7. Leo X Charged the Public for their Transgressions While Flaunting His Lovers
When Innocent VIII married his son to Lorenzo de Medici’s daughter, the latter secured a cardinal’s hat for his son, Giovanni. When his son left for Rome, Lorenzo warned him that it would be difficult to live a virtuous lifestyle in the city. Giovanni didn’t heed the advice: he had numerous affairs with men, well into his reign as the first Medici pope, Leo X. He chose handsome page boys to wait on him, and his sexual appetite resulted in a string of one-night stands across the city.
Leo’s predecessor Julius II bankrupted the papal treasury on conquering land and decorating the Vatican. To raise funds, the pope forced the public to pay fines for transgressions such as incest, premarital sex, and sodomy. While the people of Rome paid for their sins, Leo X openly flaunted his favorite lover, the singer Solimondo, at the papal court. When the people of Rome resisted paying the taxes, the pope threatened them, claiming that they would languish in purgatory – or worse – if they did not pay the fines.
When a measure came forward in the curia to pass a papal bull to limit the number of boys that cardinals kept as their lovers, Leo vetoed the motion. The pope’s behavior only increased the discontent with the Catholic Church across Europe; four years before Leo’s death, the German monk Martin Luther wrote his “95 Theses,” condemning the practice of selling indulgences for the forgiveness of one’s sins. The document kickstarted the Protestant Reformation, challenging the widespread corruption of the Catholic Church.