When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City

National Catholic Reporter, August 14, 1998 by Michael Farrell

Folks who complain about recent Vatican synods should hark back for perspective to the "cadaver synod" of 897 when Pope Stephen VI ordered the body of a predecessor, Pope Formosus, dug up, his corpse clad in papal vestments, and put on trial in St. John Lateran for perjury and other crimes.

The cadaver synod does not sound like a suitable scene for a child of 6, but Marozia, no ordinary kid, would go on to be "granddaughter of one pope, mistress of a second, the mother of a third, the aunt of a fourth and the grandmother of a fifth."

Hutchinson disentangles the ubiquitous lust, conspiracies, coups and corruption on a monumental scale. Marozia was a prime conniver who suffered mightily for her sins. She was locked up in the dread Castel Sant' Angelo for 54 years, until Pope John XV "took pity" on the now 94-year-old woman, had her exorcised and then executed by smothering.

Why dig up such unpleasant stuff? It sure helps to sell books. But then, one doesn't expect the same high standard from a journalist as from, say, a pope.

Michael Farrell is editor of NCR.