Secrets of wedded bliss: Couple married for 57 YEARS reveal all in intimate photographs Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294605/Joint-naps-good-food-occasional-kiss--photographs-couple-married-57-years-reveal-secrets-wedded-bliss.

A collection of photographs lovingly put together by an artist telling the story of her grandparents' 57 years of marriage has given viewers a sneak peek at life after decades of matrimony.

Marina Rosso, 28, decided to take the pictures of Licia and Ryan, in their small town home near Udine, Italy.

Inspired at how the couple still cared for each other she wanted to show what life was like at 85 and how a marriage evolves over time.

She spent two years photographing the couple, who first married at the age of 28.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294605/Joint-naps-good-food-occasional-kiss--photographs-couple-married-57-years-reveal-secrets-wedded-bliss.html#ixzz2NmxcRgNi
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In the series of intimate portraits which show them dressing, eating and sleeping besides one another she captures the mundane moments of life but also flashes of love and companionship.

Though the collection explores the realities of aging, she still says she hopes her pictures capture the romantic commitment between husband and wife. 

'Now that at the early age of 85, things start to be more difficult and the rhythms are slower. All the days look like the others, every movement is a repetitional loop. But anyways, this is what keeps them still alive: the idea of being self sufficient and to help each other,' she says.

Happily married: This picture shows the couple, both 85, looking through the phone-book. Licia's wedding band is pictured

The couple who eats together...Licia and Ryan are photographed at dinner

Tiring work: The 85-year-olds are captured taking a nap

Commitment: Their names are inscribed into the wall of their home - probably etched there some decades ago

Home sweet home: The collection captures the couple in their small home near Udine in Italy

Loving home: The couple are still active despite their years. Licia is photographed here tidying the garden of their Italian home

Workshop: Ryan is pictured working away in his toolshed. The couple married at age 28 and are now both 85

Onlooker: Marina Rosso was able to document her grandparents over two years from 2009 to 2011

Memories: Family photos and images from the couple's youth are captured around the home interspersed with more practical notes and lists

Taking the load off: After 57 years the couple need a nap or two. Their granddaughter captures them asleep from the other room

Dressing: This photo captures Licia getting dressed in the couple's bedroom of their house in a small town in Italy

Housewife: The pictures captures lots of images of Licia, in particular, taking care of the couple's homes

Hard-working: At 85, the couple still work hard around the home

Sealed with a loving kiss: The couple can still find time for a kiss after spending their whole lives together

Grandad: Marina Rosso's grandfather Ryan posed alongside his wife for their granddaughter's collection

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294605/Joint-naps-good-food-occasional-kiss--photographs-couple-married-57-years-reveal-secrets-wedded-bliss.html#ixzz2NmxmFeSH
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ANTICHRIST

