Free Republic

[This is part of Catholic Analysis' special series on Pope Alexander VI. This part, the fifth, explains Alexander's connections with the Italians. Read the fourth part.] Once his installment was settled, the pope set about making many changes. Alexander was a reformer. He despised the corruption prevalent in some ranks of clergy, and so he proclaimed, "We are well aware that morals have notably fallen back. No longer can we tolerate the way in which the former salutary measures instituted by our predecessors to keep sensuality and avarice within bounds have been violated so that we fall headlong into corruption....

A Watergate-style coverup surrounding Columbus' initial voyage. FROM ANCIENT EGYPTIANS to extraterrestrials, popular literature has identified various personages with the discovery of the Americas. Absent from this familiar list was the pope. Italian journalist and author Ruggero Marino claims that Pope Innocent VIII sponsored Christopher Columbus' first voyage. And, in the fashion of the later-published "Da Vinci Code," he has written Cristoforo Colombo ed Il Papa Tradito (available only in Italian) stating his case. Using a blend of conjectures, coincidences, curiosities and certainties, the author paints a picture of a Watergate-style coverup surrounding Columbus' initial voyage. The tale involves many...