No other Pope in all of history has held the position more than once..but Pope Benedict IX held the throne of St. Peter THREE TIMES!! The only virtue, supposedly of the "Boy Pope" is that he wasn't imposed on the Italian people by the conquering Germans.
But the Germans could hardly fare worse. God himself expressed his displeasure with Benedict when, as Benedict presided at the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the sun was swallowed up and there befell a dreadful darkness at mid-day. Nothing, however, is as great a crime as his monumental simony.
Simony, the buying and selling of sacred and spiritual things, is how Benedict came to power. He was barely more than a boy, and a lay man known as Theorhylactus, when he was named pope in 1032. His father, Alberic III paid handsomely for the honor. The brother of Pope John XIX, Alberic sought to turn the most holy position into a family heirloom. He succeeded.
Benedict later had the gall to sell the title. Sensing the public was again turning on him, he let his own godfather, John Gratian, pay dearly for the privilege of becoming Pope Gregory VI.
It didn't take long for Benedict to go back on the deal, and, with his armed supporters, declare himself Pope again.
Finally, King Henry III of Germany had to march down and straighten out the mess. Gregory was deposed and dragged off to Germany..Benedict hid, and reclaimed the papacy.
It's hardly a way for Holy Men to act -- but -- we're getting what they pay for!!
