Its inconceivable to think of a Pope being murdered or assassinated nowadays. The tranquility of the Vatican City is a far cry to the turbulent times of the early years of the catholic church. Back then, grisly deaths for the heads of the catholic church was all too common, if you take into account the various Popes who became martyrs for their faith.
Below, we are concentrating on those Popes who were deliberately murdered.
Pope John VIII (872 – 882) – Assassinated (poisoned / clubbed to death)
Pope John VIII served as pope for 10 years before he was brutally murdered. His reign as Pope lasted from 872 to 882.
His papacy was marked by the challenges of defending Italy against the Saracens and dealing with the political complexities of the time, including relations with the Carolingian Empire and the Byzantine Empire.
The circumstances surrounding Pope John VIII’s death are somewhat murky and shrouded in the intrigues of the era. It is widely accepted that he was assassinated, making him one of the few popes in history to meet such a fate.
According to various accounts, he was either poisoned or bludgeoned to death in late 882.
The motives behind his assassination are believed to be connected to the turbulent political and religious landscape of the time, including disputes with local nobility and possibly frustration with his policies or alliances.
However, specific details and the identities of those responsible remain unclear, as contemporary sources provide limited and sometimes conflicting information.
Pope Stephen VI (896 – 897) – Strangled
In a saga draped with the shadows of political machinations, Stephen VI’s tenure as Pope unfurled a chapter so ghastly it seemed torn from the pages of a tragic play. Amidst a backdrop where the divine and the mortal were entangled in a dance of power, Stephen VI, in a move that defied the sanctity of death itself, summoned from the grave the remains of Pope Formosus.
This act was not just a mere summoning but a spectacle that saw the deceased Pope clad in the vestments of his holy office, his lifeless form seated upon a throne to face accusations of perjury among other sins.
The courtroom, an eerie assembly with the dead former pope as the accused, delivered its verdict with a chilling predictability: Formosus was found guilty. In a posthumous indignity, the three fingers he once used to give blessings were severed, his body paraded / dragged through the streets of Rome, and ultimately discarded into the Tiber River.
This grotesque theatre of the Cadaver Synod stirred a tempest of public fury, particularly among Formosus’s supporters, culminating in a grim retribution. Stephen VI found himself ensnared by the very political web he had woven, stripped of his papal glory, and met his end through the silent kiss of a strangler’s grip in the year 897.
Pope Leo V (903) – Strangled
Pope John X (914–928) – Smothered with a pillow
Transitioning from one papal intrigue to another, the narrative of John X’s downfall is equally steeped in the brew of political and personal vendettas. At the heart of this intrigue was Marozia, a figure of formidable power and influence in Rome, whose connections to the papal throne were as scandalous as they were profound, rumored to be the lover of Pope Sergius III.
John X, in a bold assertion of his papal authority, sought alliances beyond the reach of Rome’s noble clutches, a move that sowed the seeds of his undoing. The revolt led by Marozia was swift and brutal, marking its ferocity with the murder of John X’s brother before his very eyes within the sanctum of the Lateran Palace.
The coup reached its crescendo with John X’s capture and subsequent imprisonment within the ancient walls of Castel Sant’Angelo. It was there, in a cell shadowed by history and treachery, that John X breathed his last, smothered beneath the weight of a pillow in the early days of 929.
With John X’s demise, Marozia’s manipulation of the papal succession saw the elevation of her allies to the See of Peter, and perhaps most infamously, the installment of her purported son with Sergius III, as Pope John XI, weaving a narrative of ambition, intrigue, and betrayal that echoed through the halls of papal history.
Pope John XII (955–964) – Murdered by the jealous husband of the woman with whom he was in bed
According to Liudprand of Cremona, a chronicler whose quill immortalized the deeds and misdeeds of an era, the final chapter of Pope John XII is painted with the stark colors of ignominy and mortal frailty.
In later years of his reign, John XII found himself ensnared not in the vestments of his holy office but in the clandestine embrace of forbidden passion. It was during such an adulterous dalliance, far removed from the sanctified halls of the Vatican, that the hand of fate—or perhaps retribution—struck down the pontiff.
According to Liudprand’s account, the end came swiftly for John XII, either as the cruel bite of apoplexy seized him mid-thrall, or by the vengeful strike of a husband wronged, his honor besmirched by the pope’s indiscretions.
John XII’s mortal remains were laid to rest within the venerable confines of the Lateran, the echoes of his scandalous end lingering like a shadow upon his grave. His papacy, once a beacon of the Theophylacti’s influence, now served as a somber reminder of the tempestuous interplay between divine duty and human desire.
Pope Benedict VI (973 – 974) Strangled
Pope Benedict VI, a Roman by birth, became pope in January 973 and his pontificate lasted until his death in June 974. Like most popes in this era, his tenure occurred during a period of significant political turmoil and factional strife within Rome. It was a time when the papacy was heavily influenced, if not outright controlled, by powerful Roman families and external political forces, notably the Holy Roman Empire.
According to historical accounts, Benedict VI was imprisoned by a faction led by a Roman noble named Crescentius I (or Crescentius the Elder), who opposed Benedict’s papacy and sought to install their own candidate as pope.
This action was also facilitated by the absence of the powerful protector of Benedict VI, Emperor Otto I, who had returned to Germany. While imprisoned in the Castel Sant’Angelo, Benedict VI was either strangled or otherwise murdered in June 974.
Following his death, the antipope Boniface VII was installed by his supporters, although his legitimacy was never recognized by the wider church, and he is often accused of being involved in the murder of Benedict VI.