General Discussion

Hard to determine my 'favorite' out of this list, although Pope Stephen VI was a fun read. (:45)

... a man so twisted and vengeful that he put his predecessor on trial, cut off the three fingers he used for blessing, and then threw him into the Tiber river. But here’s the real kicker… his predecessor had been dead the whole time.

In what has to be the craziest act of a despot in history, Stephen had Pope Formosus dug up seven months after he had been buried, dressed in papal clothes, sat on the throne, and put through a trial. Formosus was accused of perjury and gaining the papacy illegally.