Greedy Pope
by Newsweek came up with a list of what it calls the greediest people of all times in the world. Included in the list are – of course – people of old and contemporary times, as well as a Filipina and a pope.
Newsweek, for thier most recent issue, drew a list of eleven people that accordingly were the greediest. These eleven men and women are Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus, industrialist William H. Vanderbilt, American politician William “Boss” Tweed, Empress Dowager Cixi of China, swindler Charles Ponzi, Wall Street arbitraguer Ivan Boesky, Genghis Khan, former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski, AIG’s Bernard Madoff, Imelda Marcos of the Philippines, and Pope Sixtus IV.
My ignorance about who the popes of the Catholic Church are has been uncovered by this surprised inclusion of Sixtus IV in the list. The question that jumps immediately out of my mind was: who was this fellow? And what had he done that he’s included in the list?
He was born Francesco della Rovere, and was pope from 1471 to 1484. Anyone who has seen the magnificent Sistine Chapel, where the votation for the election of the pontiff takes place, would readily remember that it was Sixtus IV who founded it by assembling the team of artists that eventually introduced early renaissance to Rome.
He was a member and even became Minister General of the Franciscan Order; he was made a cardinal by his predecessor.
During his pontificate, he was an ardent crusader against the Ottoman Turks in the Smyrna. He initiated efforts to reconcile with the Greek Church. And he was responsible for the turning the Vatican into a Principality.
However, during his reign as pope, too, he turned to temporal issues and dynastic considerations. For one, he sustained the Vatican’s dispute against Louis XI of France (1461-1483), who was arguing that papal decrees needed to have corresponding royal assent in order to be promulgated in France.
Sixtus IV, too, was known for tolerating nepotism in the Vatican. In fact, his della Rovere and Riario nephews joined him in the fresco as cardinals. A certain Pietro Riario, Sixtus’ nephew, became one of the richest men in Rome after he was entrusted of Sixtus’ foreign policy.
He was a pope, too, that was known forhis territorial aggrandizement of the papal states. In fact, he even waged a war against Florence because the pope wanted to have the Florence for his another nephew.
Sixtus IV consented to the Spanish Inquisition and issued a bull in 1478 establishing an Inquisitor in Seville. It was made under political and military pressure from Ferdinand of Aragon.
The poor fellow has gone down to the annals of history as one of the several popes suspected of homosexuality. The basis of this is said to be the diary records of Stefano Infessura (1440-1500), who documented episodes as well as unsubstantiated rumors on Sixtus’ homosexual escapades. In particular, it was alleged that Sixtus was awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favors.
While there are actually many of them in the history of the Catholic Church, I wonder why Sixtus IV was singled out.
Anyway, this name-and-shame style is intriguing.
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Post CommentR J Evans
On April 5, 2009 at 12:08 pm
It is a little odd…! I clicked on this article to see which one, not because I know: the historical ones all seem much of a muchness when it comes to this particular deadly sin!
vertjaars
On April 5, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Fascinating, but as Evans said, odd.
Very grabbing title though.
CutestPrincess
On April 8, 2009 at 10:52 am
as a Filipina, im so sad that Imelda Marcos belongs to these greedy people but that’s true, she’s a first lady of our country way back 1965 to 1986, the former First Lady chafed at the label that she and her husband, accused of numerous plunder cases and allegedly hiding their family’s ill-gotten wealth in various foreign bank accounts, were thieves.
The Marcos couple was deposed after the country staged a People Power revolt in 1986, prompting the military and the United States to withdraw support from Ferdinand Marcos. This effectively ended years of martial law in the country, which was underscored by corruption, countless political killings, and the restriction of civil liberties.
The former first lady was listed by the magazine to be among the 11 greediest individuals worldwide.
The wit and wisdom of imelda:
“My economic theory is that money was made round to go round. Money was made to encircle man so that he would blossom with many flowers. The whole trouble is, the center is money. All the heads of people thinking about money. All the hands of people reaching out for money. All their poor little bodies working for money. They are running in all directions for money.”
