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permission. Thus, by necessity, painters of popes purposely and incessantly applied placid characteristics to the physical appearance of popes who were, in reality, "men of dubious dispositions" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Pecci ed., i, p. 326). Those paintings appear in modern books and are only creations from the artists’ minds, for previous to the 16th century "no authentic portraits of the popes exist" (The Popes: A Concise Biographical History, op. cit., . 16). — p.16) Page permission. Thus, by necessity, painters of popes purposely and dreadful incident reveal the true nature and motives of the men in incessantly applied placid characteristics to the physical appearance —_ charge of Christianity, and this story is a cold challenge to Church of popes who were, in reality, "men of dubious dispositions" ethics and pretensions. From those and similar actions, it is (Catholic Encyclopedia, Pecci ed., i, p. 326). Those paintings apparent that the papacy viewed the faith of its followers only as a appear in modern books and are only creations from the artists’ novel kind of folly. minds, for previous to the 16th century "no authentic portraits of the The Church claims that the choice of every pope was guided by popes exist" (The Popes: A Concise Biographical History, op. cit., the Holy Spirit, aided indirectly but effectively by bribery, armies, p. 16). warships and weaponry. The power of the papacy rested upon the "right of the Conclusion sword" (Bull Unam Sanctam, Boniface VIII, 18 November 1302; overview in Catholic Encyclopedia, xv, p. 126), which the Roman Catholic Church emphatically claims today in its esoteric Code of Canon Law. It is revealing to read New Testament narratives in which Jesus Christ defined his mission: "I have come not to bring peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34) and instructed his followers to arm themselves with weapons (Luke 22:36). The history of the papacy reveals that the popes took Jesus’ advice, for they imputed to Christ the horrid justification of the sword and the infernal principles of more than a thousand years of unrestrained criminal activity. The popes, executors of "a depraved and excessive superstition" (Meditations, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, c. 180) and whom the modern Church presents as the centre of love and peace, were in reality, more often than not, debauched military strategists indifferent to a Christian moral code. Whatever one may think of the determination of popes to hold or expand their temporal power, one cannot entertain any defence of their nepotism or Thus, in our search for Christianity's "sweetness and light", we have, as it were, scratched only the surface of the history of the papacy as recorded by the Church itself. This article is but a thumbnail sketch of a few popes from a total of 264 isted in The Popes: A Concise Biographical History (op. cit.), a sanitised presentation of their lives which subtly excludes detailed discussion on centuries of double, triple and quadruple popes. Documenting lurid features emanating rom a long line of popes, carrying names like Adrian, Leo, Clement, Benedict, Boniface, Gregory, Innocent, Celestine, Pius (pious!), Alexander, Eugenius (you genius!), Urban and John, falls outside the limited scope of this critique. It is not possible here to elaborate on the interminable political wars and throat- cuttings joyously mooted by centuries o: apal instructions, nor on the infinite blood-lust and greed of the execrate Holy Inquisition and of the never-ending successions of murderous popes, armed Curias and blood-sodden prelates. Nor is it possible to expand upon the story of the pope who called himself Lucifer, an the corrupt nature of the office itself. another who used funds from the = _ - . Roberto Francesco Romulus Cardinal Vatican's treasure chamber to develop the This Is a detail from a gate leading to the Bellarmino (1542-1621) conceded these finest horse stud in Europe. Corsini Chapel in the Lateran Basilica in truths by admitting that "the papacy Then there is the little-known story of Rome. Pope Clement XIl (1730-40) ordered almost eliminated Christianity" and, later, Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, who the construction of the chapel and named it learned French encyclopaedist Denis after his family (he was Lorenzo Corsini, b. Diderot (1713-83) added in_ his 1652). In his brief, Verbo Dei, he praised the pontificate of the 12-year-old son of the Count of Tusculum and honoured the youthful pope, Benedict IX, on the gate (The Popes and Their Church, Joseph McCabe, Watts & Co., London, 1933). (© Film Library purchased the papacy for his 12-year-old son Theophylactus (Benedict IX; see part one) and the insolence of the modern Church in describing him as: "...one of the more youthful popes, unanimously elected by a special commission to the cheers of the delighted Encyclopédie: "From its inception in a mean and squalid settlement outside the walls of Rome, between the ragged buildings that fringed the farther bank of the Tiber and extended to the edges of the marshy Ager cardinals, who were all legitimately of Roman Antiquities, Milan, Italy) Vaticanus [Vatican Field], the Church of appointed and formal cognizance was taken. The cardinal- the popes was cradled ... it developed into a chronique camerlengo made the announcement of a pope-elect about eight scandaleuse [a chronicle of scandals] and its survival leaves one to o'clock on the morning of the first day, and then the cardinals pass an opinion on the peculiar mind of human nature that allows a advanced and paid him his first obedience or homage (adoratio). system injurious to good morals to exist. Such an association After the Conclave, certain honorary distinctions and pecuniary could at most be considered as cause for disbelief. To the students emoluments were awarded to the conclavists." of genuine history, the facts are so notorious that the alliance of the (Catholic Encyclopedia, Pecci ed., iii, p. 255) papal hierarchy with brutality and treachery, and the wilful neglect of reform, is confronted by the serious prospect of the spiritual ruin We also leave for another time the account of the Conclave of the Catholic faith." which made a pope of a cardinal who had earlier horrified Europe In our current lenient age, some Church writers have attempted We also leave for another time the account of the Conclave which made a pope of a cardinal who had earlier horrified Europe by ordering the massacre of every man, woman and child in the Italian city of Cesena in 1379. The savage thoughts behind this APRIL — MAY 2007 NEXUS +55 Continued on page 79 www.nexusmagazine.com