Benedict IX
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Pope Benedict IX |
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| Papacy began | October 1032 (first term) April 1045 (second term) November 1047 (third term) |
| Papacy ended | September 1044 (first term) May 1045 (second term) July 1048 (third term) |
| Predecessor |
John XIX (first term) Sylvester III (second term) Clement II (third term) |
| Successor |
Sylvester III (first term) Gregory VI (second term) Damasus II (third term) |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Theophylactus of Tusculum |
| Born | c. 1012 Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | c. December 1055/January 1056 (age 43) Grottaferrata, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
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Papal styles of Pope Benedict IX |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | none |
Pope Benedict IX (Latin: Benedictus IX; c. 1012 – c. 1056), born Theophylactus of Tusculum in Rome, was Pope on three occasions between October 1032 and July 1048. Aged approximately 20 at his first election, he is one of the youngest popes in history. He is the only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy.
Benedict was the son of Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, and was a nephew of Pope Benedict VIII and Pope John XIX. His father obtained the Papal chair for him by bribing the Romans.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia Benedict IX was about 20 when made pontiff in October 1032. Other sources state 11 or 12, based upon the unsubstantiated testimony of Rupert Glaber, a monk of St. Germanus at Auxerre. Benedict IX reportedly led an extremely dissolute life and allegedly had few qualifications for the papacy other than connections with a socially powerful family. In terms of theology and the ordinary activities of the Church he was entirely orthodox.
His life was incredibly scandalous, and factional strife continued. The anti-papal historian Ferdinand Gregorovius wrote that in Benedict, "It seemed 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." The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him "a disgrace to the Chair of Peter." He was the first pope rumoured to have been primarily homosexual.Pope Victor III, in his third book of Dialogues, referred to "his rapes, murders and other unspeakable acts of violence and sodomy. His life as a pope was so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it."
According to Reginald Lane Poole, "In a time of acute political hostility accusations, as we know too well, are made and are believed, which in a calmer time would never have been suggested." He further suggests the credibility of such accusations was determined by probability rather than proof, and a reaction to the Tusculum hegemony.
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