Product Description

'Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman' - St Augustine 'Soliloquies' In the last 2,000 years the Popes have set the sexual agenda for almost a quarter of the world's population. But while preaching chastity from on high many have practised something altogether more dissolute. The Pope was the most powerful man on earth. He was a man with a direct line to God and there was no one who could tell him he could not sleep with whoever he wanted. There was a female Pope too, this only became apparent when she gave birth in the street. Added to that there have been pornographers, homosexuals, paedophiles, womanisers, perverts and good old-fashioned adulterers who have occupied the Holy See. A new, updated edition of this best-selling title, Sex Lives of the Popes is a humorous expose of papal promiscuity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45331 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From the Author
The newest books in my Sex Lives series have a list of all the
personalities that appear the books, so you can play "International Daisy
Chain". This is a game invented, not by me, but by Truman Capote. Pick any
two people from the list and see how many lovers you need to daisy chain
between them. The player who joins them with the least lovers wins. Play it
at home or in bed - or why not try a game of "Strip Daisy Chain"?

Customer Reviews

Selling licenses for keeping mistresses
This book emphasizes on the attitude of the popes towards the sex lives of their priests. Many popes were concerned with the celibacy of their priests and forbade marriage for priests. However, they used to sell them licenses for keeping mistresses. Usually, they were prepared to tolerate priests who kept incestuous relations with female relatives or raped women in the church. "When a woman fainted during confession and the priest seized the opportunity to rape her, the Inquisition found that this, technically, was not a case of soliciting." The pope's only concern was that priests would defile the sacrament when handling it afterwards.
The passages about the sex lives of the popes themselves are mainly based on hearsay. Cawthorne accuses several popes of incest with either their sisters or bastard daughters, like pope Alexander VI Borgia, who retired with his daughter to "an interior room and remained locked up together for more than an hour". In secret she gave birth to a baby that was hidden, but that doesn't prove that her father was the father. Many other popes seem to have had preferences for young boys, prostitutes or sex-and-food orgies in general.
Despite many unproven accusations, the book clearly shows that many popes were mainly concerned with their own pleasures and did not give a damn about Christian values. Anyway, the book is good reading stuff.