13. Pope Benedict IX was a teenage hell raiser whose father pulled some strings to make him the head of the Catholic Church
There have been plenty of bad Popes over the centuries. But few were as un-Christian as Benedict IX. According to some accounts, he might have been as young as 14 when he assumed the Papacy, though some Church historians maintain he was 20. Either way, he was far too young, immature and devious to sit on the throne of Saint Peter. However, despite being one of the youngest popes in history, he certainly made his mark on the institution – not least because he is the only man to have ever sold the office!
Born Theophylactus of Tusculum in Rome in around 1010, Benedict was named as the head of the Catholic Church following the death of Pope John XIX, who happened to be his uncle. Benedict’s own father bribed enough Cardinals to ensure that his son got the job, and his first term began in the autumn of 1032. From the very beginning, he was inept, greedy and corrupt. He granted favors to his friends and allies and pocketed huge sums of money for himself. Unsurprisingly, the people of Rome were not too happy and, four years after taking office, he was kicked out in the face of widespread public opposition.
But that wasn’t the end of Pope Benedict IX. With the help of some well-placed allies, he returned for a second Papacy in September 1045, and then a third three years later. While he may no longer have been a teen, he was certainly no more mature. According to his successor Pope Victor III, he lived a “life as a pope so vile, so foul, so execrable that I shudder to think of it.” In the end, he gave up his Church ambitions, selling the throne of St Peter off to the highest bidder, the man who would become Gregory VI.
