Two versions of the death of Pope John XII, regarded as the most immoral pope

Pope John XII, who occupied the throne from 955 to 964, is said by some sources to have died after being caught in bed with another man's wife, whereupon the jealous husband beat him quite literally to death.

This is one version of a most respectable end, but even if the true cause was, as the second version has it, an apoplectic stroke or a blow to the head from the Devil himself, it still does not deprive John XII of the honourable title of the most immoral of the Roman popes

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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Frederic Leighton

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Two versions of the death of Pope John XII, regarded as the most immoral pope

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

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