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surreptitiously buried in a cloth under the cover of darkness. Four —_ before me" (Luke 19:27). Popes today do everything in their succeeding popes then briefly held the papal position, and the power to present Jesus as a harmless religious preacher and a following paragraph from the Catholic Encyclopedia is pregnant —_ prophet of peace, but carefully refrain from entering into with evidence of the moral depravity of the entire priesthood: discussion about this Gospel passage, one that nullifies everything "At the time of Leo IX's election in 1049, according to the that Christianity purports to represent. testimony of St Bruno, Bishop of Segni, 'the whole Church was in wickedness, holiness had disappeared, justice had perished, and Papal Warships and Rival Imperialist Popes truth had been buried; Simon Magus was lording it over the Around the time of St Peter Damian, we find a reference to the Church, whose popes and bishops were given to luxury and existence of a papal navy crewed by Christian warrior-sailors. It fornication. The scientific and ascetic training of the popes left was originally founded in 881 by Pope John VIII (pope 872-882; much to be desired, the moral standard of many being very low d. 882), but details of its size or missions do not publicly exist and the practice of celibacy not everywhere observed. Bishops (Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 6, 1973, p. 572). However, from obtained their offices in irregular ways, whose lives and a later solitary reference to "the Pope's fighting fleet" recorded in conversations are strangely at variance with their calling, who go 1043 (Diderot's Encyclopédie, 1759), it was still operational at through their duties not for Christ but for motives of worldly gain. that time. This extraordinary record was found in documentation The members of the clergy were in once belonging to the powerful Roman many places regarded with scorn, Crescenti family, who played an and their avaricious ideas, luxury important part in papal coups from and immorality rapidly gained the middle of the 10th century to the round at the centre of clerical life. . beginning of the 11th century. The When ecclesiastical authority grew In modern times, the Church Pope's Navy was still operational in weak at the fountain head, it labelled the anti-popes the 16th century, some 700 years necessarily decayed elsewhere. In " . . " after its inception, for Pope Gregory proportion, as the papal authority devils on the chair of St Peter 5 XIH (b. 1502; pope 1572-85) lost the respect of many, resentment imi commissioned Giorgio Vasari grew against both the Curia and the claiming that they mueiie (1511-74) to paint a picture of the papacy."" unlawfully appointed. fleet while it was moored at the port (Catholic Encyclopedia, vi, pp. of Messina in Sicily. 793-4; xii, pp. 700-03, passim) The true significance of records of such a military force nullifies the Pope Leo IX (b. 1002, d. 1054) modern-day presentation of the was an unscrupulous adventurer who "sweetness and light" that the Church spent his pontificate touring Europe with a quota of armed knights today says Christianity brought to the world. and left the world worse than he found it. The Church called him Further apologising for centuries of pandemonium caused by "Lapsi" (lapsed), coyly admitting that "he defected from the popes, and giving a smear of whitewash to their actions, the faith...he fell away by actually offering sacrifice to the false gods Vatican has admitted that at the time of Pope Alexander II (thurificati)...it is not known why he recanted his religion" (1061-73) "the Church was torn by the schisms of anti-popes, (Catholic Encyclopedia, Pecci ed., iii, p. 117). simony and clerical incontinence" (Catholic Encyclopedia, i, p. St Peter Damian (1007-72), the fiercest censor of his age, 541). The development of a multiplicity of popes simultaneously unrolled a frightful picture of decay in clerical morality in the operating in confliction with each other is a little-known episode lurid pages of his Book of Gomorrah, a curious Christian record in Christian history and provides clear evidence of the existence that remarkably survived centuries of Church cover-ups and book- of powerful factional opponents scheming to gain solitary control burnings. He said: "A natural tendency to murder and brutalise of the Papal States. "The Church was disturbed many times in her appears with the popes. Nor do they have any inclination to history by rival claimants to the papacy...the strife that originated conquer their abominable lust; many are seen to have employed was always an occasion of scandal, sometimes of violence and into licentiousness for an occasion to the flesh, and hence, using bloodshed" (Catholic Dictionary, Virtue & Co, London, 1954, p. this liberty of theirs, perpetrating every crime." 35). Initially, rival imperialist popes were elected by noble After a lifetime of research into the lives of the popes, Lord French families to root out Roman ecclesiastical vice, and Acton (1834-1902), English historian and founder-editor of The subsequently new elements appeared in a variety of ways, Cambridge Modern History, summarised the militarist papal enduring for 400 years. attitude when he observed: In modern times, the Church labelled the anti-popes "devils on "The popes were not only murderers in the great style, but they the chair of St Peter", claiming that they were unlawfully also made murder a legal basis of the Christian Church and a appointed (Catholic Dictionary, ibid.). That distinction, however, condition of salvation." is purely arbitrary, for each multiple pope was canonically elected (The Cambridge Modern History, vol. 1, pp. 673-77) at Church conclaves. Here is an extraordinary confession from the Church: Maybe they took their example from Jesus Christ who, after "At various times in the history of the Church, illegal pretenders being made king, issued this murderous instruction: "Bring my to the papal chair have arisen and frequently exercised pontifical enemies here that did not wish me as king, and kill them in my functions in defiance of the true occupant. According to presence" (Gospel of Luke, 19:27, Mount Sinai Manuscript of the [Cardinal] Hergenrother (d. 1890), the last anti-pope was Felix V Bible, British Museum, MS 43725, 1934). The Catholic Bible (1439-49). The same authority enumerates twenty-nine in the provides a softer approach: "But those, my enemies, which would following order... [yaming them]." not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them (Catholic Encyclopedia, i, p. 582) before me" (Luke 19:27). Popes today do everything in their power to present Jesus as a harmless religious preacher and a prophet of peace, but carefully refrain from entering into discussion about this Gospel passage, one that nullifies everything that Christianity purports to represent. In modern times, the Church labelled the anti-popes "devils on the chair of St Peter", claiming that they were unlawfully appointed. Maybe they took their example from Jesus Christ who, after being made king, issued this murderous instruction: "Bring my enemies here that did not wish me as king, and kill them in my presence" (Gospel of Luke, 19:27, Mount Sinai Manuscript of the Bible, British Museum, MS 43725, 1934). The Catholic Bible provides a softer approach: "But those, my enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them NEXUS + 37 DECEMBER 2006 — JANUARY 2007 www.nexusmagazine.com