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Lateran

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The Footnote July 25, 2026 · Basilica of St John Lateran, Rome

The Cadaver Synod of January 897, in Which Pope Stephen VI Put the Corpse of Pope Formosus on Trial

In January 897 Pope Stephen VI had the nine-month-old corpse of his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, dressed in papal vestments, propped on a throne in the Lateran, and formally tried for perjury and coveting the papacy. The corpse was convicted, mutilated, and thrown into the Tiber.

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The Footnote June 23, 2026 · Lateran Palace, Rome

The Papal Bull That Protected Medieval Jews and Was Reissued by Every Pope for Three Hundred Years

After the Rhineland massacres of 1096, the papacy issued a formal bull that prohibited the killing or forced conversion of Jews. Every subsequent medieval pope reissued it. The bull was widely violated. It nonetheless established the legal framework on which medieval Jewish communities could appeal.

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