b. 10 September 1487
d. 23 March 1555
When I wrote about Paul II earlier, I referred to Julius III – then realised I have never given you more than a snippet on this flagrant lover of boys including one in particular, a street urchin whom Julius appointed as Cardinal at the grand old age of 17.
In his early career in the Church Julius established a reputation as an effective and trustworthy diplomat, and was elected to the Papacy as a compromise candidate when the Papal Conclave found itself deadlocked between the rival French and German factions. As Pope he lost, or failed to show, any of the qualities which had distinguished his previous career, devoting himself instead to a life of personal pleasure and indolence. His lasting fame, or notoriety, rests rather on his relationship with the 17 year old boy whom he raised to the position of Cardinal-Nephew, and, it was said at the time, with whom he shared his bed.
At the start of his reign Julius had seriously desired to bring about a reform of the Catholic Church and to reconvene the Council of Trent, but very little was actually achieved during his five years in office; apologists ascribe the inactivity of his last three years to severe gout.
In 1551, at the request of the Emperor Charles V, he consented to the reopening of the council of Trent and entered into a league against the duke of Parma and Henry II of France (1547–59), but soon afterwards made terms with his enemies and suspended the meetings of the council (1553).
The Innocenzo scandal
Julius’s particular failures were around his nepotism and favouritism. One notable scandal surrounded his adoptive nephew, Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, a 13 or 14-year old beggar-boy whom the future Pope had picked up on the streets of Parma some years earlier and with whom he had allegedly fallen in love.On being elected to the Papacy Julius raised the now 17-year old but still uncouth and quasi-illiterate Innocenzoto the cardinalate, appointed him cardinal-nephew, and showering the boy with benefices.
Artistic legacy
Julius spent the bulk of his time, and a great deal of Papal money, on entertainments at the Villa Giulia, created for him byVignola. Julius extended his patronage to the great Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whom he brought to Rome as his maestro di cappella, Giorgio Vasari, who supervised the design of the Villa Giulia, and to Michelangelo, who worked there.
Books:
(Links to Amazon, UK)
- Boswell, John: Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the 14th Century
- Duffy, Eamonn: Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes
- Fletcher, Lynne Y: The First Gay Pope and Other Records
- Quattrocchi, Angelo: The Pope is Not Gay!
(Links to Amazon.com, USA)
- Boswell, John: Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century
- Duffy, Eamonn: Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes; Third Edition
- Fletcher, Lynne Y: First Gay Pope
- Quattrocchi, Angelo: The Pope Is Not Gay!
Related posts:
- Gay Popes, Papal Sodomites
- Gay Popes: John XII (955 – 964)
- Gay Popes: Benedict IX (1012 – 1056)
- Gay Popes: Paul II (1464 – 1471) and His Embarrassing Death
- Gay Popes: Sixtus IV (1471 – 1484)
- Gay Popes: Julius II (1503 – 1513)
- Gay Popes: Leo X (1513 – 1521)
- Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici, Gay Cardinal?
- Cardinal Borghese (1576 – 1633), Patron ofHomoerotc Art
- Cardinal Carlo Carafa, gay cardinal.
- Gay Cardinals: Francesco Maria Del Monte (1549 – 1627)
- Gay Cardinals: Francis Joseph Spellman
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