The First and Last Female Pope in History: VIII. Joan

There are millions of people in the world who have adopted the Catholic faith. The people who spiritually lead millions of people are the Catholic clergy, called the Pope. However, for hundreds of years the papacy was a very important office, both politically and culturally. On the other hand, this office has thousands of years of ancient traditions and very strict rules. For example, a woman cannot be a Pope. However, history tells us that the position of the pope, however traditional and strict, has some very interesting exceptions! In the mid-800s after the birth of Christ, then in the VIII century. A woman named Joan managed to become a dad!

Pope VIII. Jeanne served as pope for almost two years, leading the Catholic Church. This most unusual pope in history was revealed to be a woman, surprising many Catholic religious figures. However, the fact that a woman named Joan managed to convince the entire Catholic world that she was a man in two years also led to some very interesting measures in the papacy. The Bride, the Most Extraordinary, the First and Last Female Pope in History VIII. Let’s take a closer look at Joan’s story full of oddities…

The papacy is a well-established institution of great political and cultural significance, with centuries-old traditions and interesting rituals.

An institution of great importance to millions of Catholics, there are many strict rules that have been scrupulously enforced for hundreds of years. One of the most important of these strict rules is the rule that women cannot be popes. However, a woman who lived hundreds of years ago managed to destroy this ancient rule of the papacy.

A woman named Joan, who in the future will be elected pope and thus go down in history, was born in Germany in the 9th century.

There are different versions of Joan’s early life. However, what is common to many of the stories is that as a teenager he met a priest and they fell in love with each other. The continuation of the stories told about Joan is much more interesting. According to this, Joan and the priest with whom she fell in love wanted to go on a trip together to different cities in Europe.

However, a problem arose. Since Joan’s lover was a priest, she couldn’t make this trip with a woman! It was at this moment that the passionate lovers came up with an idea that would change the history of the Catholic world and the papacy! Joan dressed up as a man to be with her priest lover!

Disguised as a man, Joan and her priest lover begin to travel together.

Having visited monasteries in different countries of Europe, the couple decided to live in Athens for a while. Through long visits to monasteries and learning from her lover, Joan learned as much about Christianity as the average clergyman. Here is the beginning of the events that will make the life of Jeanne, who has a rather interesting life, even more interesting, happened in Athens …

After the unexpected death of her lover in Athens, Jeanne moved to Rome, the center of the Catholic world.

A very intelligent and knowledgeable woman, Joan also spent her days in Rome disguised as a man. Moreover, thanks to his knowledge, intelligence and talent, he became a name accepted by the Catholic Church. In short, what set Jeanne apart from other male chaplains in Rome was her superior intelligence and recognizable talents.

Her wit, eloquence and special talents helped Jeanne quickly rise in the Catholic Church!

And what a lift! According to some sources, Jeanne was born in 847, and according to others – in 855. Elected Pope named Jeanne! Moreover, he continued to act as pope for about two years. So the “first female pope” in history rose to the position of the absolute ruler of the Vatican…

VIII. Joan’s story became even more interesting after her election as Pope.

VIII. In 858 Joan was in public service in the Vatican. But suddenly something happened that should not have happened. Papa Joanna’s pregnancy pains have begun! Yes, the first ever female pope was in a relationship with one of the Vatican chaplains and got pregnant. For Jeanne, who managed to hide from the entire Catholic world for a long time that she was a woman, it was child’s play to hide that she was pregnant. However, the pregnancy pains that arose during the ritual were a sign that this strange story was drawing to a close…

Pope VIII. Joan has given birth to a boy!

Joan did not convince anyone that she was a man after this incident. However, the fact that the person to whom they had long given themselves spiritually turns out to be a woman caused great shock and anger throughout the Catholic world, especially in the religious leaders of the Vatican.

According to some reports, the VIII century. Joan was killed along with her baby after giving birth

According to some reports, she has already given birth to a dead child. That’s why he was killed alone! However, there are different versions of how Jeanne was killed, which stunned the entire Catholic world. According to some reports, Joan was stoned to death at the scene of the riot shortly after it was revealed that she was a woman. According to some stories, he was tied to the back of a horse, dragged along the ground for several meters, and thus he died.

The Catholic Church has rejected a woman pope for years.

So much so that VIII. All alleged records of Joan were destroyed. So this strange story was forgotten. However, in the 13th century, some historians and even the Catholic clergy published several writings in which this extraordinary event was written.

In particular, the historian Jean de Mailly mentioned a woman who was elected pope in the past in his work “Chronica Universalis Mettensis”, published in 1250, VIII century. This caused Joan to appear in many written works to be remembered again. However, the papal authorities never acknowledged that this interesting event took place …

Today, there are different opinions about the reality of the incident with the woman dad.

According to some historians, such an event never happened. Some historians consider this to be true. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, claims that the event is a satirical story fabricated by anti-papal opponents in the 12th and 13th centuries.

One of the most interesting traditions of the papal institution, the tradition of “checking the testicles”, is said to have originated after the incident with the female pope.

When a new pope is elected, he sits in a specially constructed chair before it is announced to the public, often with the oldest cardinal checking the pope’s testicles so that it can be determined whether the newly elected pope is male. It is said that this interesting tradition began to take root after the incident with the female dad.

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