36. Nonetheless, the first Borgia Pope was guilty of terrible nepotism
Despite his age and poor health, Pope Callixtus III showed remarkable energy during his pontificate. He launched a crusade to recapture Constantinople, becoming very unpopular because of its great financial cost to Catholic Europe. He took the job very seriously, and also absolved Joan of Arc of witchcraft. However, he also named two thoroughly unsuitable nephews as Cardinals and installed another as Prefect of Rome. This nepotism aroused such hatred that he had to garrison the Papal State with Catalan soldiers. When he died, riots broke out against the Spaniards he so publically indulged.
