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Dante's Popes

Dante Alighieri is famous for his epic poem - The Divine Comedy - in which he expresses his, at the time, risqué opinion of the Church and the Papacy. He mentions particular examples of his disgust with the corruption of the Catholic Church hierarchy in Inferno.

Inferno

In Inferno, Dante mentions three Popes in particular as part of his reasons for disliking the corruption of the Catholic Church; Nicholas III, Boniface VIII and Clement V. Each Pope had a reputation for nepotism, simony and general corruption, there was considerable ‘avarice of high position’ which is said ‘to have beset such popes as Nicholas III, Boniface VIII and Clement V’. As so eloquently said by Nick Havely; 'we shall see, the effects of avarice in the Church and Papacy are encountered, identified and deplored at several levels during the ensuing journey through the Inferno'.

Nicholas III

In canto XIX of Dante's Inferno, Virgil has taken Dante's character down to the third pouch of the eighth circle of Hell which is where sinners are punished for Simony. Simonists have committed sins which include: 'nepotism and, more generally, the use of the Church to promote the interests of the individual pope and his family'. There they find one sinner in particular is suffering more than the others; 'Who is that, master, who in his torment/wriggles more than any of his fellows/and is licked by redder flames?'. This is a reference to Pope Nicholas III who was in this section of Hell because of his excessive nepotism; he appointed three family members to be cardinals, among many other family members being given other important positions in politics and the Catholic Church.

Boniface VIII

In the same canto, Pope Nicholas III mistakes Dante for Pope Boniface VIII; 'Is that you already,/are you here already, Boniface?'. This suggests that Nicholas III expects Boniface VIII down in this circle and pouch of Hell as soon as he dies which means that Boniface VIII was also corrupt and guilty of Simony. After the mistaken identity is rectified, Nicholas III goes on to say, 'In turn I, too shall be thrust lower down/as soon as he arrives whom I mistook you for/when I called out my hasty question' - meaning that Boniface VIII will drive Nicholas III down into the stone once he enters Hell and essentially take his place. The essayist Jennifer Petrie states that 'the main emphasis' in canto XIX 'is on his greed and ambition, accompanied by deceitfulness' which is true because it is his Simony that is the cause for his damnation, according to Dante. Boniface VIII was seen as so corrupt by Dante and others because he strived for political domination as well as the spiritual leadership he already had. He involved himself in many foreign affairs which angered some foreign leaders such as Philip IV and this growing tension spurred Boniface VIII to write the Unam Sanctam which basically gave him the right to claim all spiritual and civil authority for the papacy and thus himself.

Clement V

Pope Clement V is also mentioned in canto XIX, but in a less explicit way; 'for after him [Boniface VIII] shall come a lawless shepherd/from the west, one even fouler in his deeds,/fit to be the cover over him and me'. However, at the original time of Dante writing Inferno, Clement V had not died yet, so it is widely believed that 'Dante probably revised Inferno 19 soon after his [Clement V's] death, in order to include him as one of the corrupt "pastors" of the Church'. Clement V was the first Pope to be part of the Avignon Papacy, which made him unpopular with many of the Catholic faith because it meant that the papal court was moved to Avignon, and not the typical location of Rome. The following six popes all resided in the court of Avignon.

Corruption in the Church

Dante hated the increasing corruption within the Catholic Church and he blamed many things for the start of the corruption. One of the main things which he blamed for the beginning of the corruption is the 'Donation of Constantine' because it was a forged document, produced by the emperor Constantine to 'prove' that the Pope had a 'right' to the authority of Rome and some of the Roman Empire, including the Vatican. Due to many of the ascending popes from Constantine's time being voted to Papacy by this unjust 'right', it can be said that the entire line of Papacy up to this point had been corrupt.

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