I am not a Catholic, and I have never heard of the "pope Joan" story before, nor do I normally get involved with the rivalries that occur between denominations in this forum. I mention this only to illustrate that I have a different perspective that perhaps most of you do. Or as they say in my part of the country 'I ain't got no dog in this fight'.
When I first came across this thread I presumed that it was from a parody site like 'Lark', but then realized that it was not, since it caught my interest I decided to read the article. The first two things that I noticed were that the word "pope" was not capitalized in the title and that the first sentence, "The story is as enduring as it is dubious: A millennium or so ago in Rome"... In those few words the author equated the story with that of myth or urban legends. He then goes on to tell the story from both sides with little personal comment.
What I took from the article was that it was an amusing story that had zero credibility and has been throughly debunked throughout history. So when I read the user posts, I was taken aback by the cries of anti-Catholic and the dog piling on Alex. The only reason I could glean for this was that Alex has had numerous confrontations with Catholics in the past so this post must be slanderous to Catholics as well.
I have to wonder how many actually read the article and how many just saw Alex's name posted on the article and presumed that there must be an anti-Catholic motive? How many were upset just because it was Alex that posted this?
Magisterium -""The mud-slinging and ill-will we too often manifest is a poor witness indeed to the many lurkers on this site who are still finding their way to God. I just wish that we would all stop dredging up the "gotcha" types of stuff that don't adress legitimate differences of opinion, but only serve to make some other group look bad. Members of Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Mormon and Noachide groups all stand guilty at the bar when it comes to this. In the end, God cannot be pleased with any of us. ""
I will agree with you that this entire thread is a poor witness, but I must say that to the casual observer (one that does not know of Alex's past posting history) the poor witness in not Alex but those that dog piled on him instead. I am not trying to justify anything that Alex may have done, nor am I taking sides. I am just trying to show everyone that God has not been glorified in this thread by either side.
Perhaps it is because I am Baptist, but I try to look for the lesson in every story. There are a couple of lessons here, one in the past and one today. Both deal with how we use our words. Words have meaning and they have the power to build up or to tear down. Someone in the past fabricated a story about a woman pope. They may have done it for amusement or it may have been malicious, we do not know. What we do know is that this story has been used for hundreds of years to malign the Catholic Church. I doubt the original story teller ever considered the power of his words or that they would still be around a thousand years later. And here we are today. Could it be that in our bickering and our poor witness that we have exhibited here, we have created a legacy that might be around as long?
Magisterium -""Perhaps we all need to remember that when we're tempted to posting those sorts of threads and making comments on them.""
Perhaps we should also remember that our words are not just being recorded here in this forum, but in heaven also. And we will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word that we have spoken. (Matthew 12:36)
I argue that every thread posted in this forum no matter the intent or motive of the poster, can be turned around to glorify God. But it can only be done if we choose to do so. If we choose use our words (and use them carefully) to His glory then God will be pleased.