Ark of the Covenant Story was Bad Translating, Hype

The Catholic Key Blog ^ | June 26, 2009 | Jack Smith

[monkapotamus]

World Net Daily reported late Wednesday that Patriarch Pauolos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church would reveal to the world the true Ark of the Covenant today, Friday, June 26. Pauolos is reported to have said in Rome, excerpt:

Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries."

The announcement is expected to be made at 2 p.m. Italian time from the Hotel Aldrovandi in Rome. Pauolos will reportedly be accompanied by Prince Aklile Berhan Makonnen Haile Sellassie and Duke Amedeo D'Acosta.

It is currently about 7:00 p.m. in Rome and no ark.

I've been trying to track down whether and to what extent this is a hoax. The World Net Daily article is based on a report from from a news agency in Italy, Adnkronos. The first problem with the WND report is that what they report as the Patriarch's words is actually only the original Italian article's lede:

Roma, 17 giu. (Adnkronos) - Presto il mondo potrà ammirare l'Arca dell'Alleanza descritta nella Bibbia come il contenitore delle Tavole della Legge che Dio consegnò a Mosè e al centro, nei secoli, di ricerche e studi.

Secondly, the Italian article is dated June 17, so the forthcoming Friday was June 19, not today.

Patriarch Pauolos actually did have a press conference June 19 where according to Adnkronos, he backed off saying:

Non sono qui per dare delle prove che l'Arca sia in Etiopia, ma sono qui per dire quello che ho visto, quello che so e che posso testimoniare. Non ho detto che l'Arca sarà mostrata al mondo. E' un mistero, un oggetto di culto.

Or roughly:

I am not here to give evidence that the Ark is in Ethiopia, but I am here to say what I saw, what I know and I can testify. I did not say that the Ark will be shown to the world. It is a mystery, an object of worship.

Hat tip to blogger Richard Bartholomew for finding the second report from Adnkronos.

The original World Net Daily story was a matter of bad translation and not even looking at datelines. The story got legs, Bartholomew reported in previous posts, because of Christian Zionists eager to hasten the Second Coming. I would also note that WND was hawking a two DVD set on the ark along with the story.

[Terpfen]

Yet another reason to ignore WND.

[Crazieman]

World Nut Daily, the Weekly World News of the internet.

[Star Traveler]

You said — Yet another reason to ignore WND.

—

Ummm..., that same reasoning could be applied here, since there were FReepers posting that some information was going to come out about the Ark of the Covenant... LOL...

Guess we better start ignoring Free Republic now... :-)

[freedumb2003]

>>World Nut Daily, the Weekly World News of the internet.<<

Hey, maybe we have to wait 72 business hours for it...

[Lee N. Field]

The first problem with the WND report is that what they report as the Patriarch's words is actually only the original Italian article's lede:

The zeroth problem is that it's from WND.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Dang.

[freedumb2003]

>>Guess we better start ignoring Free Republic now... :-)<<

We do need to start looking closely — I’ve been punked (hopefully accidentally) here on FR twice in the last few days.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

****The original World Net Daily story was a matter of bad translation and not even looking at datelines. ***

Perhaps they heard what they wanted to hear, not what was actually spoken.

[BallyBill]

I knew something was askew when Vince “Sham Wow” Schlomi was online hyping autographed pieces of The Ark of the Covenant this morning.

[Lmo56]

The original press release was mis-translated ...

It was supposed to have read “the Ardvaark of the Covenant” ...

[Jewbacca]

Oh, I guess the lectures I was getting that it was just a box, the Law is for suckers, and Jews are stupid were all for naught.

[Lmo56]

I knew something was askew when Vince “Sham Wow” Schlomi was online hyping autographed pieces of The Ark of the Covenant this morning.

***

Autographed by both Moses and the Hand of God itself ???

[Mogollon]

I will put them on my ‘Do not trust’ list.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Oh, I guess the lectures I was getting that it was just a box, the Law is for suckers, and Jews are stupid were all for naught.

Nah, the "old" Law is for suckers; the "new law" is red hot! [/sarcasm]

[Shooter 2.5]

It’s actually getting better. The threads from years ago would be about Chemtrails, OK City bombing, Noah’s Ark, Aliens of the outer space kind and the JFK assassination.

Some of those threads would last for months.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I called it.

I said it was a Geraldo Rivera moment.

[Star Traveler]

You mentioned — “... Chemtrails, OK City bombing, Noah’s Ark, Aliens of the outer space kind and the JFK assassination.

—

I said to myself — Hey! I post on four out of five of those topics right now.... LOL...

Chemtrails... ummm, forget it...
Oklahoma City Bombing — look at Jayna Davis (google it...)
Noah’s Ark — it might still be out there; I know it was there before... :-)
Aliens from outer space — well..., they’re seeing something, but I don’t believe in alien civilizations...
JFK Assassination — I was there, but I didn’t see who did it... LOL...

So..., what can I say... :-)

[surfer]

WND goes the way of API...

Ignore WND and don’t spend anymore time on anything they do. Hopefully the legitimate conservatives will leave writing for WND and bring their views and writings to another more legitimate outlet.

[eastforker]

Aliens from outer space — well..., they’re seeing something, but I don’t believe in alien civilizations.Oh come on now, everyone here knows you are an alien shill trying to discredit alien sighting just like _ jim was a gubmint shill about OKC, Kennedy and the NE power outage a few years ago..........LOL