After an ascendant rise to the papacy, Pope Leo X began draining the massive treasury left by his predecessor. The nonstop feasting and over-the-top festivities were partly strategic, mostly indulgent, and at the root of a controversy that would produce the sale of indulgences, Luther’s 95 Theses… and Leo’s suspicious death.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices