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The popes · No. 214 of 267

Alexander VI

The scandal of the Borgia pope, told straight.

Pope 1492 to 1503

Read the story 1 min read
A Renaissance portrait of Pope Alexander VI in profile, wearing a red cap.

Attributed to Pedro Berruguete, 1495. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The popes / Alexander VI

Rome, August 1492

Rodrigo Borgia is elected pope and takes the name Alexander VI.1

The Catholic Encyclopedia, a Catholic reference work, does not soften what came next.1

If you have heard that some popes lived scandalous lives, you heard right. Here is how the Church tells it.

01Alexander VI

No excuses

Alexander had several children before and during his time as a cardinal, and he advanced their interests as pope.1

His election was tainted by the suspicion of bribery.1

This is the pope most often thrown at Catholics in arguments. The honest answer is: yes, and it was a disgrace.

02Alexander VI

What a bad pope does not change

The Church teaches that the pope’s gift of infallibility covers solemn definitions of faith and morals, not his personal holiness.2

The Church is holy because Christ is holy, and she is made up of sinners who are always in need of purification.3

The strongest argument for the Church is not that her leaders were always good. It is that she survived the ones who were not.

Seventy years later, a Dominican friar in a hair shirt would sit on the same throne.

Notes

  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Pope Alexander VI”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org
  2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 891. vatican.va
  3. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 827. vatican.va

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.