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The Antichrist Most Definitely Is Not a Person! 7

and her Semiramis-like mother held court with a pomp and voluptuousness that recalled the worse
days of the ancient empire” (Medieval Italy, by Cotterill. P. 331). This woman -- Theodora -- lik-
ened to Semiramis (because of her corrupt morals), along with Marozia, the pope’s concubine,
“filled the papal chair with their paramours and bastard sons, and turned the papal palace into a den
of robbers” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p.774). The reign of Pope Sergius III began the period
known as “the rule of the harlots” (914-928).

Pope John X (914-928). Originally he had been sent to Ravenna as an archbishop, but Theodora
had him returned to Rome and appointed to the papal office. According to Bishop Liutprand of
Cremona, who wrote a history about fifty years after this time, “Theodora supported John’s election
in order to cover more easily her illicit relations with him” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, p.
245). His reign came to a sudden end when Marozia smothered him to death! She wanted him out of
the way so that Leo VI could become pope.

Pope Leo VI (928-929). His reign was a short one! He was assassinated by Marozia when she
learned he had “given his heart to a more degraded woman than herself”! (Chiniquy, The Priest, the
Woman, and the Confessional, p. 138). Not long after this, the teenage son of Marozia (under the
name of John XI) became pope.

Pope John XI (931-936). The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “Some, taking Liutprand and the
‘Liber Pontificalis’ as their authority, assert that he was the natural son of Sergius III (a former
pope). Through the intrigues of his mother, who ruled at that time in Rome, he was raised to the
Chair of Peter” (Vol. 8, p. 426). But in quarreling with some of his mother’s enemies, he was beaten
and put into jail where he died from poisoning.

Pope John XII (955-964). In 955 the grandson of Marozia became pope at the age of 18. The Cath-
olic Encyclopedia describes him as “a coarse, immoral man, whose life was such that the Lateran
was spoken of as a brothel, and the moral corruption in Rome became the subject of general
odium...On 6 November a synod composed of fifty Italian and German bishops was convened in St.
Peter’s; John was accused of sacrilege, simony, perjury, murder, adultery, and incest, and was sum-
moned in writing to defend himself. Refusing to recognize the synod, John pronounced sentence of
excommunication against all participators in the assembly, should they elect in his stead another
pope...John XII took bloody vengeance on the leaders of the opposite party, Cardinal-Deacon John
had his right hand struck off, Bishop Otgar of Speyer was scourged, a high palatine official lost nose
and ears...John died on 14 May, 964, eight days after he had been, according to rumor, stricken by
paralysis in the act of adultery” (ibid., p. 427). The noted Catholic Bishop of Cremona, Luitprand,
who lived at this time, wrote: “No honest lady dared to show herself in public, for Pope John had no
respect either for single girls, married women, or widows -- they were sure to be defiled by him,
even on the tombs of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul.” The Catholic collection of the lives of
popes, the Liber Pontificalis, said: “He spent his entire life in adultery” (Vol. 2, p.246).

The Depths of Papal Degradation

Pope Boniface VII (984-985). This pope maintained his position through a lavish distribution of
stolen money. The Bishop of Orleans referred to him (and also John XII and Leo VIII) as “monsters
of guilt, reeking in blood and filth” and as “antichrist sitting in the temple of God.” The Catholic

The Berean Voice July-August 2002