Famous Popes who killed by People

Bishop of Rome and the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church is call POPE. The office of the pope is known as the papacy, small number of wicked pope also ruled the church in olden times, but in contrast there have been many great ones Pope Saint Gregory the Great, who gave us the present calendar. In the History of papacy there was a great bloodshed. Let’s start from first POPE of the Catholic Church.

Pope St Peter

13 October 64 A.D.

First Pope was original apostle of Jesus Christ, known to be Key holder of Catholic Church, and one of the greatest purveyors of Christianity. Peter became the ire of Emperor Nero of Rome who despised Christians. An order was sent out by Nero for Peter’s arrest,  According to the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Peter labored in Rome during the last portion of his life, and there ended his life by martyrdom.  Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer. This is why an upside down cross is generally accepted as a symbol of Peter, who would not have considered himself worthy enough to die the same way as his Savior.

Pope St Clement I

99 A.D.

After being banished from Rome, Clement I sent to work in a stone quarry, Clement found that his fellow prisoners were suffering from lack of water. After kneeling to pray, he saw a lamb on a hill. He took a pickaxe and struck the ground where the lamb stood, and a stream of water came gushing out. This miracle resulted in the conversion of large numbers of the local pagans and his fellow prisoners to Christianity.. As punishment by the guards, an anchor was tied around Clements neck and he was thrown into the Black Sea.

Pope St Stephen I

2 August 257

Stephen was only Pope for three years, but was loaded by debate both within the church, and from outside forces. Within the church, the debate roared on over the subject of re baptism of lapsed Catholics and the like. Outside the church, though, Emperor Valerian– who had once been an ally of Christians, but later turned away from them– issued two edicts of persecution against the church. Stephen was sitting in his throne, celebrating Mass, when the emperor’s men stormed the room and beheaded Stephen where he sat. The blood-stained throne was preserved by the church until the 18th century.

Pope St Sixtus II

6 August 258

After Stephen I was killed, Sixtus II was elected as the new Pope. During this time, Emperor Valerian had made a mandate that all Christians were strictly to participate in ceremonies honoring the Roman Gods, largely to avoid conflict with the government. As Pope, though, Sixtus was able to avoid this. Unfortunately, not long after the first decree, Valerian sent out another which condemned Christians priests, bishops, and deacons to death. While giving a sermon, Sixtus II was captured by the emperor’s men and put to death by beheading– the first victim of the infamous 258 Persecutions.

Pope John VIII

16 December 882

Some consider him one of the greatest Popes of his times, and others argue otherwise; but neither would disagree that his time was spoiled by political deception. It was only a matter of time before he himself would become the victim of this. There is some speculation as to whether it was a coordinated assassination, or simply done out of jealousy of the churches treasures; but one evening a relative of John VIII visited the Pope, and poisoned his drink. Finding that the poison did not work quickly enough, the relative bashed in John’s head in with a hammer.

Pope Stephen VII

August 897

The thing Pope Stephen VII is most famous for is not any particular decree, or acts of benevolence, but rather for putting a corpse on trial. Specifically, his predecessor, Pope Formosus, was put to trial in what would become known as the Cadaver Synod. Upon finding dead Pope Formosus guilty of all charges, Stephen VII had him stripped of his papal vestments, three fingers removed from his right hand, his body thrown into the Tiber river, and all the former Pope’s laws and ordinations annulled. Sadly for Stephen VII, the trial caused frenzy and he was imprisoned, and later put to death by strangling.

Pope Benedict VI

June 974

It seems Benedict VI never did a whole lot himself, and yet he was intended to suffer for the transgressions of his predecessor, Pope John XIII, who during his time as Pope made several enemies amongst the nobility in Europe. John at one point was captured and exiled, yet managed to return and had several of his enemies hung for their parts in his exile. John went on to die a natural death, but unfortunately Benedict was not as fortunate. Only a year and a half after being elected Pope, a priest named Crescentius I– brother of the late Pope John XIII– was ordered to capture, and later throttle Benedict VI to death.

Pope John XXI

18 August 1277

Pope for only a very short eight months, John XXI was also a practicing physician and a prolific writer, writing on subjects such as logic, philosophy and medicine. It seems a fitting tribute then that John XXI would be immortalized in Dante’s classic epic poem, the Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia). He is actually the only Pope shown to live in Paradise. But to get to paradise, John XXI met with an unfortunate accident. Shortly after a new wing was added to his Palace in Viterbo, Italy, a section of the poorly constructed roof collapsed in on him while he was asleep in his bed. He died of his injuries eight days later.