Rodrigo de Borgia (1431 – 1503) was pope from 1492 until his death. He was perhaps history’s most brazenly corrupt Holy Father. Indeed, he did not bother with even the pretense of a fig leaf to cover his venality. Borgia openly sold church offices, as well as indulgences to the rich. As cleric and pope, he couldn’t care less about his vows of celibacy. He openly admitted that he had fathered nine illegitimate children, including four with his live-in mistress. He also reportedly had an incestuous affair with his daughter – when she was not busy having incest with her brother. Below are some fascinating highlights – or more like lowlights – from the life and career of this most unholy Holy Father.

Nepotism and Corruption Paved the Path for This Unholy Holy Father

Rodrigo de Borgia was born near Valencia, Spain, into the Borgia family, a powerful ecclesiastical dynasty. Nepotism was the norm in those days, so when Rodrigo de Borgia’s uncle became Pope Callixtus III in 1455, he ordained his nephew a deacon, then made him a lay cardinal. Soon thereafter, Rodrigo was made vice chancellor of the Catholic Church at age twenty five. Nepotism got Rodrigo a leg up, but he was a capable man in his own right. He continued to rise through the Church hierarchy after his pope uncle’s death. By the 1490s, Rodrigo had served under five popes, and piled up considerable administrative experience, wealth, and influential connections. When the papal throne became vacant in 1492, Rodrigo put those assets to good use, and bribed a majority of the College of Cardinal to elect him pope.

Rodrigo took the papal name Alexander VI, and transformed the papacy into a nepotistic kleptocracy for the benefit of his family. As pope, he was quite unpopular with the devout, because he did not even pretend to be religious. He often threw lavish parties that often degenerated into drunken orgies. In one such party, which went down in history as the “Banquet of Chestnuts”, fifty prostitutes were hired, and they danced with the guests naked. Chestnuts were then strewn around, and the naked hookers crawled on hands and knees to pick them up. Then a competition was announced to see which guest could get in the most times with the prostitutes, as servants kept score of each man’s orgasms.

The Astonishingly Corrupt Borgia Pope

Alexander VI openly carried on with his mistresses before and after he became pope, and acknowledged the resulting illegitimate children. He arranged dynastic marriages for his offspring, and dipped into Church coffers to splurge on lavish weddings for his bastards. This unholy Holy Father also used his daughter Lucrezia, with whom he reportedly had an incestuous affair, to snare wealthy and powerful notables. He had her seduce those whom he deemed useful, married her off to them, and when Lucrezia’s husband was of no further use, the pope arranged the dissolution of the marriage. The apples did not fall far from the tree when it came to Alexander VI’s children, and they too were notoriously corrupt and venal.

Alexander VI openly sold church positions to the highest bidders. When his lavish lifestyle and reckless spending drained Church coffers, he began to sell indulgences – like Monopoly “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, but for hell instead of prison. He made the name “Borgia” a byword for corruption, nepotism, and libertinism, which were the hallmarks of his pontificate. Alexander VI’s brazen corruption was not just gossip fodder. It had a huge historical impact, and set in motion a backlash against brazen corruption in the Catholic Church, that eventually culminated in the Protestant Reformation.

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Some Sources & Further Reading

Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church – The Election of Pope Alexander VI

Chamberlain, E. R. – The Bad Popes (1969)

History Halls – The Men Who Made Ancient Athens: Solon

Pastor, Ludwig – The History of the Popes From the Close of the Middle Ages (1899)