Move over curse of the Pharaoh; the curse of the Pope’s bones is upon us, or so it is claimed by veteran Vatican correspondent Bruno Bartoloni in his 2012 AD book The Ears of the Vatican:
“No pope had ever permitted an exhaustive study, partly because a 1,000-year-old curse attested by secret and apocalyptic documents, threatened anyone who disturbed the peace of Peter’s tomb with the worst possible misfortune.”
Nine pieces of bone are at the center of the Vatican’s attention as they ended the “Year of Faith” with a special ceremony. The Catholic Church claims that Jesus’ apostle Peter was the first Pope. In other to explore this claim, see the articles referenced at the end of this one.
The bones are part of an archaeological dig which began in 1939 AD. In 1942 AD, “archeologists found a niche they believed housed Peter’s remains. Unfortunately, the fragments turned out to belong to several people” and included animal bones. After several decades nine bone fragments were separated and were said to belong to a circa “5ft 7in tall man who had been, of heavy build, and who was aged between 60 and 70 at the time of his death” and was “buried in a purple, gold-threaded cloth”:
“No pope has ever definitively declared the bones to be Peter’s, though Pope Paul VI in 1968 said fragments found in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica were ‘identified in a way that we can consider convincing.”
One reason for identifying the nine bone fragments are being those of Peter is that:
“an inscription was found near the cavity that linguists reconstructed as Petros eni, which in ancient Greek could mean, ‘Peter is within’…or ‘Peter is here.’ The scholar of Greek antiquities, Margherita Guarducci, who had deciphered the engraving continued to investigate and learned that one of the basilica workers had been given the remains found inside the casket and stored them in a shoe box kept in a cupboard….Top Vatican Jesuits and other archaeologists strongly denied the claim, but had little recourse…The Vatican newspaper, l’Osservatore Romano, published excerpts of the book [The Ears of the Vatican] last year, giving his account a degree of official sanction.”
Despite the fact that these are nine bone fragments found amongst others:
“the bones…spent centuries resting in the site linked to Peter’s martyrdom and burial. That history makes them, at a minimum, what Catholic tradition regards as ‘relics by contact,’ meaning objects physically connected to the legacy of the saint.”
Although, just unveiled for public consumption, the bones have a long history of being venerated:
“In 1971, Paul VI was given an urn containing the relics, which were kept inside the private papal chapel inside the Apostolic Palace and exhibited for the pope’s private veneration each June 29…L’Osservatore Romano, the semi-official Vatican newspaper…reports that 8.5 million pilgrims have venerated the relics over the course of the year.”
This highlights the cult of death and ancestor worship aspect of Catholicism:
“a service in Rome’s Basilica of St. Peter featuring a rare public exhibit of what Catholic tradition regards as the bones of Peter, the Church’s first pope.”
“Pope Francis prayed before the fragments” and kissed the container:
“throngs of believers…line[d] up to see the bones, will venerate them not on the basis of empirical evidence, but a spiritual conviction that they evoke the very origins of the papacy…Thousands of worshippers packed St Peter’s Square to catch a glimpse of the bronze chest containing the bones.”
While the Bible does not record how Peter died:
“St. Peter’s Basilica was originally constructed in 330 A.D. by the Emperor Constantine, over an old pagan cemetery believed to be the burial site of Peter, whom tradition holds was martyred by being crucified upside down…It is traditionally held that he was crucified upside down at his own request, as he thought he was not worth of being crucified in the same way as Jesus Christ.”
This tradition may be accurate or it could be a nice story to hide mockery of Jesus and the corruption of Christianity. After all, Vatican Square’s very center piece is an obelisk which is indicative of, both, a petrified Sun ray and a phallic symbol representing Osiris’ sexual organ (see Do you know of the Washington Monument’s twin? The Illuminati Do). The obelisk stands at the very center of an “X” within a circle which, according to occultists Kenneth Grant (Aleister Crowley and The Hidden God, p. 161):
“THERE is a legend known to Initiates concerning the secret abode of the Goddess:
The Spirit of Nodens―God of the Great Deep-flashed forth as lightning from the depths and formed a throne in celestial realms―a seat of stone―whereon the Goddess was established…The Heart of the Sigil of Nodens is identical with the Mark of the Beast: (X), the fusion of O and X which produces the lightning flash…In other words, the Goddess who grants all desires is invoked by the union of the X and the O (the Phallus and the Kteis).”
Another aspect of this issue is being reported thusly:
“The secular mind can’t help asking, ‘Are these really Peter’s bones?’ and ‘How do we know?’…
A senior Vatican official, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, acknowledged the debate Monday but suggested it almost doesn’t matter if scientists determine the bones aren’t Peter’s since Christians have venerated them for two millennia and will continue to…
CNN’s Vatican analyst John Allen says that like so much concerning religion, the belief that the bones are those of the disciple comes down to faith.”
Well, it is not only the secular mind which question the bone’s identification but any bible believing Christian is surely asking why Pope Francis is leading people to pray before the remains of a corpse. If it does not matter whether the bones are Peter’s or not then why not just pick up some random bones from any ol’ hole and make whatever claim the Vatican wants?
Considering the state of Catholicism’s clergy the Pope would do better cleaning up his own house rather than making spurious claims about bone fragments.
For more information about Catholicism and Peter, see:
Roman Catholicism – Was Peter the Rock? Was Peter the First Pope?
The Catholic priesthood and Peter as Pope
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Sources:
“Display of purported bones of St. Peter spotlights debate over whether relics are really his,” Associated Press, November 18, 2013 AD
John L. Allen Jr., “The bones of Peter and the eyes of faith,” CNN, November 22, 2013 AD
Bryony Jones, “Pope puts ‘St. Peter’s bones’ on display at Vatican,” CNN, November 24, 2013 AD
Nicole Winfield, “Vatican Unveils Bone Fragments Said To Be St. Peter’s,” Huffington Post, November 24, 2013 AD
Associated Press in Vatican City, “Vatican displays Saint Peter’s bones for the first time – Pope Francis holds relics thought to belong to the apostle during mass at St Peter’s Square,” The Guardian, November 24, 2013 AD
Lizzie Edmonds, “Vatican unveils bone fragments of St Peter in public for first time: Francis leads prayers in front of remains during Sunday mass,” Daily Mail, November 24, 2013 AD