12. Pope John XII Turned His Palace Into a Brothel
Pope John XII (937 – 964) was history’s youngest Holy Father, having gotten elevated to the Holy See in 955, at age 18. Unsurprisingly, making a teenager pope ended badly. His years as Holy Father were as farcical and venal as one could expect from a person thrust into a position of power and influence for which he was clearly unprepared and unqualified. He showed little interest in his spiritual duties and papal obligations, and dove headfirst into a life of depravity. Devoting himself to hunting, gambling, wine, and women, he was given to invoking pagan gods while playing dice. He was also a violent psychopath, who reportedly castrated a deacon before killing him, and when his own confessor angered him, he blinded, then killed him.
As to licentiousness, contemporaries described him as having turned the Lateran Palace into a brothel. He got a particular kick out of defiling holy sites by having sex in them. He had sex with women and men in the papal palace, and if visitors refused his advances, he raped them. After nine years on the papal throne, he died while having sex. There are two accounts of John XII’s death. One has him dying after suffering a massive stroke mid coitus, while another involves sex with a married woman, that ended with the enraged cuckolded husband bursting in on the couple, and killing the Holy Father.
