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will go" (Chronicles of the Crusades, G. de Villehardouin, p. "Ten days after the death of Nicholas IV (1292), the twelve 148). The Romans were so offended with Pope Gregory's malice cardinals assembled in Rome but two years and three months that he was expelled from the city three times in seven years, and were to pass before they gave the Church a pope." his death, greeted by wild rejoicing, let loose throughout (The Popes: A Concise Biographical History, op. cit., p. 19) Christendom a flood of disdainful epithets and stories about him. In 1243, Sinisbaldo Fieschi (c. 1207-1254), a native of Genoa, The history of these peculiar elections (now called conclaves) is assumed the papal chair and the slaughters continued unabated. sodden with corruption and is one of the most amazing volumes He called himself Innocent IV (1243-54) and "he surpassed all his in historical religious literature yet to be fully revealed. However, predecessors in the ferocity and unscrupulousness of his attacks" in 1294, and for some obscure reason, the weary cardinals agreed (The Chronicle of Richard of San Germano, xii, p. 507). After the to make Pietro di Morrone (1215-1296) the new pope, called completion of the annihilation of the Cathars, he turned the Celestine V. Before and during the time of his pontificate, he military attention of ma eee ee lived a hermit's life in a the Church onto the |# pM mi? af ase perecann tage hae apts inquire qphelil. counter fie maa cave in the wild = _ jt i a fe = . : family of the Holy ret jeri wan eet ae en en fiabtfigg quem anmart wb am mountains of Abruzzi, ‘4 notofee a Longue opie nae cee, fh mf anmiinare eh uit Roman Emperor, bo age en qe Sm mncrepare- wl south of Rome, a fact Frederick I a Pepelianes Mitehibimeiiriidii sd ee ante dabbymap ups. that has proved (1194-1250). Frederick was fondly known as "the Wonder of the World" and he was the last great ruler of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His family opposed the Catholic army, and Frederick and later his son Conrad spent their lives locked in fierce battles with papal difficult for the modern-day Church to dismiss. With Celestine, we see another of the Church's confessions of the ignorance and uncritical simplicity of the papal office, extending over fifteen hundred years of Christian history. The cardinals were disquieted when the humble monk ordered troops. them to come to his Frederick pope Innocent Ill wrote a revealing work called Registro, in which he deals CVe; but they went and complained that the extensively with the power of the Church to punish sins and sinners. Within it, he there they consecrated pope, whom he included this vivid illustration which shows a wolf in friar's clothing with a him as pope. ; called "a dragon of a pronged weapon demanding alms from a cloven-footed creature with a curled _!n one of our main poisonous race", tail. This doe-eyed composite animal satirically represents believers in Jesus teference sources, The aspired to be the Christ whom the general populace called "pigs with crosses”. Popes: A Concise feudal monarch of (From Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr; © Archivio Segreto, Vatican) Biographical History, the whole of , Celestine is described Europe, and Frederick fought against the attempted papal as a man of "limited learning and completely lacking in takeover of his vast estates. experience of the world" (p. 238). Here is Church confirmation of its ongoing butchery, cited from However, in the pope's absence, the powerful machinery of the the Catholic Encyclopedia: Church Militant flourished under the management of the warrior- "Pope Alexander IV (1254-61) ... was easily led astray by the cardinal of Ostia, Latino Malabranca, a man with extensive whisperings of flatterers, and inclined to listen to the wicked military experience (Diderot's Encyclopédie). suggestions of avaricious persons ... he continued Innocent IV's King Charles I of Naples, wanting papal favours, sent a policy of a war of extermination against the progeny of Frederick deputation to the cave to escort the pope to Naples to meet him. II ... and the people rose against the Holy See ... the unity of Celestine arrived and created a daily public spectacle of Christendom was a thing of the past." conceding extraordinary and unlimited privileges to Charles. The (Catholic Encyclopedia, i, pp. 287-288) cardinals, now realising that the pope was "of disastrous simplicity", were moved to demand his resignation (The Papacy, As for "unity", it is a relative term, for within Christianity it George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd, London, 1964, p. 87). never existed, nor does it exist to this day. The people of the city Chief among those who pressed him to abdicate was Benedetto of Rome supported the cause of Frederick's family and turned out — Gaetani (or Caetani) (1234-1303), a rich and robust prelate of in arms, and once more a pope hastily retreated to the provinces. great ambition. It was widely believed that Gaetani had a The story of the next four popes is almost entirely the record of speaking tube put through the walls of the pope's room, and a the struggle with Frederick's family—a struggle which at some "voice from heaven" bade him resign. Celestine V was convinced stages was so unjust, so patently inspired by sheer hatred and that "God had spoken to him" and he abdicated. greed, that it disgusted Christendom and disgusts every non- Then, in February 1296, Gaetani purchased the papacy from the Catholic historian today. cardinals for 7,000 gold florins and became Pope Boniface VIII Then, recorded in Church documents, is one of the strangest (1294-1303). Celestine was immediately imprisoned in a grim pontificates in papal history: castle and was so brutally treated that he soon died. "Ten days after the death of Nicholas IV (1292), the twelve cardinals assembled in Rome but two years and three months were to pass before they gave the Church a pope." (The Popes: A Concise Biographical History, op. cit., p. 19) As for "unity", it is a relative term, for within Christianity it never existed, nor does it exist to this day. The people of the city of Rome supported the cause of Frederick's family and turned out in arms, and once more a pope hastily retreated to the provinces. The story of the next four popes is almost entirely the record of the struggle with Frederick's family—a struggle which at some stages was so unjust, so patently inspired by sheer hatred and greed, that it disgusted Christendom and disgusts every non- Catholic historian today. Then, recorded in Church documents, is one of the strangest pontificates in papal history: 42 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazi ne.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2007