The Backstory: Party Like a Pope!

While watching the Catholic Church choose a new pope earlier this month, it seemed completely immersed in tradition. But Pope Leo the 14th is a very different leader than an earlier namesake . . Pope Leo the Tenth, from the powerful Medici family. His reign in the early 1500s and his love of partying and living like a king . . brought about one of the biggest religious upheavals in European history.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
While he watched the funeral of one pope earlier this
month and the election of another Pope, Leo the fourteenth,
whose inaugural mass was just this week. But there was
another Leo, Pope Leo the tenth, and his reign was
one of the wildest in history. A cardinal at the
age of thirteen, he was elected pope in fifteen thirteen
at the age of just thirty eight, and for him

(00:22):
it was all about partying to excess. I'm Paddi Steele,
party like a pope. That's next on the backstory. The
backstory is back. Born Giovanni de Lorenzo de Medici in
fourteen seventy five, Pope Leo the tenth had a lot
to live up to right from the beginning. His father

(00:44):
was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, as a little intimidating
for his kid, and the Medici family was the most
powerful in their city of Florence, and in fact in
all of Italy. For a time, they were the richest
family in Europe. They had interests in politics, banking, and
of course the church. In fact, Leo the tenth was
the first of four Medici popes, as well as two

(01:06):
queens of France, including the controversial Catherine de Medici. So
they held on to their power for centuries. What did
they do well? The Medici family paid for the rebuilding
of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and they financially backed
artists and scientists like Donatello Barticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,

(01:27):
Raphael Machiavelli, and Galileo, among many others. They actually funded
the invention of the piano as well as opera as
we know it. So young Giovanni was propelled into power
by his family legacy and by his father, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Amazingly,
he was made a cardinal at the age of just thirteen.

(01:48):
He grew up in the lap of luxury, deeply cultured
and totally political, and he loved that life. His father
wanted each of his sons to be even more influential
than he was himself. So what's next after you've become
a cardinal at thirteen. Well, in fifteen thirteen, Giovanni reached
the pinnacle at just thirty eight years of age. Following

(02:09):
the death of Pope Julius the Second, Giovanni de Medici
was elected pope. He took the name Leo the Tenth.
Now it was time to party like a king, or
in his case, like a pope. The celebrations were insanely extravagant.
Leo famously said, since God has given us the papacy,
let us enjoy it. He wanted to live like a king,

(02:32):
and boy did he no vow of poverty. For him.
His life was all about extravagant feasts, huge parties, and
throwing around huge sums of money to fund the arts
and culture. The papal court of Leo the Tenth rivaled
that of any king or queen in Europe. Masterpieces funded
by him and created by Michelangelo, Raphael and others are

(02:54):
considered priceless today. But Leo wanted more. He was involved
in a lot of political intrigue, and his military ambitions
pushed him to gather even more territorial and political power,
and so he built a powerful army to secure the
takeover of more territories for the Medici family, and he
went to war. That's where it started to get sticky.

(03:17):
He was spending huge amounts of church money on his battles,
and there were people within the Church that started to
question it. Most notably the German priest Martin Luther. Pope
Leo attempted to raise money, ostensibly for the church, but
mostly to fund his own extravagant lifestyle, his artistic ambitions,
and his military by selling what are called indulgences. These

(03:41):
were essentially documents promising forgiveness and reduce time in purgatory
for a price. Wow, we could all use that now.
In Germany, a friar working with Leo became infamous for
selling these indulgences. His sales pitch as soon as a
coin in the Kaufer Rings a soul from per progatory springs.

(04:01):
Martin Luther was furious over the corrupt money and the
departure from honesty and spirituality. So this was actually the
beginning of the Protestant Reformation and the division of the Church.
All thanks to Leo. Martin Luther, helped by the newly
invented printing press, was able to spread his angry message
all over Europe. Leo, the Party Pope, at first thought

(04:24):
it was no big deal that Luther was really just
to nobody, but soon his ideas spread like wildfire, and
Leo's luxurious lifestyle was suddenly an easy target. For criticism.
Luther openly denounced the pope's excesses, contrasting his lavish lifestyle
in Rome with the humble teachings of Jesus Christ. The

(04:46):
Pope's extravagant banquets, elaborate parties, and intense political meddling validated
Luther's claims. Now Leo was starting to get irritated. He
denounced Luther, calling him a heretic. He said he'd be
excommunicating if he didn't retract his statements about Leo. Martin
Luther decided to double down on his attacks, and finally,

(05:07):
in January of fifteen twenty one, Leo the Tenth excommunicated Luther.
But instead of silencing him, the excommunication put Luther squarely
in the spotlight. All over Germany and beyond, everybody began
to follow Martin Luther and denounce the medici Pope Leo.
They all agreed the church needed to change. Leo had

(05:29):
indirectly transformed Luther's criticism into a political and religious revolution,
the Protestant Reformation. But Leo didn't get it. He kept
spending money and trying to gather power. He lavishly entertained
he lived like a king, completely oblivious to criticism. In
doing so, he had ignited one of history's most profound

(05:51):
religious and cultural upheavals. He's remembered for his artistic and
cultural contributions, but he was completely led in any spiritual direction.
Martin Luther went on to create the Lutheran Church and
to inspire other Protestant religions, changing the religious and cultural
landscape all over Europe. As for Pope Leo the Tenth,

(06:14):
the Partying Metichi Pope, he died of pneumonia just months
after excommunicating Martin Luther. He was just forty five years old.
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(06:35):
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(06:56):
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the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.