Top 10 Bizarre Deaths of Roman Catholic Popes by Mike Broemmel

According to the tradition of Apostolic Succession in the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope traces his authority back to the Apostle Peter. Some Pope’s served with distinction while others reigned amidst scandal and degradation. Some of the successors to the Apostle Peter died peacefully while others experienced brutal and bizarre deaths. This list examines 10 of the most bizarre deaths of Roman Catholic Popes throughout the history of the Church.

10 Peter

According to the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the Apostle Peter was the first “Pope.” He did not bear the moniker of Pope but is recognized as the first Vicar of Christ on Earth after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Peter’s death was both untimely and bizarre.
Like Jesus, Peter met his death through crucifixion. He met his end during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero of Rome burned while he fiddled fame.

According to persistent traditions, Peter is said to have asked to be crucified upside down. He made the request of the Romans because he did not believe he was worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus Christ.

9 Pope John XII

Pope John XII sat on the Throne of St. Peter from 955 to 964. Pope John XII became the leader of the Church at the ripe old age of 18. He died when he was but 27 years old.
Debauchery was the order of the day in the Lateran Palace during the reign of the young Pontiff. In fact, some historians maintain that many Romans of the day felt John XII turned the Papal residence into nothing less than a brothel.

Evidence suggests that Pope John XII died while having sex with a married woman. His death has been attributed to a stroke. (Some have contended he was murdered in the act by a jealous husband.)

Pope Clement I

Pope Clement I is said to have been a direct disciple of the Apostle Peter. Clement I was sent into exile to Crimea by his Roman overlords. The exile of the fourth leader of the Church evidently did not stop his passion for winning over converts.

Traditions within the Church maintain that Clement I won ever thousands of converts while in exile. He is said to have been responsible for establishing 75 churches in Crimea during his exile.

The evangelism, the building of churches, did not sit well with the Roman powers-that-be. The decision was made to execute the Pope, but not in a conventional manner. Clement the I was thrown into the Black Sea with an anchor wrapped around his neck.

7 Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII reigned for a decade, from 872 to 882. Papal historians tend to consider Pope John VIII one of the better popes of the 9^th century. However, during his lifetime, he was not without his critics and opponents, including within his own family.

One of the myths surrounding the Papacy is that there once was a female on Peter’s throne. A common corollary of this myth is that Pope John VIII was in fact a woman, mockingly referred to as Pope Joan. There is a persistent tale of the person called Pope John VIII having to pull over to the side of the road – to give birth. 

This Pontiff is said to have met his ultimate fate at the hands of a member of his family. This particular family member is said to have been concerned about the prospect of Pope John VIII distributing wealth to individuals not a part of his family. The relation wanted to ensure this did not occur.

The relative of the Pope initially poisoned him. When death proved long in coming, the family member proceeded to beat Pope John over the head with something akin a hammer, causing the leader of the Church to die.

6 Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I is a blip in the memory of most people. He reigned for 33 short days in 1978. Rumor had it at the time that the “Smiling Pope” intended to undertake a major overhaul of certain elements of the Vatican, particularly the Vatican Bank and the churches rules governing marriage and sexuality.

In the immediate aftermath of the Pontiff’s untimely death, more than a few Vatican observers pondered as to whether or not this potential radical reformer had been murdered by men with a vested interest in the status quo of the Church. Fingers most frequently point towards the then-head of the Vatican Bank as being the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the Pontiff.

A couple of books have been written on the subject. Each of these tomes reaches a different conclusion regarding the nature of Pope John Paul I’s death. One author concludes conspiratorial murder, the other natural causes in the form of a heart attack.

5 Pope Benedict IX

The Catholic Encyclopedia describes Pope Benedict IX as being a “disgrace to the Chair of St. Peter.” Some might argue that “disgrace” is something of an understatement.

Pope Benedict IX actually reigned as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church three separate times. He was Pope from 1032 to 1044, for about a month in 1045 and then once more from 1047 to 1048.

