Posted on 12/29/2005 11:45:43 AM PST by NYer
Tonight, ABC’s “Primetime” will air a segment, “On the Trail of Pope Joan,” that raises questions about the possible existence of Pope Joan. Catholic League president Bill Donohue weighed in today:
“ABC has been busy questioning the divinity of Jesus for years, what with its infamous ‘Search for Jesus’ specials. In May of this year, it went back to the well again with a ‘20/20’ episode questioning the resurrection of Jesus. Correspondent Elizabeth Vargas told viewers: ‘Whether the resurrection proclaimed by the disciples was physical, metaphysical, or simply a hallucination—the dreams of grieving followers,’ is not known. In other words, Christians have likely been duped. And tonight we learn that we’ve been duped again—a woman pope ruled in the ninth century.
“Diane Sawyer not only wants us to believe in Pope Joan, she takes us to exact street where she processed. ‘Fact or Fiction’ she exclaims! Indeed, Sawyer tells us that Pope Joan gave birth while processing. Pope Joan, she says, dressed in male garb, but this is not an historical anomaly: Sawyer shows us a picture of a woman dressed as a soldier in the U.S. Civil War and then proclaims, ‘Which brings us back to Joan.’ But of course. Another segue could have been little girls dressed up as GI Joe on Halloween, but that might have unsettled the sure-mouthed Sawyer.
“Sawyer does not interview either Paul Johnson, the world renowned historian and author of ‘The Papacy,’ nor does she interview Eamon Duffy, the brilliant historian from Cambridge and author of the magisterial volume, ‘Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes.’ Had she done so they would have laughed in her smug face. So who does she rely on? Donna Cross and Mary Malone. Cross wrote a novel about the mythical Pope Joan and has no standing among scholars. Malone is an ex-nun who lost her faith and hates the Catholic Church. ‘I can no longer pray,’ she said in 1996, ‘because of the language, and because it seemed so essential as the core of the tradition that God be male.’
“In other words, ABC’s gospel has no room for Jesus but plenty of room for Pope Joan. We could squeeze more truth from a used-car salesman than we could from these people.”
That'll be the day when they say anything against mohammad...
(curses and pig p!ss be upon him)
It'd probably be something more like....
Mohammad: Savior of the Universe.
<sarcasm>
Uses that interesting word "pornocracy" - rule by whores.
The "whores" in question were the women of the Theophylactus family of Rome. They were not actual wprking prostitutes, of course, they were women who slept around to gain influence and leverage over their families' political rivals.
I would imagine Theodora and her daughters were much like the Atia character in the series Rome.
Sorry, but that is NOT the "early history of the papacy". They call them "the Middle Ages" for a reason.
"I would imagine Theodora and her daughters were much like the Atia character in the series Rome."
My wife & I love 'Rome'. I'm hoping they're going to pick up the story of Octavian's rise to power. I also hope that, like other HBO shows, I don't have to wait 2 years before the next episode!
ABC did NOT "discover" anything new. The story of Pope Joan was aired on PBS a few years ago.
The Catholic church is purported to have erased any knowledge of Pope Joan from the church records. It is a story now told by the nuns.
A group of licensed genealogists attempted to determine who this "Pope Joan" was...to no avail.
The American Spectator had a blurb about this on their blog: http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp#1293
ABC's Pope Joan - Thursday, December 29, 2005 @ 2:40:39 PM
Those naming the mainstream media as their Enemy of the Year (below) won't be dissuaded after learning about Primetime's segment tonight. Diane Sawyer will "report" (read: speculate) about a Pope Joan, a rumored female pope in the ninth century.
In a Video on Demand preview at the ABC News website, the anchorette asks the segment's producer, Ann Reynolds, what evidence exists of Pope Joan. Reynolds responds, "You're talking about the dark ages. t is almost impossible to prove anything. There's no sense of history as you or I would accept it. There's no sense of proof as a news person would accept it. But it's an amazing mystery." Hmmm... tabloids usually run their gossip yarns with more evidence than that.
But what do historians say? Reynolds answers, "They argue back and forth. There's so little hard evidence that I don't think anybody can say it's true. There are people who can say they believe it because of the preponderance of evidence. But we talked to all sorts of them and they have arguments back and forth."
In an email release, the Catholic League details Diane Sawyer's presentation:
Sawyer tells us that Pope Joan gave birth while processing. Pope Joan, she says, dressed in male garb, but this is not an historical anomaly: Sawyer shows us a picture of a woman dressed as a soldier in the U.S. Civil War and then proclaims, "Which brings us back to Joan." But of course. Another segue could have been little girls dressed up as GI Joe on Halloween, but that might have unsettled the sure-mouthed Sawyer.
Sawyer does not interview either Paul Johnson, the world renowned historian and author of "The Papacy," nor does she interview Eamon Duffy, the brilliant historian from Cambridge and author of the magisterial volume, "Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes." Had she done so they would have laughed in her smug face. So who does she rely on? Donna Cross and Mary Malone. Cross wrote a novel about the mythical Pope Joan and has no standing among scholars. Malone is an ex-nun who lost her faith and hates the Catholic Church. "I can no longer pray," she said in 1996, "because of the language, and because it seemed so essential as the core of the tradition that God be male."
Maybe next week we'll get a segment about mainstream media integrity and how bloggers rely on shoddy sources.
It's a shame the Media Research Center has already compiled its media quotes of the year. Add these to the ballot for 2006.
Next they will email all the people on their address books so Bill Gates and AOL will send them millions of dollars, they will get thousands of gift certificates to restaurants and they will have cute little animations pop up on their monitors for every ten emails they send.
The down side is that the United States Post Office will charge them $.05 for every email they send.
Was he a Kennedy?
"I see you're going to do another 'hit piece' on the Catholic Church tonight. My guess is you are vying with CBS for the sleaziest news network. The story of Pope Joan has been debunked for years. Too bad you didn't do your homework; but that would be too much to ask of an agenda driven media. I just love to watch you elitists shoot yourself in the back. "This is an attack on Christianity as much as it's an attack on Catholicism. And rot like this story just goes to prove you don't have a clue of what Christianity is all about. Your loss I'm afraid (and a fatal one at that). "BTW, I'm not Catholic but 5th generation Lutheran. And if you want to do something positive, take this piece off the air and replace it with a few more minutes of commercials. That would have far greater audience value."
While it feels good to air my feelings nothing will come of this.
As opposed to boring, mundane sex parties?
In fairness, Catholics could now make a film about jackasses who pose as journalists.
If you want the straight skinny on Saint Joan, go to Google--type in Catholic Encyclopedia--in the search engine there type in Saint Joan you will get what the Catholics have to say about this.
If you like I will save you time and effort.
1. It was at one time a Rumor
2. It is Bullshiite.
Thank you!
"(2) The early history of the Papacy, from Peter to St. Gregory the Great, is incredibly awe-inspiring. The world's first system of leadership based on goodness, not military power."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....
"It is well known that John XII threw wild sex parties."
You sure? I thought he just screwed them one at a time, including widows, his fathers concubine, and his neice?
Naa. They are paving the way for HILLARY IN 08!! St. Hillary.
I thought I had that picture on file, but I can't find it!
Know what you mean, though.
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