12. Innocent VIII traded a cardinalship to the Medicis in exchange for a bride for his son
Innocent VIII was the father of illegitimate children both before and during his papacy, eventually acknowledging eight children by various mistresses. He also used the papacy to enrich himself, selling appointments to high offices of the church and using the money to ingratiate himself with powerful political families, including the Medicis. With the Vatican treasury often depleted due to his maintaining a luxurious and expensive lifestyle for himself, he simply expanded the Vatican bureaucracy by creating new offices, which were then offered to the wealthy to bid upon. Innocent called for a crusade against the Ottomans which was blocked by opposition from King Ferdinand I of Naples. Innocent responded by excommunicating the King. and inviting the French King Charles VIII to occupy the throne of Naples. .
The act led to a war which lasted until after Innocent’s death. Innocent VIII also entered into an arrangement with Lorenzo de Medici in which the pope’s son married into the prestigious family, in return for which he created a cardinal’s office for the thirteen year old Giovanni de Medici, who later reigned as Pope Leo X. It was Innocent VIII who made the notorious Torquemada the Grand Inquisitor of Spain. He also issued papal bulls acknowledging the existence and condemning the practice of witchcraft, supported the Spanish conquests over the Moors, and supported the practice of slavery, distributing more than 100 he received from Ferdinand of Aragon to cardinals from whom he enjoyed support.