According to the discipline of the Catholic Church, the pope (along with most other clergy) is expected to be celibate. Nevertheless, a number of popes have been sexually active (or were alleged to have been). The following is a list of sexually active popes, according to various sources.
Note that celibacy was not required for the clergy until around the 1200s.
- Pope Sergius III arranged for Pope Anastasius III (his illegitimate child) to become Pope after him.
- Pope John XII turned the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno into a brothel and was accused of adultery, fornication, and incest.
- Pope Leo VIII died during an act of adultery.
- Pope Benedict IX, one of the youngest Popes ever, grew up "in unrestrained license, and shocked the sensibilities even of a dull and barbarous age."
- Antipope John XXIII. Elected Pope by the Pisan party to end the Western Schism, later admitted to incest, adultery, fornication, and other crimes ("two hundred maids, matrons and widows, including a few nuns, fell victims to his brutal lust").
- Pope Alexander VI kept many mistresses, and prostitutes were called to dance naked before the assembly, after which prizes were offered to those men who, in the opinion of the spectators, managed to copulate with the greatest number of prostitutes. (See Banquet of Chestnuts.)
- Pope Paul III made his illegitimate son the first Duke of Parma.
See also: pornocracy
