Posted on 06/21/2010 7:38:53 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
The film has fuelled disagreements over whether Pope Joan really existed or, as the Church has always maintained, she was a mythical figure used by the early Protestant Church to discredit and embarrass Rome.
For a Church that even in the 21st century remains staunchly opposed to the idea of female priests, a female Pope was anathema.
To make matters worse, the deception is said to only have been found out when Joan gave birth during a procession through the streets of Rome.
The medieval epic stars a German actress, Johanna Wokalek, as the female Pope, the American actor John Goodman as Pope Sergius and David Wenham, an Australian last seen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as her lover, a knight named Gerold.
It is based on a highly contentious story – that in the ninth century, a baby girl was born in Germany to English parents, who had moved to the Continent as Christian missionaries.
According to the legend, she grew up to be an unusually intelligent young girl and, frustrated by a lack of opportunity for women, disguised herself as a boy in order to enter a Benedictine monastery, calling herself Brother John Anglicus.
She studied for a while in Greece before arriving in Rome, where she so impressed the Vatican with her abilities that she became a cardinal and was eventually elected pontiff in 853, after the death of Pope Leo IV.
She supposedly ruled as head of the Church for nearly three years, before her deception was found out.
One improbable account insists that she was riding a horse near the Colosseum when she suddenly went into labour.
The crowd, shocked and angered to find that the Holy Father was in fact a holy mother, either stoned her to death or tied her to
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
They point to one particularly extraordinary artefact as evidence that she existed – a wooden chair with a hole in the seat which, it is claimed, was used for 600 years to establish the gender of would-be popes in the wake of the Pope Joan scandal.
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Yikes!!!
Yeah, that was what I was thinking too...
“Pope Joan” never existed and there is no evidence whatsoever that she did.
There are no bona fide documents from her - not a single one.
There are no contempory documents which attest to her.
There are no witnesses to her - not a single one.
Only liberals and bigots believe in the story.
An apt place for their "theories".Replica of a marble commode used in the Vatican, Europe, 1601-1900
This is a copy of a commode used in the Vatican, the residence of the Pope, who is the leader of the Catholic Church. Underneath the commode, a chamber pot would have been placed and emptied after use. The item was bought from a private collection in 1932 by one of Henry Wellcome’s collecting agents, Captain Peter Johnston-Saint.
Try again. From the article: a wooden chair with a hole in the seat which, it is claimed, was used for 600 years to establish the gender of would-be popes in the wake of the Pope Joan scandal.
If "Pope Joan" was elected Pope in 853, the deception uncovered three years later, and the chair not created/used until after the scandal, the Catholic apologist will have to produce a wooden commode that dates 856-1456.
What’s not a myth is the current practice of ordaining women, on purpose. But it’s not the Catholics who do this but rather the Protestants. You won’t see a sensationalized movie about it though.
This story is pure myth. The first of a female pope was by Jean de Mailly in the 13th century and he placed the event in 1099. There are no contemporary citations from the 9th or any other century. An amusing story but only ignorance or anti-Catholic bigotry would insist that it is true.
That should have read: “The first mention of a female pope …”
No “Pope Joan” was ever elected let alone in 853.
Pope Leo IV was already pope in 853 and continued as such until he died in 855.
Consider the source of the posting. 'Nuff said.
True, but the anti-Catholics' minds are made up - no use confusing them with facts...
Ping me when you talk about me.
No.
But why? I've pinged you every time I've talked about you!
My grandparents had wooden commodes very similar to the marble item in your picture. Even after they got a bathroom in the house, the “thunderboxes” were kept in the basement for emergencies (such as 30 people in a 1-bath house during deer season).
I remember some years ago while I was working at the Archdiocese of Boston my boss (the Cabinet Secretary for Institutional Advancement) trying to convince an intern than “Pope Joan” existed.
I complained to Bishop Richard “Tricky Dick” Lennon’s office about what he was doing and was ignored......
But the total lack of evidence is, itself, evidence of the cunning effectiveness of the Vatican coverup! Also, everyone knows that prior to 856 there were no privies; people just, you know, squatted wherever and whenever the need arose.
Seriously, when did the Telegraph turn into the Weekly World News?
New-hire prank?
I complained to Bishop Richard “Tricky Dick” Lennon’s office about what he was doing and was ignored......
The same bishop who was moved over to the Cleveland Diocese!
Church closures anger ethnic enclaves
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