Between Two Empires

S1, A2: This programme focuses both on the developing role of the Papacy as a religious and political force and also on the conversion of Europe to Christianity. Often thugs bandits and womanisers, the Popes of the ninth and tenth centuries led the Papal Institution into a state of moral decadence, typified by the outrageous Pope John XII -who was "elected" at the ripe age of eighteen.