Commentary Par XXVII 25-27

For a discussion of this penultimate, if intrinsic, assault on Boniface, see Massimo Seriacopi (Seri.2003.1), pp. 220-25.  The author goes on to describe Dante's general attitude toward this great figure in the history of the papacy as follows: '[Boniface is to Dante] at once the pope and a simoniac; magnificent and yet obtuse; full of energy but arrogant' (p. 226).  His book concludes with a helpful review of the varying views of Boniface, found in Dante's margins, put forward by the fourteenth-century commentators (pp. 239-57).  For a papal attempt (that of Benedict XV in 1921) to square Dante's poem with the Church's teaching, see Maria Lorena Burlot (Burl.2003.1), p. 551. Benedict is able to discover a Trinitarian reference even in Dante's condemnation of three popes (Celestine V, Boniface VIII, and Clement V).  This is to neglect the fact that several other popes are specifically referred to as being condemned to Hell for eternity (see C.Inf.VII.46-48).  (Anyone defending the notion of papal infallibility will probably need to argue for exemptions for popes with literary aspirations.  See also Benedict's attempt to find still another 'trinitarian' compositional block in the 14,200 verses of the poem, an especially dubious notion in light of the fact that the poem contains 14,233 verses.)