The Bad Popes

John XII, the dissolute, satyr-like Roman prince; Benedict IX, who subjected the Papacy to its greatest indignity; Boniface VIII, ruthless in his insatiable hunger for absolute power; Urban VI, the wild man from Naples whose grotesque savageries widened the Great Schism; Alexander VI, who brought Borgia intrigues and debauchery to the See of Peter; Leo X, ruler of Rome at the height of its glory and corruption; Clement VII, the unskillful fox who brought ruin to his Church. "Seven different popes, each of whom precipitated a crisis in the Church . . . they stole, plundered, gambled, fornicated, killed. . . . E. R. Chamberlin's in-depth approach adds much to the honesty of Church history and carries out Leo XIII's injunction at the opening of the Vatican archives to 'tell the truth'.