He's just a man: A tribute to pope Francis

Di Giacomo Bajamonte

Forswears, murders, irrational decrees. Over the two millennium-long history of the Papacy, many, too many, mistakes and questionable and odd exploits have been carried out. In the present work, the author, far from attacking a single Pope, but rather with the clear intent of demolishing the dogma of Papal infallibility, lists all the barbaric acts of the Popes from the first century up to the present times. The work is marked by an innovative writing technique, one that has never been used before, characterized by extreme conciseness and a painstakingly precise bibliography of almost two-hundred works in order to provide quotes of the most relevant parts. The author wishes to push the reader to question the value of modern religious teaching with respect to the original teaching of Jesus, as well as to ask the reader what factors have caused Christianity to split into a variety of religious streams. He reminds us that the Catholic Church is the only one, among the three great doctrinal schisms, that has imposed celibacy upon its clergy. Could that be the reason?

• Lingua: Italiano
• Editore: Youcanprint
• Data di uscita: 17 giu 2019
• ISBN: 9788831623889

Anteprima del libro

Francis

Igrew up Catholic. I went through the normal procedures for 90% of Italians: baptism, confirmation, communion and matrimony. Moreover, my middle school and part of my secondary school education took place in Catholic institutions, with parish priests and nuns respectively. In particular, for all three years of middle school and two years of secondary school, the priests would reserve an hour for mass every Saturday.

At around 25, having not attended mass, nor taken communion nor gone to confession (the one exception being for my marriage) for at least seven years, I began to ask myself some questions and a few doubts emerged. It seems incredible to admit it now, but until the age of 25 I had no idea that Christianity was divided into several branches. For me, Christianity was equivalent to Catholicism.

Faced with doubts and questions, I began to study both the alternative branches to Catholicism (Protestantism in particular) and other religions (Islam in particular). Something about Catholicism didn’t convince me, in fact several things didn’t: ritual upon ritual, phrases learnt by heart and always the same passages of the Gospel repeated in church. Is that really what Jesus would have wanted for me today? Phrases by rote, confession with a stranger who, unlike me, the Apostles and even the first Pope, embraces chastity? Who or what had diminished the belief in a Superior Being that had sent His Son, a man capable of performing miracles, here to earth? The church, perhaps? Doubtless, the church had its faults, but it couldn’t have done anything without the backing of its supreme head, the Pope.

Studying the popes, I was immediately struck by the theory of their infallibility ex cathedra, that is, when they speak on matters of faith. How strange, I thought, that a human being can believe himself to be infallible, even more so when discussing something theoretical that only God can know about. I was also intrigued by the concept of ex cathedra, which implicitly admits not only that the pope can make mistakes when not talking about faith, but that he in fact does. Ex cathedra or not, I decided to see which pope had made mistakes and when and what effects their errors had on our present days.

At the time I didn’t think there would be enough material to write a book, but before I’d even finished wading through the first-century the errors were already coming thick and fast. Well, I said to myself, why not keep note of them all in a few pages, with absolutely no biographical information not relating exclusively to the errors and curious or questionable actions, with a rich and carefully selected bibliography that no Catholic could argue with?

Thanks to Google Books I had an abundance of titles, allowing me to satisfy my curiosity and to find out who had got up to what and when. I liked the idea. But I could never have imagined the anger and the laughter that would result from it. Not even remotely.

I almost forgot to mention that my entire share of the profits from this book will be given away to charity. If anyone is wondering why, it’s not because I’m rich but because I laughed for at least fifteen minutes straight every day while writing it. I don’t think it is right to make money from something amusingly enjoyable, especially if it concerns religious issues and rituals that should have nothing to do with profit.

But that is the past, Pope Francis is now the vicar of Christ and it is his guidance that I want.

Liège (Belgium), Saint Jaques’s Church: Statue from Saint James the

Just (1691) by Jean Del Cour, Flamenc, Wikimedia project

POPE ANACLETUS I (1ST CENTURY)

Forced priests who to sport a ridiculous hair cut (known as tonsure), worn by those who celebrated mass in apostolic times1.

POPE SIXTUS I (115-117/125-129)

Established that several ornaments of the altar (the chalice and paten) could no longer be touched by the laity but only by the clerg y2 3.

POPE TELESPHORUS (125-136)

Established that no layperson could contradict the clerg y4.

POPE ANICETUS (155-166)

His only decretal in the eleven years of his pontificate was that no clerg yman could have long hair; he also reinstated the use of tonsure. This decretal took it origins from the writings of Saint Paul5 6 7.

POPE STEPHEN I (254-257)

Ordered that the laity could no longer wear the vestments used by the clerg y, introduced the blessing thereof and forbade their use outside of church8.

POPE LEO IX (1048-1054)

Decreed in a synod that the women who prostituted themselves to clerg y in Rome were to become slaves serving the Lateran Palace9 10.

POPE GREGORY VII (1073-1085)

Reaffirmed the celibacy of the clerg y, declaring that he preferred them to engage in sodomy or sexual relations with family members over a legitimate marital tie11 12.

POPE ALEXANDER III (1159-1181)

Issued a decree of excommunication for anyone who did not pay a tithe in advance in the territories of the Papal States. The tithe related to mills, fish farms, hay, wool and bees, for example, and was supposed to be paid before the income was received on the sale of the product13 14.

