33. Back to the Holy See
Pope John XII did not enjoy his return to the papacy for long. Just a few months after resuming office, he was killed by an angry husband who caught him having intimate relations with his wife – a turn of events discussed further down this list. The Romans elected another pope, Benedict V, but Leo VIII’s benefactor, Emperor Otto I, besieged Rome, took the city and forced the Romans to reinstall Leo as pope.
Leo VIII did not enjoy the papacy for that long, and followed his former mentor John XII’s manner of shuffling off the mortal coil. On March 1st, 965, the pope was happily exerting himself in a sexual bout, but seems to have overdone it and exerted himself too much. In the midst of carnal enjoyment of the flesh, he suffered a fatal heart attack.