He left Papacy the first time in 1044, evidently having sold the office to another man for a healthy sum of money. Pope Benedict IX then somehow reneged on the deal and assumed the Papacy for a month in 1045. He seems to have departed the second time in order to marry. He returned to lead the Church in 1047, remaining in office for about a year until he was forcefully driven from Rome to permit the installation of a new Pontiff.

While in office, Pope Benedict is rumored to have actively engaged in homosexual activities and even bestiality. In reality, very little is known as to what went on in his private quarters during his reign … reigns.

The most authoritative histories suggest that he ultimately repented his wrongdoing and cloistered himself Abbey of Grottaferrata. The wayward Pontiff evidently died while engaging in penance for years of sinful living, including selling the Papacy like a commodity.

4 Pope John X

Pope John X was enthroned in 914 and served as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church for about 14 years. Generally speaking, Pope John X is regarded as a relatively effective and reasonable Pontiff, during an era where the same cannot be said of all of his colleagues.

A woman named Marozia is said to have started a chain of events that ultimately led to the mortal demise of Pope John X. She was married to the Margrave of Tuscany and believed that Pope John X threatened her power and that of her husband.

Marozia arranged to have the Pope captured and incarcerated. Not long after being imprisoned, it is believed that Pope John X was smothered in bed in his cell with a pillow, likely at the direction of the woman who believed her position was threatened by the Pontiff.

3 Pope Celestine V

Like Pope John Paul I, Pope Celestine V reigned for a but a short time. Celestine eked out five months, compared to John Paul’s one.

The only real edict issued by Pope Celestine during his reign was one in which he mandated that a Pope had ability to abdicate the Papal throne – which he did directly after issuing the proclamation.

Pope Celestine wanted to return to a simpler life as a monk (and hermit). Nonetheless, his successor, Pope Boniface VIII, evidently felt rather threatened by the humble Celestine. Boniface has Celestine arrested and apparently murdered. He was never permitted to return to his simple life as a monk and hermit.

Celestine left a job he never wanted in the hands of a successor who he would never challenge and nonetheless seems to have lost his life in process. Yet, some years after his death, he was canonized a saint of the Church.

2 Pope Benedict VI

Pope Benedict VI reigned from 973 to 974. Not long into his pontificate, he was captured and imprisoned by forces opposed to his papacy. Pope Boniface VII. (Boniface VII most often is considered a pretender to the Chair of St. Peter, or an Anti-Pope.)

The Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II, was less than pleased when he heard the news of Benedict’s seizure and incarceration. Thus, he sent an emissary to demand the release and reinstallation of Benedict VI to the papal throne.

Boniface evidently was not one to readily remit to such a demand. He arranged for a dutiful priest called Stephen to visit the erstwhile Pope Benedict in prison, which he did. Following the directives of Pope Boniface, the priest strangled Pope Benedict to death.

1 Pope Formosus

Pope Formosus, said to have been an octogenarian when he died, had a short reign as Pontiff of about five years, beginning in 891. In fact, next to nothing is really recorded about the death of Formosus. However, what happened following the elderly Pontiff’s passing is one of the most bizarre moments in Church history.

Formosus was followed in office by Boniface VI, who reigned for 15 days. Boniface was succeeded by Stephen VI, who concluded Formosus should be put on trial for alleged misconduct while leader of the Church.

The body of the deceased Formosus was removed from his sarcophagus and redressed in full Papal vestments. He was seated on the Pontiff’s throne. And he was put on trial.

In the end, the dead Formosus was found guilty of the charges leveled against him. He was stripped of the garments and the three fingers on his right hand used for Papal consecrations were cut from his dead hand.

Once the process ended, Formosus’ body was taken to a common graveyard and buried for a short time. The body then removed and thrown in the Tiber River. The body was pulled from the Tiber by a monk and reinterred elsewhere.

