Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III took the papacy in 1534 and on the one hand he did the best he could during a very turbulent time. He made edicts against slavery and he tried to fight the corruption within the church. He fought against Protestantism and tried to combat the efforts of Martin Luther. However, Pope Paul III was far from a nice guy.
He was brutal to his enemies and those who he thought were against the church. He was said to have poisoned his own mother and niece so that he could inherit the family fortune. It was with the help of that fortune and his family’s influence that he was able to get himself into the papacy. He was ruthless as Pope and would order men to be strangled and then burned. He had no tolerance or patience. During a theological dispute between two cardinals and a Polish bishop, Pope Paul III settled the issue by having all three men hacked to death with swords.
Even though Pope Paul III took a stance against corruption in the church, he was very much corrupt and in favor of nepotism. He made two of his grandsons Cardinals even though they were only 14 and 16 at the time. He also forcibly took the dukedom of Camerino so that he could bestow that on yet another of his grandsons. He also put hefty taxes on the people so as to fund the papacy.
There is another part of Pope Paul III’s papacy that continues to stand out centuries later. It was said that even though Rome only had a population of 100,000, there were 45,000 prostitutes that paid a monthly tribute to Pope Paul III. Despite this he was remembered as being good hearted, obliging and intelligent and the money from the taxes he levied helped to pay for his grandiose tome that he was laid to rest in in 1549.