Balthazar Cossa is the most sinful Pope of Rome, accused of rape, torture and piracy

In the Middle Ages, in order to become a Pope, it was not necessary to undergo a complex procedure of election and consecration — he robbed several monasteries, sold a lot of gold and bought himself the rank of bishop, everything. That is why the term "antipope" appeared in the Catholic Church, which was used to refer to a person who illegally held the title of Pope.

One of these people was the Neapolitan Balthazar Cossa, later known as John XXIII. Read about how he managed to become the head of the Church and about all the known sins of this man (and, by the way, there were more than 70 of them!) in our material.

History remembers the names of dozens of anti-popes who committed many sins and were expelled from the church in disgrace. But some of them-especially terrible and odious personalities-managed to distinguish themselves and become known among the people as real monsters. Such antipopes include John XXIII.

He was born in 1370 in the family of the count of the island Procida. All of Balthazar's brothers were pirates, so it is not surprising that at the age of 13 he decided to follow in their footsteps.

The young pirate really liked to sail on galleys and rob the coast, this literally became his main hobby. But when Balthazar turned 20, his mother demanded that he stop engaging in piracy – she really wanted at least one of the children to take up his mind. Then Kossa abandoned his childhood hobby and went to the city to get an education. By the way, in the future, all of Balthazar's brothers will be executed by hanging, so his mother, with her ban, we can say, saved his life.

At that time, he himself was studying science at the theological faculty of the University of Bologna. Balthazar was a fairly sociable guy, endowed with leadership abilities. Thanks to this, he soon became the leader of a" gang "of novice priests, who were often called"The Ten Devils" in the city. In their free time from school, they were engaged in hooliganism and robberies, and sometimes they visited women.

One day, another such prank turned into problems for Balthazar. Hiding from the authorities, the young theologian found refuge in a place where Yandra della Scala, a beautiful witch, was already hiding, which the inquisitors planned to burn at the stake. Trembling feelings flared up between the young people, so when they were still found and put in prison, Balthazar, without hesitation, killed two guards to save his beloved.

The alleged portrait of Yandra della Scala

After that, a real hunt began for the future Pope. Every corner of the city was thoroughly combed – it was ordered to find the traitor and send him to the stake. Then Balthazar, through old acquaintances, sent a message to his pirate friends, who immediately arrived in Bologna to rescue him. Then there was the sea again, piracy, riots, arson, murders, robberies and a lot of corpses. It seemed that Balthazar angered the Lord himself – his entire fleet once went to the bottom.

Then the man promised that, having reached the shore, he would definitely become a priest. However, instead, he fell into the hands of another atypapa – Urban VI. He was known for his domineering nature, excessive cruelty, as well as a passion for executions and torture. By the way, it was his rule that at one time marked the beginning of the Great Western Schism.

Urban VI

It so happened that Urban VI saw in Balthazar a future receiver. To carry out executions and tortures, he needed an assistant, and the position of "sadyuga" went to our hero. When Urban died, Balthazar, who was already famous for his "talents" at that time, became an assistant to Boniface IX, who elevated him to the cardinal rank.

Balthazar Kossa

A year later, Boniface gave the new cardinal a responsible task – to pacify the inhabitants of Bologna who dared to detach themselves from the papal possessions. Balthazar decided not to cry for his homeland and pacified his compatriots so that the Pope even became afraid of him. In the memoirs of the Vatican Secretary Dietrich von Neem it is said:

Nevertheless, Balthazar received a generous reward for his "merits" – now Bologna belonged to him. At the same time, he made sure that his friends, who once released him from prison, also did not remain offended. He made Rineri Guinji a bishop, and a completely uneducated one-eyed Guindaccio Buonacorso remained a simple priest.

As time went on, Balthazar began to get tired of"small things". It's time to play the role of the first plan. Then there were already two popes in the world – one in Avignon, the other in Rome. Therefore, the presence of a third pope almost did not bother anyone. But Balthazar did not immediately take up this high position. He arranged everything so that he would become a dad first Peter Filarg, who received the name Alexander V.

Alexander wore the tiara for only ten months, since he died suddenly, presumably not without the help of Balthazar. Then the already mature pirate again called all the cardinals and declared that he was ready to become the new Pope under the name John XXIII. And he did.

Caricature of John XXIII - the pope is depicted as the Jewish high priest who sentenced Jesus Christ to death

But fortunately, he did not have to lead the Church for too long. Intelligent people soon noticed that the Holy Father John XXIII, to put it mildly, is not the best person. In 1414, he arrived at the Council of Constance, the purpose of which was to unite the Roman Catholic Church and end the Great Western Schism. By the way, just then, under the supervision of John, the famous Czech preacher Jan Hus was accused of heresy and burned at the stake.

Each of the popes then hoped that he would become the only Pope in the world, and John was no exception. But the emperors, hierarchs and other serious people gave them a surprise-they overthrew all the popes in general and appointed a new one – Martin V. Balthazar was charged with 74 counts, including incest (sex with his own granddaughter), rape, sale of holy relics and church titles, robbery, piracy, murder of Pope Urban, torture, arson of monasteries and much more.

The tombstone on the grave of the antipope, located in the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence

Do you think the story is over? And here it is not! By some miracle, John managed to escape, and when he was caught and arrested, he got out of prison by bribing the guards. Having preserved his incredible arrogance to the end, he himself came to the new Pope Martin V and asked him to appoint him a bishop. And he appointed it.

So Balthazar lived "happily ever after" for another four years, until he died on December 22, 1419, presumably from cancer.

After the overthrow and death of Balthazar, for almost 550 years, no pope dared to take the name John – so odious was his personality. Only in 1958, the cardinal Roncalli, who was elected head of the Church, took the name John XXIII, thus emphasizing that Cossa was never a legitimate Pope.