"Every Reformer, without ex

ANTI: to stand in place of a subtle imposter wolf in sheep's clothing not a violent opposer a gentle confuser The Roman Catholic church committed ADULTERY in her relationship with the HUSBANDMAN Christ Jesus. She became ANTIChrist when she stepped against Him. The Roman Catholic church has always 'claimed' to be walking "with" Christ. Just as Judas "kissed" Christ, so has Rome "kissed" His Truth. They "softly and gently" send their wolves forward wearing the clothing of a little lamb so as to gentle draw the masses away from Christ. They betray Christ as soft as the kiss of JUDAS! Arnulf Bishop of Orleans (Roman Catholic)"deplored the roman popes as "monsters of guilt" and declared in a council called by the King of France in 991ad that the pontiff, clad in purple and gold, was, "Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself as God" -Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian church, 8 vols., reprint of the 3d (1910)ed. (Grand Rapids Mich.: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.) Eberhard II, archbishop of Salzburg (Roman Catholic)"stated at a synod of bishops held at Regensburg in 1240 (some scholars say 1241) that the people of his day were "accustomed" to calling the pope antichrist." -LeRoy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, 4 vols. (Wash DC: Review and Herald publishing assc, 1950-1954) John Wycliffe"When the western church was divided for about 40 years between two rival popes, one in Rome and the other in Avigon, France, each pope called the other pope antichrist - and John Wycliffe is reputed to have regarded them as both being right: "two halves of Antichrist, making up the perfect Man of Sin between them." -Ibid Martin Luther (Lutheran) "We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist...personally I declare that I owe the Pope no other obedience than that to Antichrist."  (Aug. 18, 1520) Taken from The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 2., pg. 121 by Froom.  (In response to a papal bull [official decree]): "I despise and attack it, as impious, false... It is Christ Himself who is condemned therein... I rejoice in having to bear such ills for the best of causes. Already I feel greater liberty in my heart; for at last I know that the pope is antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself." --D'Aubigné, b.6, ch. 9.  Cotton Mather (Congregational Theologian) "The oracles of God foretold the rising of an Antichrist in the Christian Church: and in the Pope of Rome, all the characteristics of that Antichrist are so marvelously answered that if any who read the Scriptures do not see it, there is a marvelous blindness upon them."  Taken from The Fall of Babylon by Cotton Mather in Froom's book, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 3, pg. 113. John Wesley (Methodist) Speaking of the Papacy he said, "He is in an emphatical sense, the Man of Sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled the Son of Perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers... He it is...that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped...claiming the highest power, and highest honour...claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone."  Taken from Antichrist and His Ten Kingdoms by John Wesley, pg. 110. Ellen G. White: Seven Day Adventists"This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan's power--a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will. Thomas Cranmer (Anglican) "Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons." (Referring to prophecies in Revelation and Daniel.)  Taken from Works by Cranmer, Vol. 1, pp. 6-7.  Roger Williams (First Baptist Pastor in America) He spoke of the Pope as "the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God himself...speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition (II Thess. 2)."  Taken from The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52.   1689 London Baptist Confession Chapter 26: Of the Church. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. ( Colossians 1:18; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:11, 12; 2 Thessalonians 2:2-9 )   John Knox (Scotch Presbyterian) Knox wrote to abolish "that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church" and that the pope should be recognized as "the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks."  Taken from The Zurich Letters, pg. 199 by John Knox.  John Calvin (Presbyterian) "Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt... I shall briefly show that (Paul's words in II Thess. 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy."  Taken from Institutes by John Calvin. Presbyterian Church (Year 2000) The following Resolution was unanimously passed by the South Atlantic Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, March 25, 2000. The Resolution is as follows- THE THREAT OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE 21ST CENTURY Whereas: The mass media has captivated the world with the activities of Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Holy Land in March 2000; and Whereas: The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation have signed, in October, 1999 a joint declaration of accord on the doctrine of justification (only the synods of Wisconsin and Missouri dissented); and Whereas: In the middle of February, 200, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat met with Pope John Paul II at the vatican to sign an agreement regarding the future of Jerusalem that warned Israel against any unilateral decision affecting Jerusalem; and Whereas: Bob Jones University has been unjustly slandered for anti-catholic bias by Senators McCain, Torricelli, Hollings and the liberal mass media; and Whereas: The House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress has just appointed a Roman Catholic priest as its chaplain for the first time, March 23, 2000; and Whereas: Pope John Paul II has declared the year 2000 a "Great Jubilee Year" for Roman Catholics that establishes the restoration of indulgences, THE VERY ISSUE THAT PROMPTED MARTIN LUTHER TO DRAFT THE 95 THESES IN OCTOBER OF 1517: papal spokesman Timothy Shugrue states, "The indulgence is one of the spiritual privleges extended during Jubilee. It is a way of applying the merits of the good deeds of the saints and the Virgin Mary and CHrist Himself to the rest of us."; Therefore: The South Atlantic Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church, at its spring meeting in the Bible Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, N.C., March 25, 2000, resolves and warns the Roman Catholic Church, Mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth (Rev 17:5) constitutes the greatest threat to fundamental Christianity in the 21st century! The Roman Catholic Church has long since forsaken the Bible alone, Grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone. There should be no confraternity with this apostate church in ministerial associations, community easter sunrise services, Thanksgiving services, mass evangelism or common social endeavors. We admonish devout believers to lovingly and firmly win Roman Catholics to Christ and urge new converts to obey Rev. 18:4, "And I heard a another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sin, and that ye recieve not her plagues."  