Whether it was the tablecloths on the White House dining table in America or the Pope's bedroom, they all used the same premium Italian furnishing brand, Sferra.
They were all pure white, made using a Venetian craft on the verge of extinction. The material was Egyptian cotton, yet it cost even more than silk.
The Apostolic Palace had only become the Pope's residence in the past few centuries. Before that, Popes had always lived outside Vatican City.
John XII had turned the Lateran Palace into a giant brothel. The Holy See's sacred relics and offerings from all over were squandered on women by him, including Saint Peter's golden Holy Grail.
Not only that, the churches near the Lateran Palace had become his hunting grounds for women, to the point that many women no longer dared to go to church and pray.
Most crucially, John XII had promised Otto, King of Italy, the titles of Christian Emperor and Protector of Rome, which Otto had coveted for a long time, and allowed him to establish the Holy Roman Empire.
He was a child spoiled by his mother. Not only was he badly behaved, but he was also cowardly and incompetent. His nickname, the Caligula of Catholicism, could not have been more fitting.
There were many kinds of immaturity. Sleeping with women did not make someone a man. John XII, that arrogant child, was willful and untrustworthy, indulging in debauchery to such an extent that even the Romans, who had seen every kind of sin, were left speechless.
Immature and brutal—it was no wonder he was later beaten to death with fists.
He was neither the Pope in the eyes of the people nor a useful puppet in the eyes of foreign emperors. He merely happened to have a father who ruled Rome