Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III was elected with nowhere near the scandal, murder, or bribes of many of his predecessors. He came to power in 1550 and was elected as a compromise candidate between three competing factions within the conclave. Pope Julius III came to power by supporters who wished to reconvene the Council of Trent and reform the church. Pope Julius did make some feeble attempts to do what his supporters wanted but most of his time was taken up by other interests.
Pope Julius III had two main interests, renovating his home by looting the papal treasury and passions of the flesh. Villa Giula was his personal mansion, and with the money from the coffers he was able to hire the very best, including Michelangelo to turn his home into an unparalleled masterpiece. He had little interest in actually performing any of the duties of the Pope but he still was able to ruin the standing of the papacy with his exploits.
He liked to have sex and lots of it and with those were looked like or actually were young kids. It was rumored that he had Michelangelo decorate his home with sculptures of what many might consider today to be child pornography. It was no secret to the people of Rome what Pope Julius III was up to. Giovanni Della Casa even wrote a poem about the Pope’s practice of sodomizing young boys.
Things got even worse when Julius started granting young men the position of Cardinal. It got even worse when his family adopted a young beggar boy, that Julius became obsessed with. Julius showered him with riches and positions within the church, including the powerful position of Cardinal-Nephew. Julius was even known to brag about how good the boy was in bed. Despite several attempts to distance the Pope from the church through temporary banishment (after he killed two men and then again after he raped two women), it was not until his death in 1555 that the Church was free of him.