Before the Reformation, this is what most Preachers taught regarding Antichrist Date Name Reference Interpretation c. 1310 Dante Alighieri Rev. 17 Harlot Roman Church c. 1331 Michael of Cesena Rev. 17 Harlot Antichrist Roman Church Pope c. 1345 Johannes de Rupescissa Antichrist Rev. 17 Babylon Rev. 17 Harlot Pope Roman church Roman church c. 1350 Francesco Petrarch Rev. 17 Harlot Papal Court c. 1367 John Milicz Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Man of Sin Papacy Papacy Papacy c. 1379 John Wycliffe Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 17 Harlot Pope Papacy Popes Papacy Papacy c. 1388 Matthias of Janow Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Hierarchy Fallen Church Present Church Papacy Hierarchy Popes c. 1389 R. Wimbledon Abomination of Desolation Papacy c. 1390 John Purvey Antichrist Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 13 666 Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Pope Papacy Hierarchy Pope Papacy Papacy c. 1393 Walter Brute Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Papacy Bishop of Rome Rome Papacy c. 1412 John Huss Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Pope Papacy Rome Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy c. 1497 Girolamo Savonarola Antichrist Man of Sin Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Pope Papacy Papacy Papacy During the Reformation... Date Name Reference Interpretation 1522 Martin Luther Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 2nd Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1543 Philipp Melanchthon Antichrist Man of Sin Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy 1545 Andreas Osiander Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papal Traditions Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1554 Nicolaus von Amsdorf Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papal Traditions Papacy Papacy Papacy 1558 Johann Funck Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1560 Virgil Solis Antichrist Little Horn Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1570 Georg Nigrinus Antichrist Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Pope, Turk Papacy Pagan Rome Papal Rome 1572 David Chytraeus Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Papacy Papacy Papacy Roman Empire Papacy 1530 Johann Oecolampadius Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1557 Heinrich Bullinger Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Pagan Rome Papal Rome Roman Church Papacy 1550 William Tyndale Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1545 George Joys Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1554 Nicholas Ridley Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Rev. 17 Beast Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1553 Hugh Latimer Antichrist Papacy 1582 Thomas Cranmer Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1550 John Bale Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Rev. 17 Beast Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Prelates Papacy Papacy Papacy 1562 John Jewel Antichrist Abomination of Desolation Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Rev. 17 Beast Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Rome 1587 John Foxe Antichrist Man of Sin Bishop of Rome Bishop of Rome 1563 Anglican Formulas Antichrist Papacy 1547 John Knox Antichrist Little Horn Church of Rome Papacy 1593 John Napier Antichrist Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Rev. 17 Beast Pope Papacy Latin Empire Papacy Papacy Papacy Latin Empire 1614 Thomas Brightman Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Pope Papacy Papacy Early Papacy Later Papacy Papacy Papacy 1618 David Pareus Antichrist Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Beast Pope & Turk Papacy Papacy Papacy Empire After the Reformation... Date Name Reference Interpretation 1600 James I of England Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1603 George Downham Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1604 George Pacard Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Rome Papacy Papacy Papacy 1607 Hugh Broughton Little Horn Antiochus 1612 Andress Holwig Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Papacy is also Antichrist Papacy 1618 Matthias Hoe Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy is Antichrist Imperial Rome Papal Rome Papacy 1618 Daniel Cramer Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Pagan Rome Papal Rome Papacy 1631 Joseph Mede Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Civil Rome Papacy Papacy Papacy 1643 Johannes Gerhard Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Civil Rome Papal Rome Papacy Papacy 1654 Thomas Goodwin Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Papacy Papacy Protestant Image 1655 John Tillinghast Antichrist Little Horn Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1664 Henry More Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1670 William Sherwin Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1681 Johann H. Alsted Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Papacy is Antichrist, Little Horn Imperial Rome Papal Rome Papacy 1684 Thomas Beverley Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1685 Jacques Phillipot Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy also Antichrist Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1687 Pierre Jurieu Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Eccl. Emp. Papacy 1689 Drue Cressener Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Hierarchy Papacy 1699 "Mysteries ... Finished" Antichrist Papacy 1700 William Lowth Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1701 Johannes Cocceius Antichrist Little Horn Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Hierarchy Papacy 1701 Robert Fleming, Jr. Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1702 Georg her. Giblehr Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1703 Daniel Whitby Man of Sin Rev. 17 Babylon Roman Church is Antichrist Papacy 1706 William Whiston Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1712 Heinrich Horch Antichrist Little Horn Rev. 13 1st Beast Papacy Papacy Papacy 1720 Charles Daubux Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Civil Rome Eccl Rome Papacy Papacy 1727 Sir Isaac Newton Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy W. Rome Greek Empire Papacy Latin Kingdom 1729 Th. Crinsox de Bionens Antichrist Little Horn Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Roman Empire Popes Papacy 1735 Thomas Pyle Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy also Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1740 Johann Aal. Bengel Antichrist Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Jesuitism Papacy Papacy 1743 Berienberg Bible Antichrist Papacy 1745 John Willison Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1754 Thomas Newton Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy W. Rome Papacy Papacy Roman Clergy Papacy 1758 John Gill Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Papacy Papacy also AntichristPapacy 1764 John Wesley Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy also Antichrist Papacy East Empire Papal Rome Papacy 1768 Johann Ph. Petri Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Papacy Turks Papacy Papacy Papacy 1787 R. M. Antichrist Papacy 1787 Hans Wood Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy East Empire Papacy Papacy 1793 James Becheno Antichrist Little Horn Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Louis XIV Papacy 1794 Joseph Priestly Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1795 George Bell Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1796 Christian G. Thube Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1797 David Simpson Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy 1798 Edward King Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1798 Joseph Galloway Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 13 2nd Peast Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy France Papacy 1798 Richard Valpy Antichrist Little Horn Man of Sin Rev. 13 1st Beast Rev. 17 Harlot Rev. 17 Babylon Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy Papacy 1800 Jean G. de la Flechers Antichrist Little Horn Papacy Papacy According to the Roman Catholic church, ALL of these men are mis-interpreting prophecy?

