catholic religion - history - is this true?

Question

hi all, before i say what this is i want to let everybody know im not meaning to offend anybody

i was told recently that there was a woman who discuised herself as a man and eventually became pope but was found out when it was discovered she was pregnant and was stoned to death - i was told it was the 4th or 14th or 40th pope (something with a 4 in it i think)

i straight away rubbished it saying nothing like that ever happened but this person is adimant it happened - i think they got there wires crossed as it could be more beleavable that it could have been a priest she was trying to imutate - anyone know anything about this

i think they may just have been saying that because im starting to go back to mass and they are annoyed at it

Answer 1

LOL!! Of course this is not true. It is just fanciful history by those who hate Christ's Church.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 2

the Pope Joan story will be debated endlessly.

There is little to no historical evidence for the bulk of the popes in the middle ages, though of course they did exist.

The usual catholic argument against pope joan is that it was devised by protestants to embarass the church, but that does not hold up - the earliest writers who mentino pope joan are otherwise considered impeccable sources by catholics, and they write about her as a shameful thing from their past, not as an attack on the church.

There are a number of books on her, I suggest reading some. Its quite interesting.

The closest statement one can make with certainty is that people did believe there had been a female pope - there was a bust of her in the cathedral in Sienna until the 1600s.

Answer 3

If you want to know the history of the Catholic, jsut read it. Only, make sure you are reading a book that is looking at the Church, not from a favorable poitn of view, not in a skeptic point of view but, from an honest point of view.

I highy recommend the book, "Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church", by H. W. Crocker III.

Answer 4

Anything is possible inside a secretive cult such as the Roman Catholic church.

Frankly, there is no shortage of papal depravity throughout the ages. You would hardly need to rely on the legend of Pope Joan if you were looking to criticise.

Answer 5

Most scholars dismiss Pope Joan as a medieval legend. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes acknowledges that this legend was widely believed for centuries, even among Catholic circles, but declares that there is "no contemporary evidence for a female pope at any of the dates suggested for her reign," and goes on to say that "the known facts of the respective periods make it impossible to fit [a female pope] in."

The legend of Pope Joan was initially discredited by David Blondel, a mid-17th century Protestant historian, who suggested that Pope Joan's tale may have originated in a satire against Pope John XI, who died in his early 20s. Blondel, through detailed analysis of the claims and suggested timings, argued that no such events could have happened.

The Catholic Encyclopedia elaborates on the historical timeline problem:
“Between Leo IV and Benedict III, where Martinus Polonus places her, she cannot be inserted, because Leo IV died 17 July 855, and immediately after his death Benedict III was elected by the clergy and people of Rome; but owing to the setting up of an antipope, in the person of the deposed Cardinal Anastasius, he was not consecrated until 29 September. Coins exist which bear both the image of Benedict III and of Emperor Lothair, who died 28 September 855; therefore Benedict must have been recognized as pope before the last-mentioned date. On 7 October 855, Benedict III issued a charter for the Abbey of Corvey. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, informed Nicholas I that a messenger whom he had sent to Leo IV learned on his way of the death of this pope, and therefore handed his petition to Benedict III, who decided it (Hincmar, ep. xl in P.L., CXXXVI, 85). All these witnesses prove the correctness of the dates given in the lives of Leo IV and Benedict III, and there was no interregnum between these two popes, so that at this place there is no room for the alleged popess.”

It is also notable that enemies of the Papacy in the ninth century make no mention of a female Pope. For example, Photius I of Constantinople, who became patriarch in 858 and was deposed by Pope Nicholas I in 863, was understandably an enemy of the Pope. He vehemently asserted his own authority as patriarch over that of the Pope in Rome, and would certainly have made the most of any scandal of that time regarding the Papacy. But he never mentions the story once in any of his voluminous writings. Indeed, at one point he mentions "Leo and Benedict, successively great priests of the Roman Church".

No source describing a female pope exists from earlier than the mid-12th century, almost exactly four hundred years after the time when Pope Joan allegedly existed. It is hard to believe that an event like a Pope unexpectedly giving birth in public and being stoned to death would not be mentioned by any writers or historians at the time. The recent historian of the legend, Alain Boureau (Boureau 1988), finds that the origins of the story are to be found in the carnival and parody traditions of the twelfth century.

Rosemary and Darrell Pardoe, authors of The Female Pope: The Mystery of Pope Joan. The First Complete Documentation of the Facts behind the Legend, are theorizing that a more plausible timeframe would be 1086-1108, when there were several antipopes, and the reign of the legitimate popes Victor III, Urban II and Paschal II was not always established in Rome, since this city was occupied by Emperor Henry IV, and later sacked by the Normans.[7]

This is all in agreement with the earliest known version of the legend, by Jean de Mailly, as he places the story in the year 1099. De Mailly's story was also acknowledged by his companion Stephen of Bourbon.

It has been argued that manuscripts and historical records were tampered with in the seventeenth century, when Pope Clement VIII decreed that there had never been a Pope Joan. But this claim is highly unlikely. It would have required an immense effort to remove her name from all documents, in every library and monastery across Europe. Such a vast conspiracy would have been almost impossible to carry out. Protestants would have assuredly protected evidence in their possession that disparaged the papacy. Moreover, any such tampering would be easily detectable by modern scholars. Either passages would have to be physically erased from manuscripts - something that obviously leaves marks - or the manuscripts would have to be completely destroyed and replaced with forgeries. However, scholars can date manuscripts quite accurately on the basis of the materials used, handwriting styles, and so on. There was no mass destruction, forgery or alteration of manuscripts in the seventeenth century.

Against the weight of historical evidence to the contrary, then, why has the Pope Joan story been so often believed, and so often revisited? Some, such as writer Philip Jenkins (The New Anti-Catholicism, 2005, ISBN 0-19-515480-0), have suggested that the periodic revival of what Jenkins calls this "anti-papal legend" has more to do with feminist and anti-Catholic wishful thinking than historical accuracy (pg. 89).

Answer 6

The person you are referring to was known as "Pope Joan" I cannot remember much as I'm not Catholic but if you put it in your browser you may find out. Hope this helps .

Answer 7

That is the legend of Pope Joan,,,,and it is pure fiction!

No reputable source can prove it. All they have are stories that first appeard centuries after the fact...stories circulated by--imagine this!- those who hate the Church!

Answer 8

Sadly as a Christian nothing but nothing ever suprises me in cases of religeous excess in ant faith. We are a naturally cruel spiteful breed of animal which can only be saved from itself by the Grace of God

Answer 9

Never heard that but I'm not a Catholic. Found a link about it though, saying it wasn't true, but an evil myth.

Answer 10

Yes and her name was Pope Joan, and after that all the Popes chair's had a hole in it to make sure that the Pope was a man.
Yes that is true and someone was appointed to put his hand through the hole, just to make sure the Pope was indeed a male. Google it and you will find out for yourself.