Was Pope Leo X Evil

Answer 1

No, howbeit, not a very good pope:

Leo X was an amusing Pope, and pursued many artistic achievements in the Church, but he was not much of a statesman, nor a bishop. The Lateran Council was going on at the beginning of his papacy, and he failed to enforce the needed reforms called for by the Council. In his failure to address the problems in the Church and the needed reforms, problems in Germany arose, and sparked the protestant revolt with an ignorant (as in innocent of any real theological knowledge that he should have had given his position)member of the Augustinian Order in German, Martin Luther. Members of the Council were, indeed prophetic, but not Pope Leo:

from The Catholic Encyclopedia:

Towards the close of the council (1517) the noble and highly cultured layman, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola, delivered a remarkable speech on the necessity of a reform of morals; his account of the moral condition of the clergy is saddening, and reveals the many and great difficulties that stood in the way of a genuine reform. He concluded with the warning that if Leo X left such offences longer unpunished and refused to apply healing remedies to these wounds of the Church, it was to be feared that God Himself would cut off the rotten limbs and destroy them with fire and sword. That very year this prophetic warning was verified. The salutary reforms of the Lateran Council found no practical acceptance. Pluralism, commendatory benefices, and the granting of ecclesiastical dignities to children remained customary. Leo himself did not scruple to set aside repeatedly the decrees of the council. The Roman Curia, then much despised and against which so many inveighed with violence, remained as worldly as ever. The pope was either unwilling or not in a position to regulate the unworthy and immoral conduct of many of the Roman courtiers. The political situation absorbed his attention and was largely responsible for the premature close of the council.

Answer 2

While evil may be a bit of an exaggeration, Alexander VI was far from being an angelic and moral man. He admitted to fathering several children by his mistress. To read more about this controversial pope, click on this link.