The Trial of the Dead Pope
The haunting tale of the Cadaver Synod
Have you ever wanted to put a dead person you hate on trial? Well, one pope in the 9th century actually managed to hold a trial for an already dead pope! Yes, pope against pope, one living, one dead. This is what happened in the Synod Horrenda, commonly known as the Cadaver Synod.
Today, we see the pope as a friendly figure, a man who stands for principles of liberty, justice, and humanity. However, this wasn’t the case with the popes of about 1100 years ago. At that time, the papacy as marred by corruption and greed, being dominated by the powerful families of Rome and the German kings. The chair of Saint Peter was seen as a prize and powerful men committed all kinds of atrocities in order to achieve it.
It is also important that the ninety-three years between 872 and 965 correspond with a very tumultuous time for the Church, in these years there were no less than twenty-four popes! Furthermore, from 896 to 904 there was a new pope for every year. In comparison, Jonh Paul II was pope for twenty-seven years, Benedict XVI’s was pope for eight years, and Francis has been pope for eight years already.
In the ninety-three years mentioned above, often called the iron age of the papacy, nearly one-third of popes died violently or under suspicious circumstances…
