There are those who consider that Roderic Borgia, Pope Alexander the Sixth is included in the role call of Saints in the Collects of The Gnostic Mass because his excesses were the final straw that catalyzed the Protestant Reformation. Crowley did consider Borgia to be one of his previous incarnations (read more about Roderic here: http://hermetic.com/sabazius/borgia.htm).
In fact the upper echelons of the Roman Catholic church were no prigs back in the day and this article looks at their history as well as the deliciously ironic fact that one of the first widely circulated works of pornography started when an artist decorating Papal apartments, did up some naughty sketches in said apartments to protest unpaid bills.
Read more here:
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/europes-first-pornographic-blockbuster-was-made-in-the-vatican
Thanks to Soror Hypatia for the tip!
