Pope John XII (955-963) was accused by his adversaries of adultery and incest. Some sources report that he was rumored to have died 8 days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery, others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.
Pope Benedict IX (1044, again in 1045 and finally 1047-1048). He was accused by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of "many vile adulteries." Pope Victor III referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes... and other unspeakable acts." His life prompted St. Peter Damian to write an extended treatise against sex in general, and homosexuality in particular. In his Liber Gomorrhianus, Damian accused Benedict IX of routine sodomy and bestiality and sponsoring orgies. In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to pursue marriage.
Pope Paul II (1464-1471) is popularly alleged to have died due to indigestion arising from eating melon in excess, though a rumour was spread by the pontiff's detractors that he died while engaging in sodomy.
Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) was alleged to have awarded gifts and benefices to court favourites in return for sexual favours. Giovanni Sclafenato was created a cardinal by Sixtus IV for "ingenuousness, loyalty,...and his other gifts of soul and body", according to the papal epitaph on his tomb.
Pope Alexander VI (January 1, 1431 - August 18, 1503), born Rodrigo Borja (Italian: Rodrigo Borgia), Pope from 1492 to 1503), is the most controversial of the Popes of the Renaissance, whose surname became a byword for low standards in the papacy of that era.
A career highlight was the 1501 "Joust of the Whores," when 50 dancers were invited to slowly strip around the pope's table. Alexander and his family gleefully threw chestnuts on the floor, forcing the women to grovel around their feet like swine; they then offered prizes of fine clothes and jewelry for the man who could fornicate with the most women. Alexander's other hobbies included watching horses copulate, which would make him "laugh fit to bust." After his death - quite possibly poisoned by his pathological son, Cesar Borgia - this pope's body was expelled from the basilica of Saint Peter as too evil to be buried in sacred soil.