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Mystery of the Pregant pope

Mystery of the Pregant pope

You know, do we have to go there again. Give it up already. The mideviel tale of the female pope Joan. The people who tell the story don't know which books identify the story.. and if the story is real. Still, others like the scandal and make great issue with the thing.

OK. Let us say she was a Pope. Was she a good Pope? NO! She was pregnant out of wedlock. That alone would have her defrocked. So the crowds killed her. Well what do you expect. She was a liar and a cheat. While we did have a few Popes like that, we refer to them as antipopes... and other than the Pornocracy I think there were only two really bad popes.

My rant is about this new movie: "Pope Joan" I want to see it when it comes out. I know that it will be thrown at me by the haters. C'est la Vie!


Here's what the Catholic Enyclopedia says about Joan:

The fable about a female pope, who afterwards bore the name of Johanna (Joan), is first noticed in the middle of the thirteenth century.

Variations of the fable
First version: Jean de Mailly
The first who appears to have had cognizance of it was the Dominican chronicler Jean de Mailly (Archiv der Gesellschaft fur altere deutsche Geschichte, xii, 17 sq., 469 sq.) from whom another Dominican, Etienne de Bourbon (d. 1261), adopted the tale into his work on the "Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost."

In this account the alleged popess is placed about the year 1100, and no name is yet assigned her. The story runs that a very talented woman, dressed as a man, became notary to the Curia, then cardinal and finally pope; that one day this person went out on horseback, and on this occasion gave birth to a son; that she was then bound to the tail of a horse, dragged round the city, stoned to death by the mob, and was buried at the place where she died; and that an inscription was put up there as follows: "Petre pater patrum papissae prodito partum". In her reign, the story adds, the Ember days were introduced, called therefore the "fasts of the popess".

Second Version: Martin of Troppau
A different version appears in the third recension of the chronicle of Martin of Troppau (Martinus Polonus) possibly inserted by the author himself and not by a subsequent transcriber. Through this very popular work the tale became best known in the following form: After Leo IV (847-55) the Englishman John of Mainz (Johannes Anglicus, natione Moguntinus) occupied the papal chair two years, seven months and four days. He was, it is alleged, a woman. When a girl, she was taken to Athens in male clothes by her lover, and there made such progress in learning that no one was her equal. She came to Rome, where she taught science, and thereby attracted the attention of learned men. She enjoyed the greatest respect on account of her conduct and erudition, and was finally chosen as pope, but, becoming pregnant by one of her trusted attendants, she gave birth to a child during a procession from St. Peter's to the Lateran, somewhere between the Colosseum and St. Clement's. There she died almost immediately, and it is said she was buried at the same place. In their processions the popes always avoid this road; many believe that they do this out of abhorrence of that calamity.

Here occurs for the first time the name of Johanna (Joan) as that of the alleged popess. Martin of Troppau had lived at the Curia as papal chaplain and penitentiary (he died 1278), for which reason his papal history was widely read, and through him the tale obtained general acceptance. One manuscript of his chronicle relates in a different way the fate of the alleged popess: i.e., after her confinement Joan was immediately deposed, and did penance for many years. Her son, it is added, became Bishop of Ostia, and had her interred there after her death.

Later versions
Later chroniclers even give the name which she bore as a girl; some call her Agnes, some Gilberta. Still further variations are found in the works of different chroniclers, e.g. in the "Universal Chronicle of Metz", written about 1250, and in subsequent editions of the twelfth (?) century "Mirabilia Urbis Romae". According to the latter, the popess was given the choice in a vision, of temporal disgrace or eternal punishment; she chose the former, and died at her confinement in the open street.

