Pope Leo loved cocaine so he laced his wine with it and became face of new drink

Irish Daily Mirror

13-06-2025

Writing around 264 millions words worth of papal material within a lifetime may seem impossible - unless you look at what might be fuelling all the long nights burning the midnight oil. And the answer for Pope Leo XIII is cocaine wine.
Pope Leo XIII was viewed as one of the "good" popes, as he tried to align Catholicism with modern life.
Pope Leo was also certainly one of the most productive of the leaders of the Church. There are 300 papal encyclicals, which are letters from the Pope to all of the bishops in the Roman Catholic Church, with each one averaging around 30,000 words. Pope Leo was responsible for 88 of these, meaning he has written more than any pope - or indeed many people - by the time he died at 93.
Pope Leo's tipple was the same as many popes that came before him but with a sprinkle of something a bit stronger. Coffee cannot be the chosen poison of such a prolific writer - but cocaine wine can. Surprisingly, this was not something he cooked up himself - but actually a popular drink at the time called Vin Mariani.
Its primary appeal to Leo was the bottomless vat of energy it supplied to the man who turned out such an immense body of work in his 80s and 90s. He kept this no secret according to History Is Now.
He told everyone he could that he took the drink around with him in a personal hip flask "to fortify himself when prayer was insufficient". In the 19th century, cocaine was legal and Vin Mariani was seen not only as a health tonic but also as a drink for the elite socialities of the time. Ordering a glass of cocaine wine was regarded at the same as ordering a vintage Romanée-Conti.
Pope Leo then pulled an influencer-of-present-day move and called the creator of the drink to Rome - only to become the face of his favourite drink and perhaps get a few freebies too.
When its creator Angelo Mariani arrived to Rome, the pope presented him with an official Vatican gold medal to congratulate him for outstanding work in his field.
Angelo Mariani then printed up posters advertising the gold medal he received from the Pope with the Church leader's beaming face splashed next to the bottle.
The advertisement read: "His Holiness the Pope writes that he has fully appreciated the beneficial effects of this Tonic Wine, and has forwarded to Mr. Mariani as a token of his gratitude a gold medal bearing his august effigy."
The pope was not the only one. Queen Victoria was also known to drink a glass of cocaine wine. It also seemed to be the drink of choice for other writers. Ulysses S. Grant drank it while writing his memoirs and Emile Zola wrote testimonials that were reprinted in Vin Mariani advertisements. Even Thomas Edison liked it saying it helped him stay awake longer.