Pope Leo X (1475)

Leo X, born into the important Florentine Medici family, rose to the papacy in 1513. He was a patron of the arts and a generous almsgiver, but he was also strongly criticized for his lavish lifestyle. He was not greatly interested in the advancement of the Church, and when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, Leo X's subsequent excommunication of Luther did little to stem the tide of the Reformation. What massive animal did he keep as a pet? More...

I've read two postmodernistic novels where Pope Leo X is a character: “The Pope's Rhinoceros” by Lawrence Norfolk and “Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf” by David Madsen. Both are brilliant.

revelation and truth of Evil

When Pope Julius II died on February 21, 1513 , Giovanni de' Medici (to become Leo X) was very ill of venereal disease at Florence and was carried to Rome in a litter.

Upon this, the cardinals consulted with physicians of the enclave, to know what the matter was. They, being bribed earlier [by Giovanni de' Medici himself], said de' Medici could not live a month; which sentence occasioned his being chosen pope. Thus Giovanni de' Medici, then 38 years of age, was elected pope on false information and, as joy is the most sovereign of all remedies, he soon recovered his health, so that the old cardinals soon had reason to repent.

Leo gathered about him a company of gross men: flatterers, purveyors of indecent jokes and stories, and writers of obscene comedies which were often performed in the Vatican with cardinals as actors. His chief friend was Cardinal Bimmiena, whose comedies were more obscene than any of ancient Athens or Rome and who was one of the most immoral men of his time. Leo had to eat temperately for he was morbidly fat, but his banquets were as costly as they were vulgar and the coarsest jesters and loosest courtesans sat with him and the cardinals. Since these things are not disputed, the Church does not deny the evidence of his vices. In public affairs he was the most notoriously dishonourable Vicar of Christ of the Renaissance period, but it is not possible here to tell the extraordinary story of his alliances, wars and cynical treacheries. His nepotism was as corrupt as that of any pope, and when some of the cardinals conspired to kill him he had the flesh of their servants ripped off with red-hot pincers to extract information.

http://one-evil.org/content/people_16c_leo_x.html

Place your trust in God not men. The Word will always be true. Human nature will sometimes disappoint.

Yep, libido is a damn hard thing to fight. It's embedded deep in the brain, it's not enough to shut your eyes & think of Jesus/England/Mother or whatever. If you try to quash it, a repressed libido can be dangerous.