CAN A JEW BE POPE?

On May 25, we noted the Feast Day of Pope St Gregory VII (Hildebrand).

A recent comment elsewhere mentioned that:

"Indeed, most of the eastern empire is now in the hands of Mohammed's followers. Constantinople is now Istanbul, which does not prove anything, but do you think God would have allowed the same thing to happen to Rome?"

Now what has "Can a Jew be Pope?" have anything to do with the Mohammetans?

The last item on Pope St Gregory VII provides an interesting association.

But, first of all, I will say that, of course, St Peter was a Jew.

Secondly, it was said of Pope St Zosimus, who was the 41st pope, that he was Greek, possibly of Jewish descent. (ODP).

Thirdly, it is claimed that there were at least a further three jewish Popes, Gregory VI, St Gregory VII and Anacletus II. Here are some of my notes:

1. Gregory VI {147th P.} (05 May 1045 - 20 Dec. 1046.)
   • During his second term, Benedict IX {146th} made out a deed of abdication in favour of his godfather John Gratian, who was then elected as Gregory VI. (ODP.)
   • But Gregory VI/John Gratian (claimed to have been of the Jewish Pierleoni family [PFG p.115 and KOTK p.84].) had to hand over a huge amount of money. Implausibly, this has been represented as an inducement to stand down rather than as strict payment for the papal office, which it was almost certainly intended to be. (ODP and PFG.)
   • According to most sources, Benedict sold the papal office to Gregory. Although designated by Benedict as his successor (in itself a gross irregularity), there is some evidence that the forms of an election were observed. (ODP.)
   • St Peter Damiani, reformer and doctor of the Church (1007 - 72), congratulated him warmly, claiming that his election had struck a blow at simony (news of the financial deal had not yet leaked out.) Gregory appointed him Archbishop of Ostia, a city not far from Rome. (ODP and PFG p.116.)
   • Reports that it was Gregory and not Emperor Henry who summoned and presided over the Synod of Sutri of Dec. 20, 1046 (which deposed Gregory), reflect later embarrassment that the emperor should have presumed to preside over a council and JUDGE the supreme pontiff. (ODP says he resigned voluntarily.)
   • At this time, it should be remembered that Hildebrand (the future Gregory VII) had been and was then serving as Gregory VI's chaplain, and he would accompany him into exile. (KOTK pp.84/7.) Both were claimed to be of the Pierleoni family.
   
   
2. St Gregory VII {155th} (22 Apr. 1073 - 25 May 1085)
   • (Hildebrand) Claimed to be of Jewish blood - they called him, mockingly, Prandellus, the little one, for he was indeed a diminutive person - small, visually unimpressive, ugly and swarthy - a Pierleoni. Descriptions of the three Pierleoni Popes can be found in medieval documents. They all looked alike: "More like a Jew or a Saracen than a Christian." (That description, incidentally, was applied not by one of his many enemies, but by the Abbot of Cluny.) (PFG pp.126/7 and 129.)
   • He was against the universal "fornication" (ie. marriage) of the clergy. Ordinands were required to pledge celibacy. (VOC p.84.)
   • The pope "did not have it all his own way. For instance, the Bishop of Pavia excommunicated him for preferring clerics to have mistresses instead of wives." (VOC p.570.)
   • Against a thousand year old tradition, he made all bishops take a personal oath of loyalty to him.
   • In his Dictatus Papae (Mar. 1075): He decreed
     • xxii)_"That the Roman Church has never erred; nor will it err to all eternity, the Scripture bearing witness."
     • xxiii)_"That the Roman Pontiff, if he has been canonically ordained, undoubtedly is made a saint by the merits of St Peter".
     • xxvi)_"That he who is not at peace with the Roman Church shall not be considered Catholic." (VOC p.80 and PFG p.156/7.)
   • "In 1078 he renewed the canonical laws which prohibited giving Jews power over Christians...Jews might not be employed as tax-farmers or mint-masters." (PAC p.91.)
   • Mohammedan soldiers (c.1083) penetrated the church of St Peter, and for the first time in history the prayers of Islam were chanted like a chorus of victory. "Most of them were Saracens from Sicily and Arabs from every corner of the Arab world - soldiers under the invading Normans." (PFG pp.180/1.)
   
   
3. Anacletus II (antipope 14 Feb. 1130 - 25 Jan. 1138)
   • The majority of cardinals refused to accept the Honorius II/Innocent II coup, and elected Pietro Cardinal Pierleoni as Anacletus II, on the same day. Thus resulted an 8 year schism. It was the death of Anacletus which ended the schism. (ODP.)
   • Anacletus was the great-grandson of the converted Jew Baruch- Benedict, founder of the Pierleoni family. He held the throne for eight years. For even a hundred years after the Pierleoni had accepted the Cross, Anacletus, the last of the Pierleoni Popes, was bitterly attacked as "that Jew on the throne of Peter." (PFG.)
   • In contrast to that of Innocent, Anacletus' election was participated in by the whole of Rome. He lost the war of propaganda, chiefly through the efforts of Bernard of Clairvaux who didn't like Jews - even long converted Jews! (ODP.)
   
