Pope Boniface VIII

Papal quotations and later process

King Philip IV of France initiated a process against the memory of pope Boniface VIII in 1310. Although inspired by his personal hatred of the deceased pope, the many witnesses and their statements are regarded as credible by modern historiography. Especially the testimonies in the examination held at Groseau in the August and September of 1310 revealed many bold sayings of Boniface VIII, partially rather nihilist-hedonist, partially remarkably critical-freethinking. E.g., Boniface VIII was reported to have said,

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• The Christian religion is a human invention like the faith of the Jews and the Arabs;
• The dead will rise just as little as my horse which died yesterday;
• Mary, when she bore Christ, was just as little a virgin as my own mother when she gave birth to me;
• Sex and the satisfaction of natural drives is as little a sin as handwashing;
• Paradise and hell only exist on earth; the healthy, rich and happy people live in the earthly paradise, the poor and the sick are in the earthly hell;
• The world will exist forever, only we do not;
• Any religion and especially Christianity does not only contain some truth, but also many errors. The long list of Christian untruth includes trinity, the virgin birth, the godly nature of Jesus, the eucharistic transformation of bread and wine into the body of Christ and the resurrection of the dead.

In spite of these reported comments, the process against his memory was settled without a result in 1312.

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