SIMON MAGUS AND THE BLACK POPES – PART II

Pope Joan was an ill-famed female pope who supposedly reigned some time during the Middle Ages. The legend first appeared in 13th-century records, and was afterward shared and blown up throughout Europe. According to some conjecture she gave birth, thus exposing her sex and was killed by an angry mob. This tale was widely believed for centuries, but contemporary religious scholars consider it fictional.

 

Some say it was actually the “magician” Simon Magus who was the first pope, not the apostle Peter. The confusion comes from the name Simon Peter. The Vatican says such reports are from critics who do not want to acknowledge the veracity and pedigree of the Catholic Church.

 

According to Wikipedia, “Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, (Greek Σίμων ὁ μάγος) was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptized by Philip the Evangelist, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in Acts 8:9–24. The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is named for Simon.”

 

In 2008, a British Channel 4 TV documentary, “The Secrets of the Twelve Disciples,” claimed that Catholicism has taught for centuries that Peter was martyred and buried in Rome and that all popes succeed him. “But the documentary will challenge this by asserting that he never reached the Italian city. Instead, it will accuse the Church of ignoring the discovery of a tomb in Jerusalem that archaeologists believe contains the bones of Peter.” (Jonathan Wynne-Jones, “St Peter was not the first Pope claims Channel 4,” The Telegraph, March 23, 2008)

 

According to the early Church historian Eusebius, Simon Magus was a Samaritan. He tried, with the assistance of his partner Helena, to fly off a tower he built in Rome, but fell and was severely injured, leading to his death. It appears that Simon the magician was charmed with the myth of Icarus. Referring to the Roman biographer Suetonius, professor of history Anthony Papalas wrote: “The emperor Nero attended a theatrical performance where a flying Icarus fell from wires and splattered him with blood.” (Anthony J. Papalas, “Ancient Icaria,” 1992)

 

Skeptics say it was Paul, not Peter, who delivered the gospel to the Romans, and the first pope was in fact the man named Simon Magus — the father of heretics. Mistaken for Simon Peter, the doppelganger without delay affirmed himself as the first bishop of Rome. He condemned pastoral marriage, not to support chastity but to back pedophilia, a psycho-sexual disorder in which an adult or adolescent has a sexual preference for children.

 

“The Pope of Greenwich Village” is a 1984 American film starring Mickey Rourke. It chronicles the lives and relationships between Italian American gangsters and the mob. After the resignation of Benedict XVI, some observers were concerned that the Society of Jesus, or atheist educated wing of the Church, might give excessive authority to a “black pope” to manage the global politics of organized crime.

 

“An incredibly influential order, members of the society were heavily involved in European politics from the offset. Jesuits were implicated in plots to overthrow Elizabeth I. They were also associated with the Gunpowder plot to destroy Parliament, after James I made the order illegal. During this time all Catholics in Britain were told they must recant their Catholicism or face death. The term Jesuit was first applied to the society as a reproach and was never employed by its founder, though members and friends of the society later accepted the name.” (“The Society of Jesus: Who are the Jesuits?” BBC, March 14, 2013)

 

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At length, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. On March 13, 2013, the papal conclave elected Bergoglio, who selected the papal name “Francis” in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Pope Francis became the first Jesuit Pope.  A coarse fame had kept them from the papacy — until now. In electing a member of the Society of Jesus, the Vatican for the first time elevated a ‘foot soldier of the pope’ to be in charge. Jesuits were formerly bound by oath not to seek higher office in the Roman Catholic Church. Now one of them was elected to its highest office.

 

Perhaps upsetting the sanctimonious peacefulness, Michael Day of The Independent newspaper reported: “A day ahead of the papal conclave, faces at the scandal-struck Vatican were even redder than usual after it emerged that the Holy See had purchased a €23 million (£21 million) share of a Rome apartment block that houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna.”

 

The Holy See was still reeling from allegations that the previous pontiff, Benedict XVI, had quit in reaction to the presence of a gay cabal in the Curia. A convicted pedophile priest claimed that a gay prostitution ring had been operating within the Holy Roman Church, with clergymen hiring underage rent-boys for sex:

 

“Don Patrizio Poggi, who served a five-year prison sentence for abusing teenage boys at his Rome parish, also told Italian authorities a former Carabinieri police officer recruited boys for nine clergymen, IBTimes reports.

 

“Poggi told the police: ‘I decided to file this complaint and cooperate with the law after long reflection and after a painful history of abuse and misuse of power that I have overcome thanks to the faith that guides me.’” (Sara C Nelson, “Paedophile Priest ‘Exposes Satanic Vatican Rent-Boy Sex Ring,’” Huffington Post, July 1, 2013)

 

As stated by the Daily Beast, the existence of a gay-priest network outside the fortified walls of Vatican City was hardly news. Many were wondering if it was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of sex scandals.

 

“According to several well-placed vaticanisti — or Vatican experts — in Rome, Benedict is resigning after being handed a secret red-covered dossier that included details about a network of gay priests who work inside the Vatican, but who play in secular Rome. The priests, it seems, are allegedly being blackmailed by a network of male prostitutes who worked at a sauna in Rome’s Quarto Miglio district, a health spa in the city center, and a private residence once entrusted to a prominent archbishop. The evidence reportedly includes compromising photos and videos of the prelates — sometimes caught on film in drag, and, in some cases, caught ‘in the act.’” (“Did a Cross-Dressing Priest Sex Ring Bring Down Benedict XVI?” WorldTruth.TV)

 

Lurking beneath the surface were all the more pressing concerns. Eyewitness testimony threatened to dog Jorge Mario Bergoglio from his time as Jesuit superior and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina:

 

“Within 24 hours of the white smoke from the Sistine Chapel, allegations emerged that he withdrew protection from two of his fellow Jesuits during the early years of the brutal military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983, which resulted in their captivity and torture.

 

“But there is another story that demands answers — the supremely toxic affair of ‘disappeared’ pregnant women, who gave birth to their children while being held in detention centres. Most of the mothers were murdered and their children handed on to ‘deserving’ couples who were well connected with the brutal military junta.

 

“This is very much a live political issue. A number of the children have discovered the painful truth about their past, while hundreds more still remain blissfully ignorant of their parentage. The campaigning grandmothers assert that many priests and nuns were complicit in what happened and are still at large in society. They show no sign of letting the matter rest.” (Mark Dowd, “Pope Francis and Argentina’s ‘disappeared,’” BBC News, April 10, 2013)