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The origins of the Papacy can be traced to St. Peter, one of the original disciples of Jesus. The current pope, Francis I, is the 265th successor of St. Peter. Needless to say, all 266 popes are male. Yet, during the middle ages, there existed a story about a pope who was actually a female in disguise. The name of this supposed female pope was Joan. Who was this mysterious Pope Joan, and did she really exist? The statue that still stands in Rome is Joanna with a papal crown.(ericcostanzo.com)The first written account of Pope Joan can be traced to...

When, during his encounter with the youth at the University of Santo Tomas, Pope Francis advised the organizers to include more women next time, to offset the program dominated by men, I remembered John Paul II at Mass in Luneta who brought cheer to women when he changed the standard invitation to prayer or exhortation, “Brothers and sisters in Christ,” to “Sisters and brothers…” While we know that the ordination of women in the Catholic Church are light years away, comment on this issue during the papal coverage should have been made over the cold malunggay soup served the Pope...

Bill Donohue comments on the Travel Channel’s “Greatest Mysteries: Vatican”; it premiered last night:Lies about Catholicism abound, and the intentional distortion of the truth is also commonplace. We’re used to it at the Catholic League. But there are times when the source astounds us. This happened today when John Mulvey, a policy analyst, watched the recklessly inaccurate portrayal of Catholicism that aired Sunday night on the Travel Channel. At times the material seemed straight out of the annals of sci-fi.Yes, there were rogue popes, none more disgraceful than Rodrigo Borgia, Alexander VI. But if the goal was to promote skepticism...

I left the National Youth Theatre’s production of Pope Joan feeling both angry and extremely moved. The disputed myth of the first and only female Pope touched something very deep in my psychology. Pope Joan is a medieval tale about the alleged first (and only) female Pope who rose to the top of the Vatican styling herself as ‘John’- she is devout, brave and willing to risk anything to be close to God. Prior to the start of the action, Joan has revealed her true identity to a Cardinal in the Vatican who she has slept with and is now...

The Three Rivers Arts Festival wraps up in a few days, but there's still plenty of time to see and experience much of it, if you haven't yet had the opportunity. Though most folks bee-line for the food vendors and Artists Market in and around Gateway Center, keep in mind there's plenty to see throughout the Cultural District. And that extends all the way up to the 900 block of Liberty Avenue, where the exhibit “Confluence: New Works” is on display on the second floor of 937 Liberty Ave. A sculpture and installation-art exhibit, it features the work of nearly...

The election of Pope Francis as the 266th bishop of Rome held many milestones. Francis is the first Latin American pope in history and the first non-European pontiff in about 1,200 years. However, some have claimed that a Medieval pope might have reached a milestone considered impossible given the standards and rules of Vatican City for ordained clergy. Legend has it that in the ninth century the Roman Catholic Church was ruled briefly by a "Pope Joan," who disguised herself as a man, rising through the ranks of the male-dominated hierarchy. Many have hailed the legend as true, with two...

VATICAN CITY LONGEST CONCLAVE: In 1268, a conclave began that lasted nearly three years - 33 months to be exact. Pope Gregory X was elected pope, but not before residents of Viterbo, north of Rome, tore the roof off the building where the cardinals were staying and restricted their meals to bread and water to make them hurry up. Hoping to avoid a repeat, Gregory decreed in 1274 that cardinals would only get one meal a day if the conclave stretched beyond three days, and served bread, water and wine if it went beyond eight. While the meals served these...

"I don't know whether we'll get the first lesbian or transgender pope (I think the alleged Pope Joan in the 13th Century was only a cross-dressing pope, so that doesn't count), but it looks like we have a real chance of getting the first Canadian pope. That would really be rubbing Americans' noses in it. If the first pope from North America is a Canadian, that will be a humiliating defeat for the United States." -Mark Steyn

The other day a press release lands in my email inbox and blares: U.S. TELEVISION PREMIERE OF “POPE JOAN” ON REELZCHANNEL The Incredible Legend of the Only Female Pope Two-Part Television Miniseries Event Premieres Sunday and Monday, December 18-19, 2011 at 8pm ET and at 8pm PT Oh, great. The “Pope Joan” thing again.[SNIP] Okay, here’s the standard TV overhyped mystery weasel word: “consider.” They want their viewers to “consider” this story. They’re not willing to say flat out that it’s true. But they want to create the illusion that it is or might be, so they ask viewers to...