Early evaluations of the legend
Credulous acceptance
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries this popess was already counted as an historical personage, whose existence no one doubted. She had her place among the carved busts which stood in Siena Cathedral. Under Clement VIII, and at his request, she was transformed into Pope Zacharias. The heretic Hus, in the defense of his false doctrine before the Council of Constance, referred to the popess, and no one offered to question the fact of her existence. She is not found in the "Liber Pontificalis" nor among the papal portraits in St. Paul's Outside the Walls, at Rome.

Critical evaluation
This alleged popess is a pure figment of the imagination. In the fifteenth century, after the awakening of historical criticism, a few scholars like Aeneas Silvius (Epist., I, 30) and Platina (Vitae Pontificum, No. 106) saw the untenableness of the story. Since the sixteenth century Catholic historians began to deny the existence of the popess, e.g., Onofrio Panvinio (Vitae Pontificum, Venice, 1557), Aventinus (Annales Boiorum, lib. IV), Baronius (Annales ad a. 879, n. 5), and others.

Protestant evaluation
A few Protestants also, e.g., Blondel (Joanna Papissa, 1657) and Leibniz ("Flores sparsae in tumulum papissae" in "Bibliotheca Historica", Göttingen, 1758, 267 sq.), admitted that the popess never existed. Numerous Protestants, however, made use of the fable in their attacks on the papacy. Even in the nineteenth century, when the untenableness of the legend was recognized by all serious historians, a few Protestants (e.g. Kist, 1843; Suden, 1831; and Andrea, 1866) attempted, in an anti-Roman spirit, to prove the historical existence of the popess. Even Hase ("Kirchengesch.", II, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1895, 81) could not refrain from a spiteful and absolutely unhistorical note on this subject.

Proofs of its mythical character
The principal proofs of the entirely mythical character of the popess are:

1
Not one contemporaneous historical source among the papal histories knows anything about her; also, no mention is made of her until the middle of the thirteenth century. Now it is incredible that the appearance of a "popess", if it was an historical fact, would be noticed by none of the numerous historians from the tenth to the thirteenth century.

2
In the history of the popes, there is no place where this legendary figure will fit in.

Between Leo IV and Benedict III, where Martinus Polonus places her, she cannot be inserted, because Leo IV died 17 July, 855, and immediately after his death Benedict III was elected by the clergy and people of Rome; but owing to the setting up of an antipope, in the person of the deposed Cardinal Anastasius, he was not consecrated until 29 September. Coins exist which bear both the image of Benedict III and of Emperor Lothair, who died 28 September, 855; therefore Benedict must have been recognized as pope before the last-mentioned date. On 7 October, 855, Benedict III issued a charter for the Abbey of Corvey. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, informed Nicholas I that a messenger whom he had sent to Leo IV learned on his way of the death of this pope, and therefore handed his petition to Benedict III, who decided it (Hincmar, ep. xl in P.L., CXXXVI, 85). All these witnesses prove the correctness of the dates given in the lives of Leo IV and Benedict III, and there was no interregnum between these two popes, so that at this place there is no room for the alleged popess.

Further, is is even less probable that a popess could be inserted in the list of popes about 1100, between Victor III (1087) and Urban II (1088-99) or Paschal II (1099-1110), as is suggested by the chronicle of Jean de Mailly.

Origin of the legend
This fable of a Roman popess seems to have had an earlier counterpart at Constantinople. Indeed, in his letter to Michael Caerularius (1053), Leo IX says that he would not believe what he had heard, namely that the Church of Constantinople had already seen eunuchs, indeed even a woman, in its episcopal chair (Mansi "Concil.", XIX, 635 sq.).

Concerning the origin of the whole legend of Popess Joan, different hypotheses have been advanced.

Bellarmine (De Romano Pontifice, III, 24) believes that the tale was brought from Constantinople to Rome.

Baronius (Annales ad a., 879, n. 5) conjectures that the much censured effeminate weaknesses of Pope John VIII (872-82) in dealing with the Greeks may have given rise to the story. Mai has shown (Nova Collectio Patr., I, Proleg., xlvii) that Photius of Constantinople (De Spir. Sanct. Myst., lxxxix) refers emphatically three times to this pope as "the Manly", as though he would remove from him the stigma of effeminacy.

