Consider the books on the subject, one of which has chapter and verse on the subject:
The papacy has long been linked to spiritual guidance and moral leadership for millions of Catholics around the world.
Yet history records periods when the men who occupied the papal throne acted in ways that shocked contemporaries and stained the Church’s reputation.
Some popes were accused of greed, corruption, brutality, or scandalous personal behaviour, and accounts from chroniclers, official records, and later historians reveal how these figures caused divisions within the Church and eroded its moral authority.
Among them, seven stand out for their notorious conduct…
Uh-oh.
1. Pope Stephen VI
Pope Stephen VI reigned from May 896 to August 897, during a time of extreme political instability in Rome.
His papacy is remembered for the shocking Cadaver Synod, a trial held against the corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus.
Stephen ordered Formosus’s body to be exhumed, dressed in papal vestments, and propped on a throne for judgment, accusing the dead pope of perjury and of illegally assuming the papacy.
After a mock trial, the corpse was found guilty, stripped of its vestments, and maimed, with three fingers cut off.
The body was later thrown into the River Tiber.
Etc. . . .
Another:
2. Pope Benedict IX
Pope Benedict IX, who reigned on three separate occasions between 1032 and 1048, is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt pontiffs in history.
He first became pope as a teenager, placed on the throne through the influence of his powerful family, the Tusculani.
Chroniclers described him as having a scandalous private life that combined immoral behaviour with violent excesses and acts of debauchery, although many of these accounts came from hostile sources.
Etc. . . .
3. Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI, born Rodrigo Borgia, reigned from 1492 to 1503 and has come to represent the worst of the corruption of the Renaissance papacy.
As a member of the powerful Borgia family, he openly advanced the interests of his relatives by relying on nepotism, which granted them high positions in the Church and Italian politics.
Chroniclers hostile to Alexander described scandalous parties held in the Vatican, including the so-called Banquet of Chestnuts in 1501: although modern historians debate whether some vivid accounts of this event may have been exaggerated or made up.
Alexander fathered several illegitimate children, including Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, whose exploits became legendary.
He used papal power to expand his family’s political control in Italy and sanctioned military campaigns led by Cesare to seize territories.
Many contemporaries viewed Alexander as more of a secular prince than a spiritual leader.
His actions contributed to widespread calls for Church reform and increased criticism that would soon fuel the Protestant Reformation.
Etc. . . .
Enough . . .
Point being, if you think things are bad these days or if you’ve heard they are, consider this: Being a pope has never meant you are perfect, and Holy Mother Church has survived and will do so. It’s part of our Catholic belief, is it not?
Blithe Spirit 