Talk:Legends surrounding the papacy

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What's the point of this page? We already have articles on Vicarius Filii Dei and Pope Joan. This just repeats information from those pages. - Efghij 04:30, 1 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Because people kept asking to pull info on the 666 issue from Papal Tiara into an article like this, dealing generally with this topic. Others myths and legends can also be added in. FearÉIREANN 18:57, 1 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I've most of the information on these myths to their respective articles, to prevent needless duplication. - Efghij 02:34, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Was there not some form of legend relating to at some stage, a horse was made pope?

Not that I've heard. You're probably thinking of one of the nuttier Roman Emperors (I think it was Caligula) who appointed his horse to the Senate. --Gene_poole 22:40, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

No. The two big myths concerning horses were about one Roman Emperor making his horse a senator, and Catherine the Great supposedly suffering a heart attack and dying while performing oral sex on a horse. Neither as far as I know is true.

Actually, now that I think of it, there is one allegedly true papal story concerning a horse. Apparently one very pompous pope rode through the streets of Rome in a procession on a mare. Half way through, a horse in the procession broke away and mounted the mare the pope was riding, leaving his Holiness trapped between a randy horse and the mare he was trying to have sex with. The pompous pope was made a laughing stock! FearÉIREANN 22:49, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I have read a similar version of the story involving "a pompous bishop": so probably an urban legend. Jackiespeel (talk) 18:29, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Should the myth about John Paul II's Doctor Martens be included? The story goes that he had special white 1460s made for him and the Cardinals, but it's an urban legend. Or is that too light hearted for this page? Binkymagnus 18:17, 2005 Apr 23 (UTC)

It is actually partly true. The company that makes them was the subject of a TV programme on the BBC a year or two ago. They mentioned their surprise at having a request for docs from the Vatican. It appears that HH was a big fan of them (and as an occasional wearer of them, I can understand why. They are so damned comfortable.) and wore them when walking the mountains. He didn't say if he asked for a white pair, though. FearÉIREANN 23:04, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"Documents of Jesus Christ"

What????? No mention of the check for the Last Supper????--Midnite Critic 05:44, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality dispute

Why is the neutrality of this article disputed? The tone seems OK to me. BLHersey 23:27, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Never mind. Someone removed it in the last 5 minutes. BLHersey 23:28, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

"There is also a dispute on the numerology of Vicarius Filii Dei and Vicarius Christi"

There is no such dispute. The Latin spelling is the only spelling used for Latin numerology of Latin phrases. "Uicarius Filii Dei" can come only to 666 however the 1st & 7th letters are written. The Latin numerology of English words & phrases can be subject to dispute -. J can be counted as 1 or ignored, K can be counted as 100 or ignored, W can be counted as 5 or 10 .- but not the Latin numerology of Latin words & phrases. Unless I receive an argument to the contrary, I'm going to delete the "dispute" paragraph.

Froggo Zijgeb 00:03, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

• In the article, how is "616" derived from "Vicarivs Christi"? I get V+I+C+I+V+C+I+I = 5+1+100+1+5+100+1+1 = 214, which is mentioned later. SigPig |^{SEND - OVER} 05:58, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Vatican Library myth

Perhaps there's a place here for the myth that the Vatican has the world's largest collection of pornography. This is debunked by Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/risque/porn/vatican.asp --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 14:15, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Sexing the pope

There are also a number of rumours about checks carried out to ensure the pope is male; this is mentioned in the article in the section about Joan (without it being clear whether such tests were really carried out or part of the myth; no reference is given). Generally it is claimed this is done either by the pope sitting on a chair with a hole (see discussion of sedes stercoraria under Pope Joan), or by someone specially tasked to stick his hand up the papal vestments. I'm not sure as to whether any of these stories reflect current or historical practice, or are just salacious gossip. But a discussion here with evidence/refutation would be a useful contribution. --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 14:27, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Introduction

As mentioned by the introduction, "The papacy has been surrounded by numerous legends. Among the most famous are the claims that the Papal Tiara contains the number of the beast inscriptions on the Tiara, that a woman was once elected pope, or that current pope, Benedict XVI, will be the penultimate Pope. The first two claims have been independently determined to be false." Where is the reference? I would very much like to see a reputable refusal of these accusations that can be independently verified —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.173.9.116 (talk) 14:14, 11 April 2011 (UTC)