Boniface VI (896): Died after about 15 days in office – the second shortest Papal term of office in history. He was elected despite having been defrocked twice (once from the sub-diaconate, and once from the priesthood, and without being canonically reinstated to orders) by Pope John VIII for immorality. [3]
Stephen VI (896-897): Exhumed the corpse of Pope Formosus (891-896), tried the body for offenses against canon law in the “Cadaver Synod,” and had the former Pope's body mutilated (the three fingers used for blessing were chopped off) and the remains tossed into the Tiber. This outraged the population to the point of insurrection. Stephen was deposed and strangled – and then buried in St. Peter's.
Sergius III (904-911): Jailed and strangled his predecessor Leo V (903), as well as the antipope Christopher who had overthrown Leo. Sergius reaffirmed the “Cadaver Synod” verdict against Pope Formosus, and bore an illegitimate son with the Theophylact noblewoman Marozia; the boy later became Pope John XI.
John X (914-928): In order to gain the release of the French King (Charles the Simple) from his imprisonment by Count Heribert of Aquitaine, John confirmed the election of the Count's five-year-old son as Archbishop of Rheims.
John XII (955-964): Elected at age 18, deposed for “perfidy and treason” in 963, overthrew his successor after a few months, and “died at age twenty-eight – of a stroke suffered while in the bed of a married woman.” [4] A traditionalist historian says, “The Lateran Palace was called a brothel in his day, thanks to his diverse taste in lovers – both in terms of gender and number.”[5] John “did not hesitate to consecrate as bishop a ten-year-old boy as token of his affection, or to give sacred vessels to prostitutes.”[6]
John XIX (1024-1032): Won election through bribery.
Benedict IX (1032-1045): According to a traditionalist historian, “his personal life was so disgusting (filled as it was with mistresses and rumors of incest and sodomy) that one of the city's factions was able to rally support against him and drive Benedict out of Rome.”[7] After he fought his way back to power, he soon “accepted a bribe to abdicate in favor of his godfather, the arch priest John Gratian. [8]
Gregory VI (1045-1046): John Gratian was deposed for having bought election to the Papacy.