“Our” pope, John XII, ruled over Western Christendom from 955-963 some six hundred years after Pope Damasus. Damasus had been appointed by the Emperor Theodosius, but by the time of John XII, popes were elected by the people of Rome. Well, that's kind of misleading, for while the people of the city did vote for the pope, the vast majority of those votes were bought by powerful families who either had a son or other family member “running” for the position. Essentially, the position of pope went to the highest bidder. What's more the candidates for the position were oftentimes not exactly “paragons of virtue.”

As a matter of fact, some of them, like John XII did not know or care much about religion at all. What many popes and their backers cared about was POWER, and in the Middle Ages, the pope was considered infallible. In other words, he could make no mistakes, at least as far as it concerned most the people. Kings and emperors were another matter, and at many times in history, the popes were tools of those who held military power. The pope, however, held the balance, for winning the pope over to your side was costly. In return for his support, rulers often had to pay bribes, give up land and at least to some degree, listen to what the pope “suggested”, for the pope had the ultimate weapon – excommunication. Being “excommunicated” meant that a person was no longer able to take part in Church rites. The practices, such as Holy Communion, confession, and attending Mass. Without these rites and practices, a person could NOT ever ascend to Heaven, and could not, at least in theory, associate with any Christian, and all of the Christians in Western Europe at the time were Catholic.

The pope had tremendous power. John XII Before he took his “papal name” of John, he was known as “Octavianus.” His father, the powerful ruler of Rome, Duke Alberic II, named him after the first Roman emperor, Octavian – also known as Augustus, for Alberic wanted his son to follow him not only as the political leader of Rome, but as pope. Alberic's family, the Tusculum clan, had ruled the area for decades. They were rich, powerful and respected, and Alberic himself was well-loved. After his death in 954, the rich and powerful in Rome made certain that Octavianus was elected pope, and the 18 year old became one of the most powerful and richest men in the world as “John XII.”