celestine v, and a year and a half later he resigned. but despite the peaceful when he resigned, because of the violence and instability surrounding the resignation of benedict ix 250 years earlier, the new pope must make sure that celestine is never heard from again. after celest ne retired and boniface became pope, he felt it was dangerous to have two living popes. you can t have another pope knocking about and threatening the pope. immediately after celestine leaves, boniface has him attacked and locked up.
former pope benedict ix and his family decide they want the throne back. and the awkward thing now is that there were two popes, and both of them were claiming to be the heir of st. peter. benedict, however, had a wealthier family than sylvester, his family rallied behind him, gave him an army, he marched back into rome and he drove sylvester iii out. you find yourself bewildered by this. and it s so far from the apostles or how any christian leader should be. but that was the way the church was. it s about spiritual power, uncomfortably mixed with worldly power. six months after accepting the cardinal s bribe to resign, benedict ix is reinstated as
which is against the cannons. conclaves had not yet been invented. popes are often chosen by brute force or nepotism. buying church power was considered the worst sin there the fact he sold the papacy in return for money was appalling to everyone. for the first time in recorded history, a pope resigns in exchange for money, which catapults the papacy into the world of dirty politics. the papacy becomes a poem in the politics of central italy. though the young popr accepts the young cardinal s bribe, this will not be the last the world hears of benedict ix. pope, the most powerful man in history is brought to you by sta
reinstated as pope. now their positions had reversed. benedict is in rome and sylvester iii is in exile. but they re both still claiming to be pope. benedict ix was the first pope that comes back and they have to dece who the real pope now? with rome s allegiances split between benedict and sylvester, the church faces a crisis of faith. how does one decide who holds the legacy of st. peter? the romans will not have long to figure it out. only one month into benedict ix s second papacy he complicates the matter even further. benedict then, in the way of impetuous young men, he decided he didn t want to be pope anymore. he had had enough. he wanted to get married. he handed the papacy over to his god father, and he became pope
that s not what a pope is supposed to do. for 2,000 years the legacy of st. peter has been a define office passed on from one pope to the next. but can two men hold the legitimate claim to one godly office? it s left us with this situation of a pope and an extra pope. and that s always going to change the nature of an institution. who s the real pope? in 2013 millions of people watch as benedict xvi peacefully hands the papacy over to pope francis. but in the past, two living men with claim to one legacy has resulted in nothing but chaos. in the 10th and 11th centuries, if you ve got two popes, you ve got two factions. it s an extraordinary episode. benedict ix was a teenager,