“In 897, Pope Stephen VI exhumed the corpse of one of his predecessors, Pope Formosus, and put it on trial. He had a deacon stand behind the cadaver and move its mouth and talk for it while Stephen charged Formosus with becoming pope illegally.

When Formosus was declared guilty, the papal vestments were stripped off his rotting body, his blessing fingers were cut off, and he was buried in a graveyard for foreigners. He was then dug up again and his body was thrown into the Tiber River. His body was retrieved from the river and a later pope nullified the Cadaver Synod and he is now buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in his papal vestments. The cardinals who helped with the cadaver synod were excommunicated and they made a law that cadavers could not be put on trial. Then a later pope upheld Formosus’ guilt and put a plaque on Stephen’s tomb praising him for his cadaver synod.”

-ILoveAppliances