The Time the Catholic Church Put a Corpse on Trial 💀⚖️
So in 897 AD, the Catholic Church decided they weren’t done beefing with a dead guy. They put a literal corpse on trial.

Pope Stephen VI was so pissed at Pope Formosus, who had died months earlier, that he dug up his rotting body, dressed it in papal robes, and sat it on a throne. Weekend at Bernie’s: Vatican Edition.

A whole-ass courtroom debated with a corpse while a terrified deacon had to “speak” on its behalf. Obviously, the dead guy lost, so they cut off his blessing fingers, stripped him, and tossed him into the river.

Then, a few months later, Stephen got strangled to death in prison, and Formosus got reburied with honors. Moral of the story? Don’t mess with a dead pope.

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