How much power should the pope have? What happens if a corrupt pope gains the papal seat? These were burning questions during the course of the fifteenth century as popes tried to consolidate their power at the same time that a series of scandals rocked Rome and undermined faith in the role of the pope as the leader of Christendom. The foundation of church corruption in the Renaissance was avarice, and nowhere was this flaw as evident as in the actions of Renaissance popes.