Corruped Popes?

[Suzanne_Baer]

Hello,

Were there corruped Popes and who where they?

Thanks,

Suzanne

 

[Tantum_ergo]

If you mean has any Pope ever committed a sin, the answer is yes.

No Pope is impeccable (meaning, “without sin”), just as no person except Jesus and Mary is impeccable.

However, no Pope has ever TAUGHT sin. Popes are infallible (which means, “without fault”, something which is different from “without sin”) when it comes to teaching matters of faith and morals.

So a Pope may commit a sin as an individual human person, even if he holds the office of the Papacy, but he will never, and can never, teach sin to the members of the Church.

Think about it. Even the wisest, nicest, kindliest person in the world has committed SOME sin, some time–whether he’s a Baptist minister, a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest–or your wife, your mother, your son or daughter. . .

You don’t expect perfection of any other human being. . . we all are called to strive for perfection, but we know that we will all fall short sometimes, and that we must repent, make restitution, and go back to trying again. Seventy times seven, and more.

So you wouldn’t expect the Pope to be perfect. . .just to strive for perfection, like all of us, and (through the guidance of the Holy Spirit), to be able to TEACH us truth, as Jesus promised the Spirit would do so that the Church would not fail.

 

[Batjacboy]

Tantum ergo:

If you mean has any Pope ever committed a sin, the answer is yes.

No Pope is impeccable (meaning, “without sin”), just as no person except Jesus and Mary is impeccable.

However, no Pope has ever TAUGHT sin. Popes are infallible (which means, “without fault”, something which is different from “without sin”) when it comes to teaching matters of faith and morals.

So a Pope may commit a sin as an individual human person, even if he holds the office of the Papacy, but he will never, and can never, teach sin to the members of the Church.

Think about it. Even the wisest, nicest, kindliest person in the world has committed SOME sin, some time–whether he’s a Baptist minister, a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest–or your wife, your mother, your son or daughter. . .

You don’t expect perfection of any other human being. . . we all are called to strive for perfection, but we know that we will all fall short sometimes, and that we must repent, make restitution, and go back to trying again. Seventy times seven, and more.

So you wouldn’t expect the Pope to be perfect. . .just to strive for perfection, like all of us, and (through the guidance of the Holy Spirit), to be able to TEACH us truth, as Jesus promised the Spirit would do so that the Church would not fail.

Exactly right.

If you’re interested, there was a Catholic Answers Live interview several years ago with Patrick Madrid on this subject. If you go here and scan down to “Multimedia”, it’ll be the first listing (“Bad Popes: Fact or Fiction”).

 

[StevieP]

If you are looking for a corrupted Pope, look no further than our wonderful Pope Alexander VI from the Medici Popes in the Renaissance era. He was probably the worst pope we have had. He had affairs and gave large sums to his “nephews” (a.k.a. sons) from the Church. Yet, even a man like him could not betray the words of Christ in Mt 16:18. If anything, these popes should reaffirm our faith in the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. Just look at all the weak men who have held this position and have not been able to teach falsly ex cathedra! Also, in Dante’s Inferno, he has some popes in hell, that is just literature, however.

The Popes we have had over the past two hundred years have been incredible. Not just JP-II, but J-XXIII, P-XII, P-X, L-XIII, G-XVII, and so on. We are living in the time of very holy popes- especially our current German Shepherd!

 

[Liberian]

StevieP:

The Popes we have had over the past two hundred years have been incredible. Not just JP-II, but J-XXIII, P-XII, P-X, L-XIII, G-XVII, and so on. We are living in the time of very holy popes- especially our current German Shepherd!

Amen to that!