Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X succeeded Pope Julius II in 1513. He was a Pope that liked to patron the arts and spend money. He moved forward on the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica and had Raphael redesign the rooms of the papal palace. Upon becoming Pope he put the papal coffers to work at creating a very lavish lifestyle for himself while being a generous patron of arts and literature.
This lifestyle was one that quickly emptied the treasury and exhausted the savings left by Pope Julius II in just two years. The lack of funds did very little to stop the lavish lifestyle of Pope Leo X. He created a financial crisis that he was never able to recover from despite being willing to go to extreme lengths to do so.
To refill the coffers Leo X put the Church up for sale. Just about anything could be gained for the right price. Cardinal hats were up for sale and so was membership in the “Knights of Peter.” He took loans from anyone that would offer them knowing that he could just continue selling off the Church to pay them off. He started selling forgiveness for sins, just about any sin could be forgiven for the right price. This allowed wealthy nobles to feel better about their misdeeds and know that they could continue doing them as long as they paid their dues to the church.
When even that was not enough to keep up with his spending, Pope Leo X moved on to selling what he could out of the papal palace. Anything was up for grabs; jewels, statues of the apostles, furniture, and flatware. No matter how much money he made, it disappeared almost immediately and just increased the need to continue extracting fees, selling church positions, and encouraging the populace to buy indulgences. When he died in 1521, many of his creditors ended up in financial ruin.