It’s the rich you can terrorize. The poor have nothing to lose.”
teachersmith
On April 9, 2009 at 12:37 pm
What has it benefitted you to point out the failings of a previous Pope? Just to add some balance here is an extract from NewAdvent on this particular Pope:
He took measures to suppress abuses in the Inquisition, vigorously opposed the Waldenses, and annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance. He was a patron of arts and letters, building the famous Sistine Chapel, the Sistine Bridge across the Tiber, and becoming the second founder of the Vatican Library. Under him Rome once more became habitable, and he did much to improve the sanitary conditions of the city. He brought down water from the Quirinal to the Fountain of Trevi, and began a transformation of the city which death alone hindered him from completing. In his private life Sixtus IV was blameless. The gross accusations brought against him by his enemy Infessura have no foundation; his worst vice was nepotism, and his greatest misfortune was that he was destined to be placed at the head of the States of the Church at a time when Italy was emerging from the era of the republics, and territorial princes like the pope were forced to do battle with the great despots.
Even Popes are human you know…
Moron Savant
On April 9, 2009 at 6:41 pm
…and the Church is a human institution, too.
Deep Blue
On June 9, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Interesting article kabayan.
withheld
On July 17, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Pope Sixtus IV
Born near Abisola, 21 July, 1414; died 12 Aug., 1484. His parents were poor, and while still a child he was destined for the Franciscan order. Later he studied philosophy and theology with great success at the University of Pavia, and lectured at Padua, Bologna, Pavia, Siena, and Florence, having amongst other eminent disciples the famous Cardinal Bessarion. After filling the post of procurator of his order in Rome and Provincial of Liguria, he was in 1467 created Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli by Paul II. Whatever leisure he now had was devoted to theology, and in 1470 he published a treatise on the Precious blood and a work on the Immaculate Conception, in which latter he endeavoured to prove that Aquinas and Scotus, though differing in words, were really of one mind upon the question. The conclave which assembled on the death of Paul II elected him {ln:Pope} , and he ascended the chair of St. Peter as Sixtus IV.
His first thought was the prosecution of the war against the Turks, and legates were appointed for France, Spain, Germany, Hungary, and Poland, with the hope of enkindling enthusiasm in these countries. The crusade, however, achieved little beyond the bringing back to Rome of twenty-five Turkish prisoners, who were paraded in triumph through the streets of the city. Sixtus continued the policy of his predecessor Paul II with regard to France, and denounced Louis XI for insisting on the royal consent being given before papal decrees could be published in his kingdom. He also made an effort like his predecessor for the reunion of the Russian Church with Rome, but his negotiations were without result. He now turned his attention almost exclusively to Italian politics, and fell more and more under his dominating passion of nepotism, heaping riches and favours on his unworthy relations. In 1478 took place the famous conspiracy of the Pazzi, planned by the {ln:Pope} ’s nephew ? Cardinal Rafael Riario ? to overthrow the Medici and bring Florence under the Riarii. The {ln:Pope} was cognizant of the plot, though probably not of the intention to assassinate, and even had Florence under interdict because it rose in fury against the conspirators and brutal murderers of Giuliano de’ Medici. He now entered upon a two years’ war with Florence, and encouraged the Venetians to attack Ferrara, which he wished to obtain for his nephew Girolamo Riario. Ercole d’Este, attacked by Venice, found allies in almost every Italian state, and Ludovico Sforza, upon whom the {ln:Pope} relied for support, did nothing to help him. The allied princes forced Sixtus to make peace, and the chagrin which this caused him is said to have hastened his death.
Henceforth, until the Reformation, the secular interests of the papacy were of paramount importance. The attitude of Sixtus towards the conspiracy of the Pazzi, his wars and treachery, his promotion to the highest offices in the Church of such men as Pietro and Girolamo are blots upon his career. Nevertheless, there is a praiseworthy side to his pontificate. He took measures to suppress abuses in the Inquisition, vigorously opposed the Waldenses, and annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance. He was a patron of arts and letters, building the famous Sistine Chapel, the Sistine Bridge across the Tiber, and becoming the second founder of the Vatican Library. Under him Rome once more became habitable, and he did much to improve the sanitary conditions of the city. He brought down water from the Quirinal to the Fountain of Trevi, and began a transformation of the city which death alone hindered him from completing. In his private life Sixtus IV was blameless. The gross accusations brought against him by his enemy Infessura have no foundation; his worst vice was nepotism, and his greatest misfortune was that he was destined to be placed at the head of the States of the Church at a time when Italy was emerging from the era of the republics, and territorial princes like the {ln:Pope} were forced to do battle with the great despots.
curios?george
On December 9, 2010 at 10:34 am
This pope should be ashamed of himself. To do this is an act against god