Religious question on a Schiavo-like medical condition.

Not so! Well, maybe TECHNICALLY so. An ex pirate who became a Cardinal Baldassare Cossa was more or less elected, and certainly installed, as Pope John XXIII upon the death of Pope Alexander V in 1410.

There were at the time THREE simultaneous rival Popes in Rome, Avignon, and Pisa. Since each claimed to be the Vicar of the Prince of Peace, they naturally made war on each other.

Each could trace his election through properly created Cardinals; each had an equal (more or less) claim to legitimacy.

The Pisans lost so their Popes were swept under the rug of Church history.

 

Sorry for the triplication. I'm having trouble with the web site.

 

I certainly stand corrected and must admit I was not aware of this. It looks like your historical information certainly has more validity than the Pope Joan legend.

Thanks for "edumacatin'" me!

 

My favorite Pope legend, though, concerns Pope John Paul I. He died within a VERY short time of election. Ninety days or so, IIRC. It's been a LONG time. John Paul II must have had one of the longest reigns in Papal history.

ANYWAY, the legend is that J.P. I had a bunch of records concerning the Vatican's finances spread out on his desk just before he died. Now, it is no secret that the Vatican's banker was pulled dead out of the harbor in Milan at about this time...sooo the conspiracy theorists announced that J.P. I had been poisened to keep him from "spilling the beans". Just which beans was never clear.

What I love about this legend is that it is so PAPAL. In two thousand years the pile of fraud, hornswoggling, forgery, intimidation and murder surrounding the Vatican reached mountainous proportions.

BTW, I don't actually BELIEVE the conspiracy theory, you understand. I just think of it as yet another ornament to the more interesting side of Papal history!

 

He actually served about five weeks.

I have always wondered about the cause of his death and never believed it was from natural causes. He was a great man who loved life.

He once said "I am only a poor man, accustomed to small things and silence."

 

Okay.

I admit it. I DO think that he was helped out of this world.

Anyway, lest anyone think I've been studying theology (God forbid! ), I learned of the Beatific Vision from The Screwtape Letters. C.S. Lewis has Uncle Screwtape refer to the "Miserific Vision" (naturally) and Lewis puts in a footnote to explain.

My understanding of the anti-Pope (if you put them together, do they explode?) came from a lecture long, long ago and therefore may be inaccurate. My memory isn't what it used to be.

 

You should never have watched Godfather III.

But then, there is Michele Sindona. And P-2. And the Vatican Bank scandal. And the failure of Franklin National Bank.

Throw in at your pleasure the Mafia, CIA or whatever turns you on and you have a splendid conspiracy.