The Birth and Death of the 24-Hour News Channel by Mike Broemmel

Founded in 1980 by business mogul Ted Turner, CNN was one of two 24-hour news outfits that went into operation before and during the early years of the Ronald Reagan presidency. The other was SNC, the Satellite News Channel, a joint venture of ABC and Westinghouse, which launched in 1982 and died 18 months later.

Several years ago, I attended a luncheon hosted by the father of around-the-clock news, Ted Turner, to benefit bison preservation. The main course: bison steak. But, I digress.

I cut my teeth in the realm of media relations when CNN was in its infancy. By 1983, I was a low-ranking Munchkin in the White House Office of Media Relations. Our shop was charged with acting in the place of producers for television appearances by President Reagan.

The people responsible for crafting the television appearances of the President were well in-tune with the importance of the toddling 24-hour news organization in the form of CNN. A good deal of the proverbial message was tailored around the needs of CNN, even during its early years in business.

I think noting that one of the reasons Ronald Reagan was a highly successful President (winning reelection by the largest landslide in modern American history) was because his team understood how to play to CNN. So did President Reagan himself. Folks like to say Barack Obama is a great communicator. He is a good one. Bill Clinton is a great one. But, there is a reason why Ronald Reagan is still called The Great Communicator.

Thing is, throughout the Reagan era and throughout the presidencies of successors to The Gipper, CNN and its siblings in the form of Fox, MSNBC, and lesser-known others, mattered.

I watched the one and only news conference held by President-elect Donald Trump. As a person who cut his chops watching politicians like Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, and Tip O’Neill communicate with the media, I cringe when I see the President-elect perform before the press.

My initial response to the President-elect’s press conference was: “Good Christ, if President Reagan had done this, he would have been ridden out of town on the horse he came in with, together with Bonzo.” (For those of you younger folks who miss the reference, Trump isn’t the first President to have a past in the entertainment industry. President Reagan was a product of Hollywood, and once starred in a movie called Bedtime for Bonzo. Bonzo? He was a monkey.)

Lest anyone think I am equating the President-elect with the former-President, I do paraphrase Senator Lloyd Bentsen in responding to Senator Dan Quayle during the Vice Presidential debate of the 1988 campaign season. “President-elect Trump, you’re no Ronald Reagan.”

Back to the Trump press conference. The President-elect went after CNN in an unabashed fashion. Truth be told, unhinged might be a more apt description.

The President-elect refused to take questions from the CNN pool reporter (unthinkable in the past). He called out CNN as a propagator of “fake news” (totally beyond anything imaginable at a press conference of any of Trump’s predecessors).

As an aside, CNN does appear to have been one of two entities that spewed out a story about the President-elect that appears to be groundless. The other entity is the routinely questionable BuzzFeed. Even MSNBC has taken CNN to task for not doing its due diligence.

And then I got it.

I was one of many folks who were around at the birth of CNN. And, now we are around to witness the death of CNN and its cohorts as the premier outlets for news and opinion in the United States.

I have heard more than a few communications experts state unequivocally the past two election cycles that television has lost its hegemony when it comes to politics, news, and associated communication. They are correct. 

Indeed, it dawned on me while watching the Trump news conference that since I abandoned watching any of the three 24-hour news networks before the election, I am far better informed.

Yes, the President-elect is brazen to the point of vulgarity. But, in this case, his assault on CNN is like kicking the dead horse that other Presidents would have been ridden out of town on. CNN and company, the 24-hour news networks, are no longer the behemoths of American political discourse they once were. In fact, CNN and company are barely relevant. 

No, the troika of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox will not disappear overnight. But, all three have now crossed the line into ever increasing irrelevance as reliable resources for news. The trend is irreversible. 

Despite its unseemliness, the President-elect’s assault on CNN at his press conference was not an attack on freedom of the press. Rather, it was an attack a thing that has such diminished relevance in the marketplace of news, opinion, ideas, and information, that a person like Trump can *spit* all over it without real consequence.