created Cardinal-deacon, and as such he belonged to the ecclesiestical state
21. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Alessandro Farnese". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
22. Giovanni Drei, I Farnese, Parma, 1950
23. "Farnese familytree". Onlipix.com. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
24. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Giovanni Angelo de' Medici". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
25. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20080413210922/http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf Lindsay Brook, Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages
26. Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)
27. Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations. Paris:Tallandier. ISBN 2-02-059006-9, p. 163.
28. "Lindsay Brook, "Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages"" (PDF). Web.archive.org. 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
29. Martin, Malachi (1981). Decline and Fall of the Roman Church. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-22944-3. p. 105
30. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, Oxford University Press, 1986
31. Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy, Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211-215.
32. Hans Kung, The Catholic Church: A Short History (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79
33. The Popes' Rights & Wrongs, published by Truber & Co., 1860
34. Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, The Love Affairs of the Vatican, 1912
35. "Catholic Encyclopedia article on Benedict IX". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
36. “Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc.” Dümmler, Ernst Ludwig (1891). "Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite" (Document) (Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum ed.). Hannover: Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters. p. 584. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help)
37. The Book of Saints, by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A.C. Black, 1989. ISBN 978-0-7136-5300-7
38. "Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre." Victor III, Pope (1934). "Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite" (Document) (Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis ed.). Hannover: Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters. p. 141. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help)
39. Liber Gomorrhianus, ISBN 88-7694-517-2
40. Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, The Love Affairs of the Vatican, 1912, pp. 81-82.
41. "''The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church'': Rodrigo Borja". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
42. Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.
43. Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589
44. Aldrich, Robert; and Wotherspoon, Garry (2002). Who's who in gay and lesbian history. p. 481. Retrieved 2009-06-18.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
45. diary records of Stefano Infessura (1440-1500). Books.google.com. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
46. C. Falconi, Leone X, Milan, 1987
47. Burkle-Young, Francis A., and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer. The Life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte: A Scandal in Scarlet, Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1997

References

• The Bad Popes, Chamberlin, E.R., Sutton History Classics, 1969 / Dorset; New Ed edition 2003.
• The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See, Matthew Bunson, Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.
• The Papacy, Bernhard Schimmelpfennig, Columbia University Press, New York, 1984.
• Lives of the Popes, Richard P. McBrien, Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.
• Papal Genealogy, George L. Williams, McFarland& Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.
• Sex Lives of the Popes, Nigel Cawthorne, Prion, London, 1996.
• Popes and Anti-Popes, John Wilcock, Xlibris Corporation, 2005.
• La véritable histoire des papes, Jean Mathieu-Rosay, Grancher, Paris, 1991

• Lists of Roman Catholic popes
• Women and the papacy
• Sexuality in Christianity
• Papal family members