   
   

   ---

   Gregory VI really was a good man (out of luck), trying to rescue the papacy from a grossly bad man - his godson. To understand this, it is necessary to look at the life of Pope Benedict IX. Again from my records:
   
   Benedict IX {146th P.} Pope for 3 periods.
   1) 21 Oct. 1032 - Sept. 1044;
   2) 2) 10 Mar. - 1 May 1045;
   3) 3) 8 Nov. 1047 - 16 July 1048:
   
   The Catholic Truth Society pamphlet says he died 1049. HOWEVER the Oxford Dictionary of Popes states that he was still alive in 1055, but was dead by Jan. 9, 1056.

   • On the death of John XIX his brother Count Alberic III, now head of the ruling Tusculum family, bribed the electorate and had his son Theophylact, nephew of the last two popes, enthroned as Benedict IX. (ODP.)
   • A layman - (some say 11 years old - others, in his twenties; the English medievalist Reginald Lane Poole was of the opinion that he had passed his twentieth birthday) his personal life was scandalously violent and dissolute. (ODP and PFG p.113.)
   • St Peter Damiani exclaimed: "That wretch, from the beginning of his pontificate to the end of his life, feasted on immorality." (VOC p. 74.)
   • "It seemed," says Gregorovius, "as if a demon from Hell in the disguise of a priest occupied the chair of Peter and profaned the sacred mysteries of religion by his insolent courses..." (VOC p.74 and PFG p.113.)
   • During his second term, he made out a deed of abdication in favour of his godfather John Gratian, who was then elected as Gregory VI.
     1. probable reasons:
        • feeling of insecurity based on awareness of hostility of the people;
        • pressure from friends;
        • the desire to marry his beautiful cousin, daughter of Girard de Saxo. (VOC p.74/5 and ODP.)
     2. But John Gratian (claimed to have been of the Jewish Pierleoni family) had to hand over a huge amount of money. Implausibly, this has been represented as an inducement to stand down rather than as strict payment for the papal office, which it was almost certainly intended to be. (ODP and PFG p.115.)
     3. Happy to resign, Benedict demanded a golden handshake of one to two thousand pounds (in weight.) After a bout of hard bargaining, he settled for the whole of Peter's Pence from England. No collection by English Catholics was ever put to better use. (VOC p. 75.)
   • Benedict made another comeback, assisted by bribery, before being forcibly ejected by Count Boniface of Tuscany on 16 July 1048. A Lateran synod of Apr. 1049 excommunicated him. (ODP.)
   • Other popes/antipopes(?) elected during his life subsequent to his election include:
     
     

     1	Sylvester III	146a*th Pope	Feb. 1044	Apr. 1044
     2	Gregory VI	147th Pope	May 05, 1045	Dec 20, 1046	not deposed - he resigned voluntarily. **
     3	Clement II	148th Pope	Dec 24. 1046	Oct 09, 1047
     4	Damasus II	149th Pope	Jul 17, 1048	Aug 09, 1048
     5	Leo IX	150th Pope	Feb 12, 1049	Apr 19+, 1054 (CTS)

     
     
     * Enumeration by CTS.   ** (PFG p.121.)
     
     
   • Nicholas II {153rd P.} On Apr. 13, 1059 promulgated a momentous electoral decree providing that: papal elections should conform with the reformer's principles having the immediate objects of
     1. stamping Benedict IX's election as uncanonical, and
     2. legitimising the irregular features of his own. (ODP.)

There is nothing herein which is intended to discredit the Doctrines and Dogma of the Roman Catholic Church to which I fully subscribe. I would be most grateful for correction on any matter.

John Loughnan
jloughnan@hotmail.com

• CTS - Catholic Truth Society: London - The Popes From St Peter to Pius XII; 1956

• KOTK - Cheetham, Nicholas - Keepers of the Keys, The Pope in History; Macdonald
• ODP - Kelly, J.N.D. - The Oxford Dictionary of Popes; Oxford University Press; Reprinted 1987.
• PAC - Dilling, Elizabeth - The Plot Against Christianity.
• PFG - Prinz, Joachim - Popes From The Ghetto; Schocken Books. 1966.
• VOC - deRosa, Peter - Vicars of Christ, The Dark Side of the Papacy; Corgi.1988