Surgical precision: In 1934, Colonel Robert Wilson, a respected British surgeon, said he noticed something moving in the waters of Lock Ness and took a picture of it. The resulting image showed the slender neck of a serpent rising out of the Loch. The photo came to be known simply as “The Surgeon’s photo”, and for decades it was considered to be the best evidence of the monster. It wasn’t until 1994, when Christian Spurling, before his death at the age of 90, confessed his involvement in a plot, which included Colonel Wilson and big game hunter “Duke” Wetherell, to...

Just for the record: I was not sleeping through all those years of religious education lessons, nor was I drifting off during my beloved European history classes. Nevertheless, I had never heard of the Papessa Giovanna (Pope Joan) until I moved to Rome, into the same neighborhood where the only female Pope’s secret is said to have been discovered and where she is to have been buried. According to the legend, in the 9th century a young English woman disguised herself as a man, taking the name Johannes Anglicus, and became a monk. In July 853 A.D., with Papal elections...

Yup, we need a Nope. A nun who is pope. The Catholic Church can never recover as long as its Holy Shepherd is seen as a black sheep in the ever-darkening sex abuse scandal. Now we learn the sickening news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” when he was the church’s enforcer on matters of faith and sin, ignored repeated warnings and looked away in the case of the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, a Wisconsin priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys. The church has been tone deaf and dumb on the scandal for so long that...

Catholics have long been told there has only been one English pope - Adrian IV in the 1150s. But according to many medieval chronicles, John Anglicus - John the English - reigned from AD855 for two years, seven months and four days before the astonishing revelation that he was, in fact, a she called Joan. Many of the medieval Books Of Popes, the principal source for the history of the papacy during the Dark Ages, record the tale of a young girl born of English missionary parents. Raised in Germany at Fulda - the final resting place of St Boniface,...

So there’s a new movie coming out about the legendary (and I do mean legendary) female Pope of the 9th Century — Joan. It’s the job of movie directors to use good stories rather than tell accurate accounts of history. But we should expect more accuracy in media coverage. Let’s see how it’s going. The Daily Mail’s story begins with a very funny headline that probably wasn’t intended to be funny: “Mystery of the pregnant pope: New film reopens one of the Vatican’s most enduring wounds.” Um, considering that no one with any knowledge of history actually believes in the...

The Syndney Morning Herald reports that a German movie about "Pope Joan" has been making some waves in Europe: Her story was considered so subversive that for centuries the Vatican tried to expunge it from the records. Now a film, which last week reached the top 10 box office list in Italy, has revived the story of Pope Joan - an Englishwoman who, legend has it, disguised herself as a man and became the only female pontiff. The film will fuel debate over whether Pope Joan really existed or whether, as the Catholic Church maintains, she was a mythical figure...

Have you heard that the Catholic Church is covering up the existence of a female pope? Don't worry, if you haven't yet, you will be hearing a lot about that in the coming months. I did a lot of research on this subject, including spending time in Rome tracking down various claims contained in this legend, and I can assure you that there never was a Pope Joan. It's worth your time, though, to become familiar with the basic claims of this legend because, as I say, you will be hearing your friends and family and the world at large...

There is so very much to recommend the new film Pope Joan, the epic German-made, English-language biopic of the legendary (and, many would say, apocryphal) ninth-century woman who ascended to the papal throne while posing as a man. First of all, there’s the idea of a woman ascending to the papal throne, which is endlessly intriguing. Then there’s the other part of her myth, which involved her having a secret lover and a child before she was discovered and torn apart by a vicious mob. Last and hardly least, John Goodman plays her successor, Pope Sergius III, who is the...

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...

According to an e-mail I received today: diago, Did you see this ? ? - from ******* ... Last night, January 5, 2005, Jeopardy (the television program) had this question: "What female, after giving birth in Rome, was stoned out of the city?" And the answer: "Pope Joan"!! We need to make one simple phone call. A very friendly man answered with a simple 'Hello' when I called today. He knew exactly what I was talking about. He said he is keeping a log of the cities/states of callers who are complaining. If enough people call, the program will retract...

Actor John Goodman has rejoined the cast of forthcoming movie Pope Joan, a movie about an alleged Pope in the middle ages who was secretly a woman. It's kind of like Yentl for shiksas. The film is scheduled to start filming next month. The film looks to be heavy on the sex and pretty short on theology as the Pope's got a steamy love interest in the Vatican. You know, because too much theology might make it not suitable for children. Goodman had walked off set a few months back and after delays and a legal dispute he's finally back...