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Training. >> nepotism tended to produce a group of wealthy para sites who lived like grandese, who were also clergy. >> he was incompetent. he was morally compromised in many ways. >> benedict was up to his neck in robbery and murder. he was using his position to gain wealth at the expense of the people of rome. >> by the year 1044, the cardinals are fed up. they decide the church needs a real spiritual and political leader, something must be done. >> the holiest priest in rome came to him and said, "you need to step down for the good of the church, what can i give you?" and made him some sort...

Gregory vi. then the really scandalous thing happened. benedict's lady love decided not to marry him after all and he decided he wanted the papacy back. gregory vi said, no, i'm pope. sylvester iii who is still in the village said, don't forget about me and now we have three popes. we have three popes and there is no one to declare which one is the most legitimate. >> benedict's, sylvester's and gregory's factions all fight in the streets of rome over who is the rightful heir to the papal throne, and in the end benedict ix's wealthy family wins again. >> benedict is pope three times in the end...

Over the church, the french king lays the ground work for what will be the papacy's most notorious resignation by undermining its very foundation. >> peter is buried on the vatican hill and st. peter's basilica is built over his tomb. popes are seen as inheriting that charisma and that role, standing in for the apostle. his tomb is the foundation charter for the papacy. >> but king phillip demand that pope clement leave the legacy of st. peter in rome and move the papacy to operate under his thumb in france. >> the pope eventually will end upsetting up yardequarters at

Resignation was a devastating comment on the last or six years of his predecessor. a flight in the face of the whole theology of the papacy as it had evolved in modern times. the notion that john paul had propagated that the papacy was a cross which was laid on your shoulders and you could not shake it off. ben detective sa benedict said well, it's a job and if you can't do it, let somebody else try. >> narrator: by resigning in old age, pope benedict xvi made a clear statement about the divinity of the papal office. >> that was a reminder of anybody in a position of authority or power, it's n...

Which is, of course, against the canyons. >> in the 11th century, conclaves had not yet been invented. popes are often chosen by brute force or nepotism. >> buying church power was considered one of the worst sins there was, so the fact that he had actually sold the papacy in return for money was appalling to everyone. >> for the first time in recorded history, a pope resigns in exchange for money, which catapults the papacy into the world of dirty politics. >> the papacy becomes a pawn in the politics of central italy. >> but though the young pope accepts the cardinal's bribe, this will not b...