Pope Innocent VIII, The Supreme Pontiff Who Drank The Blood Of Children
SPCOLLECTION/Alamy Stock PhotoA portrait of Pope Innocent VIII.
A common theme in many fictional stories about immortals is blood. Tales of vampires may be the best example of this: The monsters feed on the blood of their innocent victims to extend their own eternal lives.
As it turns out, the idea of drinking blood as a method of extending life isn’t completely fictional. Per a study published in Transfusion Medicine Reviews, one of the first instances of a blood transfusion may have occurred in 1492 — and the recipient was none other than Pope Innocent VIII.
It should be noted that, despite being a holy man, Pope Innocent VIII was not the sort of person his name would suggest. He sired several illegitimate children and was obsessed with money and power. In fact, the pope’s time in the Holy See was largely marked by an increase in immorality among the clergy.
As the pope aged, his health began to decline sharply. He suffered a stroke in 1488, and by 1492, he was nothing more than “an inert mass of flesh.”
Pope Innocent VIII recruited a Jewish physician to help save his life. According to various historical sources, the doctor took the blood of three young boys, killing all of them in the process. Some stories suggest that the blood was somehow infused into the pope’s veins — but most indicate that he drank it.
The boys’ lives were sacrificed for no reason, as Pope Innocent VIII died just days later, on July 25, 1492.
