They deny the immortality of the soul and the punishments and rewards of Hades.
But even with regard to the expediency of such punishments we may have doubts.
There were certainly harsh punishments for such an act.
The developed doctrine is that those who die penitent and in faith may still have temporal punishments due because of their sins.
The sacred college had grown especially worldly and troublesome since the time of Sixtus IV., and Leo took advantage of a plot of several of its members to poison him, not only to inflict exemplary punishments by executing one and imprisoning several others, but also to make a radical change in the college.