Other historians point to the degradation of the papacy in the tenth century, when so many popes bore the name John; it seemed therefore a fitting name for the legendary popess. Thus Aventinus sees in the story a satire on John IX; Blondel, a satire on John XI; Panvinio (notae ad Platinam, De vitis Rom. Pont.) applies it to John XII, while Leander (Kirkengesch., II, 200) understands it as applicable generally to the baneful female influence on the papacy during the tenth century.

Other investigators endeavour to find in various occurrences and reports a more definite basis for the origin of this legend. Leo Allatius (Diss. Fab. de Joanna Papissa) connects it with the false prophetess Theota, condemned at the Synod of Mainz (847); Leibniz recalls the story that an alleged bishop Johannes Anglicus came to Rome and was there recognized as a woman. The legend has also been connected with the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, e.g. by Karl Blascus ("Diatribe de Joanna Papissa", Naples, 1779), and Gfrörer (Kirchengesch., iii, 978).

Döllinger's explanation has met with more general approval ("Papstfabeln", Munich, 1863, 7-45). He recognizes the fable of Popess Joan as a survival of some local Roman folk-tale originally connected with certain ancient monuments and peculiar customs. An ancient statue discovered in the reign of Sixtus V, in a street near the Colosseum, which showed a figure with a child, was popularly considered to represent the popess. In the same street a monument was discovered with an inscription at the end of which occurred the well-known formula P.P.P. (proprie pecuniâ posuit) together with a prefixed name which read: Pap. (?Papirius) pater patrum. This could easily have given origin to the inscription mentioned by Jean de Mailly (see above). It was also observed that the pope did not pass along this street in solemn procession (perhaps on account of its narrowness). Further it was noticed that, on the occasion of his formal inauguration in front of the Lateran Basilica, the newly-elected pope always seated himself on a marble chair. This seat was an ancient bath-stool, of which there were many in Rome; it was merely made use of by the pope to rest himself. But the imagination of the vulgar took this to signify that the sex of the pope was thereby tested, in order to prevent any further instance of a woman attaining to the Chair of St. Peter.

Erroneous explanations — such as were often excogitated in the Middle Ages in connection with ancient monuments — and popular imagination are originally responsible for the fable of "Popess Joan" that uncritical chroniclers, since the middle of the thirteenth century, dignified by consigning it to their pages

What Secrets Is the Vatican Hiding?

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Secret Archives have about 50 miles worth of shelving, and it has been estimated it could hold about 70 thousand pages, and 1 million books. The Secret Archives was formally established in 1475, but is much older then that.

This large library is located Vatican City has been named in latin: Archivum Secretum Vaticaun or as it is called in English The Vatican Secret Archives. We have been told that the word does not mean secrets are being kept from us, but only that what is being kept in these archives are the Pope's personal property.

The Vatican also has a public library called: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vatican or in English it is called Library Of The Holy See. It is rather a research library and can only be used by men who write to the Pope for permission to use it. Then present documents which represent who they are, and their qualifications for research. Then and only then can they enter the public library. When they enter the public library the only things they can bring with them are a pen and paper. Nothing else. They will be accompanied by two priests and two guards. They will stay with him for the entire time he is there and follow him out when he is finished.

For years people have been wondering what is hidden in the Secret Archives and why? That is a very good question because the Secret Archives are actually guarded by Swiss Guards. The doors are very heavy and locked. The Catholic Church has been under much criticism for keeping information away from the public, so now 100 documents are going to be put on display from February 2012 until September 2012. These documents will be at Rome's Capitoline Museume, people will be allowed to see the document but not touch it. The document will be in a shot proof case and heavily guarded. This exhibition will be called: Lux In Arcana or The Vatican Secret Archives Revealed. The problem is however, it will only contain such documents as the last writing of Mary Queen of Scots before she was executed. It will contain similar writings, but nothing we have not already learned from what history has taught us.

There have been many theories as to what is hidden in the Secret Archives, some mundane and some not. These theories go from what I think is normal to what I think is crazy. The most widely held belief is that it holds books that have been banned from the bible. The theories then start to get stranger.

One theory is that Secret Archive has a time machine. The time machine is named Chronovisor and was built by a Benedictine Monk named Father Pellegrino. It was said he wanted to go back in time and film Christ's crucifixion.

There is another theory that the Secret Archive is in contact with UFOs, who are going to harm us. The UFOs are going to implant chips in us, and help the Pope take over the world.

Truthfully, I have no idea why the Vatican has a Secret Archive and is keeping information that no one is allowed to see. But, what intrigues me the most is why? I mean, isn't the bible true?