During the first two-thirds of the 900s, the Roman papacy was basically the property of a Roman elite fammily, the Theophylacti. Which resulted in some strange doings.
The man who is considered the start of the pornocracy, Pope Sergius III, was put on the throne thanks to the Theophylacti. He (allegedly) then had his two predecessors murdered to make sure they could not challenge him. Sergius III was also the alleged father of Pope John XI, who became pope at just 21 through the machinations of his mother, Marozia of the Theophylacti. Marozia was actually the power behind the throne of course.
When John XI died, a reluctant Benedictine monk was put on the throne by Marozia’s son, to ensure the pope would be controllable. Three similarly weak successors were chosen by the family Theophylacti. Then they put a family member, Marozia’s grandson John XII, on the throne.
He was the end of the Pornocracy and has the distinction of being the only man to ever become pope three times. John XII was deposed for an antipope 20 years after his election, restored to the papacy a year later, then sold the office but changed his mind and took it back from the buyer. John XII ended up being deposed for good in 964 by the German emperor in collusion with a church council. And that was the end of the pornocracy, though the Theophylacti remained powerful in Rome for a few more generations. In all, two grandsons, two great-grandsons, and one great-great grandson of Marozia would sit on the papal throne.
