Pope Alexander VI

After the council which burnt Hus in 1415 and the council which transacted with the Hussites had alike sought to take the work of administration and disciplinary reform out of the hands of the popes, they in their turn, during the next period, so far as possible ignored the decrees of both assemblies.

Whatever promises were made by Nicholas V and his successors down to Alexander VI, they took care not to repeat the conciliar experiment.

Thus to the papacy itself was now left the initiative of church reform, nor was the need of it ignored by all these pontiffs.

Nicholas V sent Cardinal Cusanus, Nicholas of Cusa, to reform the German monasteries.

Paul II, before his election, promised a thorough reform of both curia and clergy, and even at the close of this period, Alexander VI was at no loss for appropriate replies to the representatives on the subject addressed to him from Spain.

In truth, however, nothing short of heroic energy inspired by apostolic zeal could have made reformers of popes breathing the intellectual and moral atmosphere of the later Italian Renaissance.

The difficulties pressing upon these pontiffs as Italian princes led them to regard themselves essentially as such, without at the same time losing sight of the influence inseparable from their religious attributes.

Under Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII, simony and nepotism were the right and left arm of the papal government, absorbed in the struggle for territorial acquisitions.

He was also deeply involved in the politics of the Italian states, and in 1476 he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate an Italian statesman and his brother, whose family at the time were rulers in the city of Florence.

Other popes, such as Alexander VI and Julius II, kept mistresses and fathered illegitimate sons, and even maneuvered these illegitimate sons into positions of influence.

Of course, they weren't all bad, and you can't judge an entire organization by a few rotten eggs.

But it was a system that dictated to countries, manipulated states, and believed that the line separating church and state should simply disappear.

The fact was that Savarinola had expected to receive this intimation from Domenico Mazzini, one of the ten, an ardent disciple of his, whom he had already employed to write a private letter to the Florentine ambassador in France, to prepare the way for a letter to the French king himself in Savarinola's handwriting, which now lay ready in the desk at his side.

It was a letter calling on the King to assist in summoning a general council that might reform the abuses of the Church and begin by deposing Pope Alexander, who was not rightfully Pope, being a vicious unbeliever, elected by corruption, and governing by simony.

This fact was not what Tito knew, but what his constructive talent, guided by subtle indications, had led him to guess and hope.

it is true my son said savonarola quietly it is true i have letters which i would gladly send by safe conveyance under cover to our ambassador our community of san marco as you know has affairs in france being amongst other things responsible for a debt to that singularly wise and experienced frenchman senor philippe de on the library of the medici which we purchased but i apprehend that domenico mazzini himself may return to the city before evening and i should gain more time for preparation of the letters if i waited to deposit them in his hands assuredly reverend father that might be better on all grounds except one namely that if anything occurred to hinder messer domenico's return the despatch of the letters would require either that i should come to san marco again at a late hour or that you should send them to me by your secretary and i am aware that you wish to guard against the false inferences which might be drawn from a too frequent communication between yourself and any officer of the government In throwing out this difficulty, Tito felt that the more unwillingness the Friday showed to trust him, the more certain he would be of his conjecture.

The following year, the very tribunals he had rebuked were placed under Torquemada's own command.

In 1494, Pope Alexander VI appointed four additional inquisitors to serve alongside Torquemada.

The Catholic Encyclopedia attributes this to his advancing age and failing health.

Some later historians connect the timing to the years of accumulated complaints as well, though that can't be established with certainty.

I'm talking about the Doctrine of Discovery.

Pope Alexander VI, widely known as one of the worst popes, with his four illegitimate children, a man who truly could not follow rules, despite his making of rules.

Anyway, that fellow laid out this doctrine in a public decree that essentially gifted the entire uncivilized world to Spain and Portugal.

By the way, the definition of uncivilized in this case is not Europe.