The Pope that Drank Children’s Blood | Pope Innocent VIII

It's Oli from History Profiles and in today's video, I'll be taking you to 15th century Rome, where the powerful clerics of the Church and the Pope would reside. During this time, the most influential men of the Catholic Church would burn alleged witches and sorcerers, engage in the slave trade and own their own personal slaves, and as for the Pope whom I'm about to speak on, he would drink the blood of children. Need it be said that this was a time of evil, corruption and devilry. Pope Innocent VIII would rule the Catholic Church during this time and this is his story. First, let's have a look at his early life. Pope Innocent VIII's birth name was Giovanni Battista and he was born in Genoa, Italy in the year 1432. His father was the Viceroy of Naples and later became the Senator of Rome. So a young Giovanni would have been brought up being wealthy, surrounded by powerful men. He would be educated in Rome and would later become a priest in the entourage of Cardinal Calandrini, who was the half-brother to Pope Nicholas V. Already, a young Giovanni was rubbing shoulders with men of immense wealth and status. Now, a Cardinal is a leading dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, appointed by the Pope. They form the electing college, who elects the succeeding Popes and are the highest rank in the Catholic Church, being second only to the Pope himself. Therefore, being in the presence of a Cardinal would gain Giovanni reputation amongst the clergy of the Catholic Church. In 1467, he was made the Bishop of Sanova by Pope Paul II. Five years later in 1473, he was made a Cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV, with the support of Cardinal Della Rovere. He was now one of the most influential people in the Catholic Church. When Pope Sixtus died in August 1484, there was much plotting and scheming being done amongst the Cardinals. The Cardinals of the Church were immensely wealthy, but with all their earthly riches, something was still missing, and that was immense power, the power of the Pope. They would bribe each other with vast sums of gold and huge estates all over Europe. Nevertheless, many of their efforts bore no fruit, and Giovanni Battista would ascend to the papal throne, with his new name being Pope Innocent VIII. Now having the power he so craved, he would quickly address the kings of Europe and summon them to unite in a new crusade against the Turks. However, this call to war addressing the kings and barons of Europe would fail, as the Pope had a disagreement with King Ferdinand of Naples. Pope Innocent would then excommunicate the king from the Catholic Church, and would invite and encourage King Charles VIII of France to wage war on Naples and take it as his own. The Pope knew the amount of death and devastation that this would bring, but to him, disgracing the defiant King of Naples was worth more than the death of countless innocents. This evil and foolish act of the Pope's would lead Italy into anarchy for several decades, lasting even after his death. As well as this, after his failed attempt to muster up a new crusade against the Turks, he would go on to support them and their ruler, Sultan Bayezid II. He made a deal with the Sultan to keep his brother a captive at the Vatican. Since the Sultan's brother tried to claim the Ottoman throne, he would ultimately go into exile and would later be arrested and came into the hands of the Pope. He would make threats to release the Sultan's brother if the Sultan didn't make his annual payments. Now, Pope Innocent VIII would also engage in the slave trade. He allowed the slave trade to take part under his rule, and didn't condemn it. King Ferdinand of Aragon gifted the Pope 100 slaves, who were shared out with his favoured cardinals. Pope Innocent VIII would also wage war on alleged witches and sorcerers. A German inquisitor named Heinrich Kramer requested for a papal bull, which is a legal papal document to be released, which supported his investigation methods, and the Pope would indulge him on his request. He issued the papal bull Summis Desiderantes which reads, Many persons of both sexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic faith, have abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and by their incantations, spells, conjurations, and other accursed charms of crafts, enormities and horrid offences, have slain infants yet in the mother's womb, as also the offspring of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of the trees. Nay, men and women, beasts of berthen, herd beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pasture land, corn, wheat, and all other cereals, these wretches furthermore afflict and torment men and women, beasts of berthen, hard beasts, as well as animals of other kinds with terrible and piteous pains and sore diseases, both internal and external. They hinder men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving. They blasphemously renounce the faith which is theirs by the sacrament of baptism, and at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, they do not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations and filthiest excess to the deadly peril of their own souls. The abominations and enormities in question remain unpunished, not without open danger to the souls of many and peril of eternal damnation." This document in essence repeated Kramer's view that there was an outbreak of witchcraft and heresy in Germany. It urged local authorities to work with the inquisitors, who would question and torture alleged sorcerers. Those who impeded their work were threatened with excommunication. This papal bull would open the door for later witch hunts in history, which no doubt caused the death of many innocents. In 1492, the Pope felt his life slipping away. He would soon become very skinny and would be described as a mass of flesh and bone, incapable of assimilating any nourishment but a few drops of milk from a young woman's breast. Terrified of death, the Pope resulted to doing something which he would condemn people of sorcery for, the consumption of another person's blood. He was advised by alleged so-called doctors to drink the blood of young boys. The consensus was that if blood brought life, ingesting more of the life-giving liquid could restore a life, even if it was on the brink of death. It is said that many young boys were drained of all their blood, killing them in the process. Pope Innocent would drink on their blood, believing their sacrifices may help him prolong his life, but he would still fall more and more ill. He would die on the 25th of July, 1492, aged 60. Before his death, he would acknowledge that he had not been a great Pope and would ask his cardinals to forgive him for all his failings and then urge them to elect a better man as the next Pope. Pope Innocent VIII's legacy was one of failure, war and bloodshed. He failed to unite Christendom for his dream of a new crusade. He was the direct cause of a war between France and Naples and his actions resulted in the deaths of many people. During his entire reign as Pope, even as his demise grew near, he agreed to ungodly methods to try to save him from death. He paved the way for witch hunts all over Europe and with all of this said, he was a terrible man. Most men crave power and it seems they will do almost anything to get it and power corrupts the mind and soul. The Pope, who stands at the pinnacle of the church and sits on the papal throne, is meant to be an example to all with titles such as his holiness. So why did this meant to be a moral man, give his cardinals slaves, agree with the slave trade and would start wars causing the deaths of thousands? Let me know your thoughts on Pope Innocent VIII's actions in the comments section down below. If you enjoyed the video, make sure to like and subscribe and hit that notification bell to make sure you don't miss out on any regular content. Anyway, I'll see you all soon for another history profile.