THE CHURCH CHAPTER 11:

THE SCANDAL OF THE THREE POPES

 In 1303, Pope Boniface VIII who had bravely defended the independence of the church from
political intrusion, died of a heart attack after two partisans at the service of the king of
France dared to slap him in Anagni. Boniface VIII was the one who started the tradition of
celebrating the jubilee year in 1300
 In 1304, Clement V transferred his residence to Avignon, France. Placing him under the
protection of the French King. He was forced to take this step for safety reasons, since Rome
and Italy were tormented by delinquency, ruthless soldiers of fortunes and continuous
warfare.
 The so-called Exile of Avignon (1308-1378) was devastating for the church: while cardinals
and other members of the papal court displayed a scandalous amount of luxury, the people
elsewhere in Europe were starving. Many parishes and diocese were deteriorating.
 Further tragedy came upon the church in 1348, when the epidemic of the black plague
exterminated one third of the European population.
 It was Saint Catherine of Siena who implored the pope to return to Rome, which was lying in
ruins. In 1377, Pope Gregory XI had the courage to break off the despotic patronage of the
French king then return gloriously to Rome.
 The scandal of the Three Popes (1378-1417) happened after the death of Pope Gregory XI in
1378, the cardinals elected Urban VI. But a few months later, offended by the pope’s
authoritarian personality, they accused him of insanity and of irregularity in election, and
appointed an antipope, Clement VII who resided in Avignon.
 The results of this double papacy were disastrous, because in every parish, diocese, and
religious order were split into two camps, and the papacy lost much of its dignity. Each pope
anathematized his rival’s followers, so that the whole church found itself excommunicated.
 To solve the schism, a group of cardinals gathered again in Pisa, Italy to depose the two
existing popes and elect a new one, Alexander V (1408). However the two other popes
refused to resign, and the church found herself with three concurrent popes. The so-called The
Western Schism was finally brought to an end by the Council of Constance in 1417, which
deposed the three popes and unanimously elected Martin V.
 Alexander VI Borgia was one of the worst popes in history. He amassed enormous wealth and
was constantly in political intrigues. Once elected pope in 1492, amid allegations of massive
simony. He persisted in a corrupt, worldly, and scandalous life. He had four children with a
roman noblewoman; made his son Cesare Borgia a cardinal; and granted marriage annulment
to his daughter Lucrezia.
 The last supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Dominican refectory in Milan, from
1495 to 1498. “Of the thirteen people at the supper I cannot finish two heads: that of Christ
because I cannot imagine the beauty of His grace; and that of Judas, because I am puzzled by
the idea of a man who could betray his God man master.”
 The Black Death, the terrible disease that was brought to Europe in 1347 by infected rats,
aboard a ship travelling from the Black sea to Sicily. As many as 25 million people died, as a
sense of panic and despair pervaded Europe.