Pope from 1032 to 1044 , again in 1045 , and finally from 1047 to 1048 , the only man to have served as Pope for three discontinuous periods and the only man ever to have sold the papacy. He was also one of the youngest Popes.
father obtained the Papal chair for him, granting it to his son in October 1032.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia and other sources, Benedict IX was around 18 to 20 years old when made pontiff, although some sources claim 11 or 12. He reportedly led an extremely dissolute life, and also allegedly had few qualifications for the papacy other than connections with a socially powerful family, although in terms of theology and the ordinary activities of the Church he was entirely orthodox. St.Peter Damian described him as "feasting on immorality" and "a demon from hell in the disguise of a priest" in the Liber Gomorrhianus , a treatise on papal corruption and sex that accused Benedict IX of routine homosexuality and bestiality.
He was also accused by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of "many vile adulteries and murders." Pope Victor III referred to "his rapes, murders and other unspeakable acts. His life as a Pope so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it."
He was briefly forced out of Rome in 1036 and needed the support of Emperor Conrad II (1024-1039) to return. In September 1044 he was forced from the city again and replaced by Pope Sylvester III (1045), who is sometimes considered an antipope , though