POPE LEO X (1513-1521)

Introduced a papal bull (Inter Sollicitudines) during a Council (Lateran V) that prohibited the printing of books not approved by the clergy. The penalty for those who published unauthorised book was excommunication, the public burning of the printed books, a fine (one hundred ducats) and a year-long printing ban. If the person repeatedly published unauthorised books, harsher punishments were administered. This led to the creation of the List of forbidden books years later, which remained in force for over four centuries (it was abolished in 1966)15.

His bull reintroduced the sale of indulgences, provoking Luther to post his 95 theses in a cathedral, which lit the fuse for the explosion of the Protestant Reformation. He was the first to give rise to the sale of indulgences in Germany and he declared that the proceeds would be used to reconstruct Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome16.

POPE PAUL IV (1555-1559)

He issued a bull (Cum nimis absurdum) ordering the Jews residing in the Papal States to live in seclusion in a ghetto in the Sant’Angelo district of Rome. He forbade them from possessing properties, which had to be sold to Christians (resulting in their depreciation) and from practising a business or profession. He compelled them to reduce the interests on loans to a maximum of 12% and forced them to wear a distinguishing mark. He declared that they were condemned to eternal slavery because of their ingratitude and insolence. He also forbade Christians from being treated by Jewish doctors, even if they were seriously ill17 18 19.

POPE CLEMENT XIII (1758-1769)

Ordered the private parts of the subjects depicted in the statues and paintings in the Vatican to be covered up. The statues were consequently emasculated and the private parts in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel painted over20 21.

POPE LEO XII (1823-1829)

Banned the dancing of the waltz, which he described as a

highly obscene dance22 23.

POPE PIUS IX (1846-1878)

During and because of the annexation of the Papal States to the Kingdom of Italy (which led to the formation of the Italian State, and the consequential loss of possessions on the part of the Papal States), he excommunicated the entire Italian government and King Victor Emmanuel II three times over. He also issued a decree (Non expedit) prohibiting Catholics from involvement in elections or any form of political life in the recently formed Italian State. This decree was revoked more than forty years later by Pope Benedict XV. Pope Pius IX was described by Garibaldi as a cubic metre of manure24 25 26 27.

He proclaimed that the pope could not err (papal infallibility) when speaking about questions of faith or morals (ex cathedra)28.

POPE LEO XIII (1878-1903)

Reiterated the decree issued by his predecessor (Non expedit) forbidding Catholics to take part in the political life of the Italian State29.

He was a great admirer of vin Mariani (a blend of Bordeaux and cocaine), so much so that he sent the inventor a Vatican gold medal30.

POPE LINUS (1st Century)

Decreed that women should have their face and hair covered when entering church so as not to attract the bishops. This decree was issued in accordance with previous provisions made by Saint Peter and the teachings of Saint Paul31 32 33 34 35 36.

POPE SIRICIUS (384-399)

Issued a decree in a letter addressed to a Spanish bishop (Himerius of Tarragona) in which he imposed priestly celibacy on the clerg y. This issue had never been addressed by any previous Pope37 38.

POPE BENEDICT VIII (1012-1024)

Reiterated a decree by Pope Siricius concerning priestly celibacy, adding that the children born of ecclesiastical fathers and free mothers were obligated to become part of the clerg y. Many authors understand this as an economical decree, in as much as the assets belonging to a priestly father could not leave the church39 40.

POPE PIUS XI (1922-1939)

Wrote in one of his epistles (Casti Connubii), that the sexual act, within marriage, should not be tainted in any way by measures taken to prevent having children and that those not wishing to have children should remain chaste41.

He described Mussolini as the man of Providence, the man sent by providence and similarly praised the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. During the electoral campaign aimed at gaining votes for Mussolini, the church adopted the slogan For the Pope and for il Duce42.

He had a private audience with Ernest Jouin, founder of an anti-Semite magazine (Revue internationale des sociétés secrètes) that published news of an alleged secret plot by the Jews to conquer the world (it included phrases such as From the triple perspective of race, nationality and religion, Jews have become the enemy of humanity) and he said to him: Continue with your Revue, despite your financial difficulties, because you are fighting our mortal enemy and appointed him protonotary apostolic43.

POPE PAUL VI (1963-1978)

Wrote in an encyclical (Humanae Vitae) that spouses should not use any type of contraceptive measure as, in his opinion, women’s periods of infertility were sufficient, specifying, however, that they should not be used intentionally (except in case of vaguely specified serious motives, which derive from physical or psychological conditions of the husband or wife, or from external conditions). In the aforementioned encyclical, he also declared that abortion was not permitted under any circumstances (not even therapeutic abortion, i.e. when the foetus is seriously ill)44.

POPE JOHN XII (955-964)

Turned the Lateran Palace into a brothel. He had his own personal harem of concubines, (including one the sister of Stephania, she too another of his concubines who had previously been the mistress of his father) and a number of widows, to whom he gave sacred ornaments in exchange for sexual favours (including crosses and gold chalices consecrated to Saint Peter). A Council was summoned against him, and in addition to the previously mentioned concubines, he was accused of: having a passion for gambling and betting on horses; having