Asher Sisneros

After the Avignon Papacy, which Rome derogatorily titled the “Babylonian Captivity,”  Rome was in dire need of reestablishing the Apostolic See’s dominion over the Christian world. Cities were becoming increasingly independent from Rome following the disorder within the Catholic Church. To address this, the College of Cardinals went through a period of choosing popes for their political skills, not their theological wisdom or devout piety. 

One example of this emphasis on political dominance was when Pope Julius II devoted his papacy to restoring papal power in Italy. Instead of focusing on leading the Catholic Church, he personally launched a military campaign to subdue Venice. When Bologna and Perugia refused to assist his military campaign, he attacked them. His conquest of Venice was eventually successful, but popes are not supposed to be military leaders, they are supposed to be ecclesiastical leaders. The Gregorian Reform distinguished Church and State powers. They are not the same. Moreover, Julius’ campaign was not the equivalent of a crusade. The Crusades were called by popes, but civil rulers led the military charge. In the Crusades, the Church encouraged war, but they did not lead the war. This was not the case for Pope Julius. He physically led the battle charges and was engaged in military organization. In this capacity, he acted more like a commander-in-chief than a pope. Unfortunately, Julius was not the only one, and this focus on politics was characteristic of Renaissance popes. 

Since they were politicians at heart, it should be unsurprising to hear that the Renaissance popes engaged in nepotism. The vast wealth accumulated by popes made it a highly sought-after position and papal relatives were often rewarded with wealth and prestigious appointments. For example, Pope Sixtus IV gave fifteen of his nieces and nephews influential positions of power. Two of those relatives joined the College of Cardinals, and one of them was the warmongering Pope Julius II. 

The corruption in the papacy bled into the lower parts of the Church as well. In short, corruption and nepotism permeated religious affairs. By the time ecclesiastical reforms were presented, it was already too late. The Fifth Lateral Council presented mild reforms to deal with these issues, but Pope Leo X refused to implement them, and the corruption continued. 

The common corruptions in the Church during the Renaissance papacy were evil and discredited the Church. However, it did not go uncriticized. The theologian Erasmus (1466-1536) was a vehement critic, and in his book Praise of folly, he proclaimed that only the folly of men would permit such corruption in the Church. Moreover, his book Julius Excluded from Heaven was a fictional dialogue between Pope Julius II and the Apostle Peter, in which Peter condemns Julius and calls him an apostate, refusing to give him entry to heaven. There were other critics of the Renaissance papacy as well, which reached a breaking point when Martin Luther pinned his Ninety-five Theses on the church at Wittenberg in 1517, giving way to the Protestant Reformation.