Popes

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drawn up but, in the end, no great army ever assembled or departed
from Europe's shores. Instead, in a twist of irony, the Vatican wound up hosting
an infidel in the form of Prince Djem, the sultan's brother. This arrangement
confused the general public and the papal status fell in the eyes of the public.
Papal status was further weakened by Innocent's successor Alexander VI.
Alexander thrived on simony. He acquired the office of pope by buying out his
chief rivals and openly boasted about this feat. Alexander went on to sell a
total of 43 cardinalships, including to his own family. After the murder of his
eldest son, Alexander was inspired in a proposed Bull to try to reform the
church by reducing the incomes of the cardinals as well as mend other wicked
ways; however, provisions caused Alexander to return to normal and he never
issued the Bull. Perhaps if the Church had reformed during Alexander's reign,
Leo X would never have taken office. Leo is most noted for writing to ...

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see of Lisbon to an eight year old child and the see of
Milan to an eleven year old boy, both sons of princes. During his 13 years of
rule he "so thoroughly secularized the College that his successors followed his
example as if it were the rule"(74). The College of Cardinals became a bastion
for power hungry individuals. Most cardinals were of high class families who
bought the rank. Conditions in the College declined during Innocent VIII's rule.
As secularization advanced appointments were given more frequently to laymen,
sons and brothers of princes or designated agents of secular kings and monarchs
of which none had any sort of ecclesiastical training. Perhaps the ...

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