We went to watch the movie "Pope Joan" yesterday. It is an interesting yet thought-provoking show, with the main question being, is this fact or fiction? Did Pope Joan really exist? Was there ever a female pope?
I was so intrigued by this that I actually went to do some research. Some sources claimed she did exist, and some claimed it was just a myth. But her existence was rather ambiguous. There were clues that led people to speculate she did exist.
Just to summarise, Joan was a gifted girl who disguised herself as a man and became a Brother. She was later elected Pope. During her reign, she was rather popular and tried to improve the living standards of the people.
However, she had a lover or two and became pregnant. Having lived as a man for so long, she did not even know she was pregnant, neither did she know when she would be due. One day, during a papal procession, she felt ill and had to stop halfway and rest on the streets, where she gave birth.
It was sacrilegious, so it was speculated that both the mother and child were dragged away to be stoned. Some other sources said she was stoned but the child was saved, and later became Bishop too. Yet some said the matter was hushed up, and she was stripped of her title and put away in a convent where she raised her child.
In the movie, she suffered a miscarriage and died. Her lover died too. He was her guardian who took her in when no one else would, so she could study in a cathedral school. She became the top student but her tutor and classmates hated her and often thought up ways to punish or tease her. They fell in love as he felt her to be equal in him intellectually and spiritually.
Anyway, her existence is still disputed, because there did not seem to be any records of her having ever existed in any papal records. But then, if she did not exist, why did the following happen around the time when she was supposed to have died?
First, the Vatican now (since then) has a pierced chair. Apparently, this is to ascertain that the incumbent Pope is really a man. The incumbent will sit on the chair, and someone will go under and look up to see if he really is a man. Why did they have this practice to ascertain if all along popes had been male?
Second, the path where she was supposedly have given birth, had since been avoided by all the papal procession. It seemed that Popes all bypassed that area and go through another area, as that area is now "unclean".
Which makes me wonder, why can women not become priests? Why can women not be able to preach or become the head of the church? Why must it only be man? In this time and age when women are supposedly more equal or more capable than men, why does such an ancient rule still exist? Is it still relevant even?
Who is to say in the olden days, there was not a single female priest? Perhaps there were women who disguised themselves and became priests, and no one knew. Perhaps they took their secret to their graves.
Can there ever be a female priest? From the looks of it, not during my time. Maybe in another hundred years? If we can ask God for anything, will He then grant the wish that one day, there will be a female priest? I believe, being females, she will be able to do her work better than any male around!
I was so intrigued by this that I actually went to do some research. Some sources claimed she did exist, and some claimed it was just a myth. But her existence was rather ambiguous. There were clues that led people to speculate she did exist.
Just to summarise, Joan was a gifted girl who disguised herself as a man and became a Brother. She was later elected Pope. During her reign, she was rather popular and tried to improve the living standards of the people.
However, she had a lover or two and became pregnant. Having lived as a man for so long, she did not even know she was pregnant, neither did she know when she would be due. One day, during a papal procession, she felt ill and had to stop halfway and rest on the streets, where she gave birth.
It was sacrilegious, so it was speculated that both the mother and child were dragged away to be stoned. Some other sources said she was stoned but the child was saved, and later became Bishop too. Yet some said the matter was hushed up, and she was stripped of her title and put away in a convent where she raised her child.
In the movie, she suffered a miscarriage and died. Her lover died too. He was her guardian who took her in when no one else would, so she could study in a cathedral school. She became the top student but her tutor and classmates hated her and often thought up ways to punish or tease her. They fell in love as he felt her to be equal in him intellectually and spiritually.
Anyway, her existence is still disputed, because there did not seem to be any records of her having ever existed in any papal records. But then, if she did not exist, why did the following happen around the time when she was supposed to have died?
First, the Vatican now (since then) has a pierced chair. Apparently, this is to ascertain that the incumbent Pope is really a man. The incumbent will sit on the chair, and someone will go under and look up to see if he really is a man. Why did they have this practice to ascertain if all along popes had been male?
Second, the path where she was supposedly have given birth, had since been avoided by all the papal procession. It seemed that Popes all bypassed that area and go through another area, as that area is now "unclean".
Which makes me wonder, why can women not become priests? Why can women not be able to preach or become the head of the church? Why must it only be man? In this time and age when women are supposedly more equal or more capable than men, why does such an ancient rule still exist? Is it still relevant even?
Who is to say in the olden days, there was not a single female priest? Perhaps there were women who disguised themselves and became priests, and no one knew. Perhaps they took their secret to their graves.
Can there ever be a female priest? From the looks of it, not during my time. Maybe in another hundred years? If we can ask God for anything, will He then grant the wish that one day, there will be a female priest? I believe, being females, she will be able to do her work better than any male around!
0 comments:
Post a Comment