Read this excerpt from Canto XIX of the Inferno:
And [Pope Nicholas III] cried, "Are you already standing there, Are you already standing there, Boniface? By several years the record lied to me! "Are you so quickly glutted with the wealth Which did not make you fear to take by guile The lovely lady and then lay her waste?" I acted like a person who's left standing -- Not comprehending what's been said to him -- Half-mocked and at a loss to make an answer. Then Virgil spoke up, "Tell him right away, 'I am not he, I'm not the one you think!'" And I replied as I had been instructed.
What is most likely Dante's purpose for including this scene?
A. To show the audience that he believed Boniface deserved to be in Hell as well.
B. To show the audiences that even popes are human and capable of mistakes.
C. To emphasize Dante's need to impress Virgil with his knowledge of sinners.
D. To emphasize that Pope Nicholas III should not be in Hell.

Dante Alighieri's famous epic poem "Divine Comedy" consists of three parts- Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. The part of Inferno is the first, showing Virgil and Dante in the world of suffering interacting with the various sinners.

The excerpt given in the question is from Canto XIX where Virgil and Dante had gone to the Third pouch, a place where the sinners of simony are punished. One of the souls they meet was that of Pope Nicholas III who mistook Dante for Boniface. Now, Boniface was also a pope during that time but was still alive when the this scene was happening. By his mistaken identification of Dante as Boniface, Pope Nicholas seems to provide a reference to the future of Boniface. Dante included this scene to show the audience that even Pope Boniface is also deserving of hell.