The Fascinating Mystery of the Only Female Pope in History
Did Pope Joan really exist?
Did We Ever Have a Female Pope?
Recently Popstar Rihanna scandalized devout Catholics when she appeared at an event, wearing a white miter resembling a pope. Although she looked beautiful, her low neckline and mini skirt, in combination with the papal hat were seen as ‘offensive’ and disgusting’ by many religious people.
However, keeping the sensibilities aside, that does bring us to an interesting question.
Did we ever have a female pope? Well, unconfirmed reports do suggest that a woman once led one of the most patriarchal institutions in the world: the Catholic Church.
Yes. A woman pontiff may have reigned for a brief period for about two years in the ninth century. As the story goes, Pope Joan or Joannes Anglicus was a young woman who disguised herself as a man and entered religious training. Joan distinguished herself as a scholar and a leader and gradually climbed through the church ranks and was elected as Pope in the year 855.
The story takes an ugly turn here when she unexpectedly went into labor during a papal procession. Her supporters and devotees were furious at this deception as they caught hold of her and stoned her to death.
A popular legend since medieval times, the Pope Joan legend endures to this day. Her image graces medieval tapestries, paintings, and sculptures. And as recently as 2009, a movie also told her story.
The Story of Pope Joan
The first written account of Pope Joan can be traced to a 13th-century work known as the Chronica Universalis Mettensis (Chronicle of Metz).
According to its author Jean de Mailly, Joan was an Englishwoman who was born in Mainz in the 9th century. During her childhood, she learned several languages including theology and was brilliant as a student. Later she fell in love with a monk and went to Athens with him and later to Rome where she worked in the Vatican disguised as a priest named John Anglicus, or John the Englishman.
She rose steadily in the Vatican ranks, as people around her were impressed by her leadership qualities and immense knowledge. And when Pope Leo IV died in 855 CE, the cardinals selected John Anglicus to be the next pope. She ruled the church well for a couple of years and even brought tangible reforms. But then, that fateful day came when her secret was revealed.
From this point, onwards versions of the story become increasingly distorted with some claiming that Joan had been killed or that a statue was later constructed on the site of her death. Some versions even claimed Joan was dismissed from the papacy and lived the rest of her life in shameful obscurity.
The story of Pope Joan continued to be modified and elaborated in later medieval years, which also included the ‘official’ version written by the Vatican librarian Bartolomeo Platina. Platina was highly critical of Joan accusing her of being a cunning woman who dared to destroy the ‘sanctity’, bringing dire consequences in her wake.
However, not all were critical of her as renaissance humanist writer Mario Equicola praised her.
“What shall I say of John/Joan VII? It is clear that a woman can ascend to the papacy, the highest rank in Christendom.”
In 1601, Pope Clement VIII declared the legend of the female Pope to be untrue. Her famous bust inscribed as Johannes VIII which had been carved in the Duomo of Siena in 1400 was either destroyed or recarved or replaced by the male figure of Pope Zachary.
Can It Be True?
Flinders University international researcher and adjunct academic Michael Habicht thinks Pope Joan really existed as he talks about his detailed investigation into her origins by reading written records and coins from the early Middle Ages. As he says.
“This research builds on earlier quests to establish the existence of female priests in the early centuries of Christianity. While the length of the pontificates were historically attested, there are signs that the pontificate of a woman was later removed from the list of popes. Since then, the world has wondered whether this is the truth of whether it is a legend that persisted.”
Although a lot of this information has been wiped out or whitewashed from history, ancient silver coins known as deniers found in archaeological excavations contained a unique symbol or monogram depicting the pope of that time. Though most of the coins had monograms belonging to Pope John VIII, some had a unique monogram that possibly could have belonged to Pope Johannes Anglicus instead.
Yes, the analysis of the monogram on these ancient coins does not completely confirm Pope Joan’s existence but it does bring a tantalizing ‘what if’ question to our minds.
What if the first female Pope Joan had really existed? What would have happened had she ruled longer? Would she have changed the world?
These questions would continue to fascinate people for a long time.
Sources
· Pope Joan: The Female Pope Whose Gender was Revealed When She Gave Birth in a Procession
· For Centuries, Everyone Thought Pope John VIII Was Really Pope Joan