1045: The godfather of Benedict IX persuaded the controversial pope to resign his role as leader of the Catholic Church in exchange for an undisclosed sum—the only time in recorded history in which money changed hands over the papacy. Benedict, born Theophylactus of Tusculum, had already abdicated and returned to the papacy twice, once in 1036 and again in 1044. He had ascended to the highest ranks of the Church while still a teenager, and Benedict IX’s historical reputation is one filled with scandal and licentiousness. Pope Victor III, in a volume of his Dialogues, referred to Benedict’s “rapes, murders and other unspeakable acts. His life as a pope so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it.”

Yikes.