[llama hunter]

I have read there is some mystery as to whether there was in fact a female Pope, the Catholic Yentl, if you will, a woman disguised as a man who became Pope, way back when, that would be interesting if true, and even if not true, make a good movie...

[wideawake]

There is no mystery. Most sober researchers (i.e. not Dan Brown types) believe it was based on a misreading in a list of Popes of "Johanna" (Joan in Germanized Latin) for "Johannes" (John).

It became a folk story, and there was even a bad 70s movie made about the legend.

There isn't a shred of reality to it.

[MudSlide]

O great as if we didn't have enough trouble with the pedophile priests now we can start worrying about the lesbian priest - judas priest what next!!

[Dionysiusdecordealcis]

I have read there is some mystery as to whether there was in fact a female Pope, the Catholic Yentl, if you will, a woman disguised as a man who became Pope, way back when, that would be interesting if true, and even if not true, make a good movie...

This was an urban legend invented in the late Middle Ages or early modern era, I don't know the exact dates. Alain Boureau wrote a book (The Myth of Pope Joan [U. of Chicago Press, 2001; originally La Papesse Jeanne, 1988) refuting the legend and showing exactly how it originated. He is a respected secular French historian, not a defensive Catholic apologist. I have not read the book but the legend is nothing more than typical anti-Catholic garbage like Dan Brown's novels.

[Aquinasfan]

I have read there is some mystery as to whether there was in fact a female Pope

No mystery. No Pope Joan.