Flashback: Pope condemns ‘horrendous crime’ of sodomy, hands guilty clerics to secular authorities
The year was 1568, but the situation in the Catholic Church was uncomfortably similar to our own. After many decades of corruption and moral decadence, the Church faced the scandal of a clergy who was widely reputed to be involved in the “horrendous crime” of sodomy. When the saintly Pope Pius V was elected in 1566, he decided to act. Since the middle of the 15th century, the papacy had been mired in almost continuous scandal as wealthy and powerful Italian families vied for control of the Holy See and the lucrative benefices it controlled. The mentality and behavior of the pontiffs were ostentatiously worldly and became infamous throughout Europe for their nepotistic exploitation of ecclesiastical and governmental offices. Their spending on expensive art and frivolous entertainments brought the papacy close to bankruptcy. Some were even credibly accused of bribing the Cardinals to secure their election, and of selling cardinal appointments. This atmosphere of moral mediocr