Though Pope Formosus could not defend himself at his posthumous trial, the lesson of his fate still speaks to modern popes. The story of the Cadaver Synod, as the incident above has come to be known, serves as a warning to modern popes and Catholics alike. The Cadaver Synod serves as a warning that when political loyalty becomes central to ecclesiastical identity, the Church risks transforming spiritual authority into a weapon. To do so would be to ignore the mechanics of societal structures that permeate the modern world. The lesson of the Cadaver Synod is not that popes should retreat from the political world.