WI: Cadaver Synods became a Catholic/Christian Tradition?

[Shiva]

In 897 the corpse of Pope Formosus was exhumed by Pope Stephen VI and put on trial for crimes that Formosus supposedly committed as a bishop and in gaining the Papacy in the first place. Now in RL this whole fiasco had Stephen branded insane, turned the city of Rome against him and he was overthrown. Two later Popes declared the whole thing null and voice, but Pope Sergius III reinstated the verdict against Formosus, and the Catholic Church never put another dead person on trial again.

BUT... What if this was just the first of many Cadaver Synods for the Catholic Church. What if it became a tradition for Popes to put their predecessors on trial for crimes they were accused of either alive or postmortem. How long could such a custom last? Would it be a popular thing to do? How many 'Cadaver Popes' would be convicted or found innocent? And if there is still a Protestant Reformation would they carry over the custom of Cadaver Synods or condemn the concept?

 

[Metempsychosis]

The question is, why would the Popes desecrate the corpses of their predecessors in such a way? Maybe in a time when the Papacy is particularly corrupt and politicized, a cadaver synod would be useful. But IDK if it would ever be respectable.

 

[PrinceofApathy]

The question is, why would the Popes desecrate the corpses of their predecessors in such a way? Maybe in a time when the Papacy is particularly corrupt and politicized, a cadaver synod would be useful. But IDK if it would ever be respectable.

Except in places with a similar pre-existing tradition (not that I know of any), it wouldn't. It would probably give Protestant dissenters more ammunition to call Catholicism heretical.

 

[kholieken]

It would be easier to use it on non-Pope too.
Heretics, Bishop who ignore Papal orders, rebellious Nobles in Papal States, Greek and Jacobite Bishops in Crusader State, Interdicted King (with cooperation from papal-favored successor).

 

[Shiva]

The question is, why would the Popes desecrate the corpses of their predecessors in such a way? Maybe in a time when the Papacy is particularly corrupt and politicized, a cadaver synod would be useful. But IDK if it would ever be respectable.

I had the notion that it would be a sort 'revenge' by living popes against predecessors that were political rivals that in time just becomes seen as a venerable (but controversial) tradition.

Except in places with a similar pre-existing tradition (not that I know of any), it wouldn't. It would probably give Protestant dissenters more ammunition to call Catholicism heretical.

I agree that the Protestants (and several earlier reform movements like the Lollards or Waldensians) would condemn the practice. Which might help reinforce it's use by the Catholic Church as a push-back.

It would be easier to use it on non-Pope too.
Heretics, Bishop who ignore Papal orders, rebellious Nobles in Papal States, Greek and Jacobite Bishops in Crusader State, Interdicted King (with cooperation from papal-favored successor).

This makes sense to me, the Cadaver Synod becoming a tool to put on trial those who angered the Papacy but wound up dead before they could be called to account for their 'misdeeds'.