~*Catholic Popes Who Practiced Sorcercery*~

LEO 1 (pope 440-61). Also called St.Leo The Great, he was said to practice sorcery and black magic. He waged a power struggle against his Bishops and attacked Manichaeism in Italy.

LEO 111 (pope 795-816) He was credited with writing a magical Grimore, the ENCHIRIDION, which he sent to Charlemagne, who protected him after Leo 111 was physically attacked by the family of one of his predecessor.

SYLVESTER ll (pope 999-1003) A learned man interested in science and the arts, Sylvester ll also was a reputed necromancer who won the papacy through spells. He reportedly had a demon mistress named Meridiana, who satisfied his cardnal lust and provided him wih material wealth. According to legand, Sylvester ll sold his soul to the Devil, who gave him a bronze head that gave oracular responses. The head predicted that Sylvester would not die, "except at Jerusalem". While giving Mass one day at a church in Rome , the Pope fell ill.Remembering the Oracle's prophecy, he asked for the name of the church and was told it was the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. The Pope knew the prophecy had come true, and he died.He was buried in Lateran, and his tomb reputedly sweats prior to the death of a prominent person. If a pope is going to die, the legand goes, the sweat is so heavy that it turns into a stream and creates a large puddle.

Gregory Vll (pope 1081-84) The Synod of Bressanone pronounced him a sorcerer on June 25, 1080, prior to his becoming pope. He was an austere reformer, much opposed by cardinals.

Honorius lll (pope 1216-27) Said to have written a new version of a magical GRIMORE, the Black Book.

Boniface Vlll (pope 1294-1303) Boniface Vlll found hs authority seriously challanged by the monarchies of Western Europe. He possesed a keen and superior intellect, which was tarnished by a short temper & an impulsive nature. Philip lV of France, one of his main opponents, whom he intended to excommunicate, used defamation, forgery and intimidation against him, including accusations of sorcery and heresy.Boniface was charged with making a pact with Demons and conjuring them regularly; keeping an IMP in a ring on his finger;infidelity; and while still a cardinal, sacrificing a rooster in a black-magic spell one night in a garden. Futhermore, it was said that when he died, he confessed his demonic pacts on his deathbed, and the moment of his death caused, according to one account,"so much thunder and tempest, with dragons flying in the air and vomiting flames, such lightning and other prodigies, that the people of Rome believed that the whole city was going to be swollowed up in the Abyss". Boniface was exonerated of all charges posthumously in 1312.

Benedict Xlll (pope 1394-1417) An Antipope, Benedict Xlll was believed to hold "continuous traffic with spirits...(keep) two demons.....in a little bag.....and(look) everywhere for books on Magic.

John XXlll(pope 1410-15) An antipope who supposedly enlisted the magical help of ABRAMELIN THE MAGE to save him from the Council of Constance, which deposed him.

Sixtus V (poep 1585-90) According to legand, pope Sixtus V sold his soul to the Devil in order to gain the papacy. Born Felice Peretti, he entered the Franciscan order and was sent to Spain in 1565 to investigate the alleged heresy of the Archbishop of Toledo. He stirred-up animosity in Spain, and when he was named the pope in 1585, the Spaniards accused him of entering a pact with Satan. The story goes that the Devil granted Sixtus a six-year reign. After five years, the pope fell gravely ill, and the Devil appeared at his bedside one night to collect his soul. The pope protested that he still had one year left on his contract. The Devil said he was reneging on one year, because Sixtus earlier had sentenced to death a young man who was one year too young according to law. The pope had no rebuttal, and died.

During his papacy, Sixtus spent huge sums of money on public-works projects, such as the completion of the Dome of St.Peter's. He also authorized Philip ll of Spain to send his Armanda against England. According to legand, the Witches of England raised a psychic force to cause storms at sea and help defeat Armada.

(Witches & Witchcraft-second edition, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley)

DEBATE: How far is the separation of organized religion from "Pagan" teachings? (All Protestant faiths resulted from the original church, historically founded by Constantine the Great, and combined the "new" Judeism with the local pagan traditions. The teachings of Jesus Christ were combined with the Pagan traditions.)

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