The Vatican is
a mysterious place, and there are a great many rumors about the contents
of its famous Secret Archives. We’ve already told you about some of the
strangest, creepiest things supposedly hidden away in this ultra-secure collection but it
turns out, we were merely scratching the surface. Here are some more strange things that might
be hidden in the Vatican. Proof that Jesus existed (or didn’t exist) Whether Jesus Christ existed or not is a common
point of contention between the believers and the non-believers. However, some whisper that the Catholic church
might already have an answer to this timeless question — and that said answer might lie
within the confines of the Vatican’s Secret Archives. We’ve already mentioned that some people
think the Secret Archives might contain documentation of the bloodline of Jesus, but that’s only
the tip of the iceberg: Some theories imply that the Vatican might also be sitting on
definite secular proof that either verify Christ’s existence or proves that Jesus,
or at least the version of him that’s described in the Bible, never existed. This evidence is thought to come from the
original correspondence between Emperor Nero and Saint Paul. Of course, if you believe that the theory
is true and the Church really has such monumentally important letters at its disposal, the very
fact that they keep them locked away in the Vatican’s vaults where no one can see them
probably gives you a hint whether they verify or deny the existence of Jesus. After all, if they really had conclusive proof
about the Catholic religion’s central figure, wouldn’t they be shouting about it on the
rooftops? All-important religious artifacts There are many legendary artifacts associated
with Judeo-Christian religions in general and Catholicism in particular. Of course, they’re generally considered
to have been lost somewhere in the turmoils of history, and some of them may not even
have existed in the first place. Or … is that really so? Not according to some theories, which place
virtually every religious artifact Indiana Jones has chased somewhere within the Vatican’s
Secret Archives. The True Cross Jesus was crucified on? The Ark of the Covenant? The Holy Grail? The Crown of Thorns? It’s all there, some believe. Of course, much of this particular theory
hinges on the assumption that the Vatican is basically the Illuminati, spending all
its time operating in total secret and hoarding historical artifacts for reasons known only
to themselves. In reality, one can’t help but wonder what
the Church would win by hiding many of the famed objects described by the Bible and various
legends from people? You’d think they’d gain a lot more esteem
if the Pope waltzed to his next Sunday Service holding the Holy Grail and a few pieces of
the True Cross. Designs of a strange flying machine This is one thing we actually know the Vatican
has in its archives — Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão’s place in the annals of early
aviators is known, and his designs for an early 18th Century flying machine have even
been on desplay at Lux in Arcana, a selection of exhibits from the Secret Archives that
toured select museums in 2012. However, this doesn’t make the document
any less peculiar. Lourenço de Gusmão was a Brazilian priest
who was fascinated by aviation and navigation. In 1709, he was staying in Lisbon when he
witnessed his “apple dropped on Isaac Newton’s head” style epiphany when he saw the hot
air near a candle flame make a soap bubble rise upwards.This caused him to create a series
of increasingly public experiments, which culminated in the creation of the first lighter-than-air
device: A small version of the hot-air balloon. However, Lourenço de Gusmão was only beginning. His ultimate creation was a mysterious flying
device, the designs of which are at the Vatican’s possession. The machine was known as “Passarola,”
and it was a complex, bird-like structure full of tubes and bulges, unlike anything
modern aeronautics have in store. After that, things get hazy. He may have built a full-sized version of
the machine, and after it didn’t work as desired, went back to the drawing board and
started experimenting with models. While he wasn’t without success, he seems
to have eventually run afoul with the Inquisition, who unsurprisingly had views about flying
men … and the fruits of his labor ended up in the Vatican’s Secret Archives. All about the Illuminati Ah, the Illuminati! They’re the be-all and end-all of virtually
every self-respecting conspiracy theory out there, so it’s hardly a surprise that the
Vatican has its share of theories featuring this purported cabal of shadow rulers who
secretly pull everyone’s strings. Some suggest that the mysterious organization
is secretly a huge fan of painstaking documentation, and the Vatican Secret Archives are home to
all the details of their activities. (Unfortunately, this theory doesn’t say
whether the Archives have room for any other material, what with the sheer volume of paperwork
all the conspiracies the Illuminati is supposedly involved in must generate.) Many conspiracy enthusiasts take things even
further and suggest that the Illuminati runs the Secret Archives. A lot of this probably stems from a simple
mistranslation. While the Archives are highly exclusive, there’s
nothing “secret” about them — or at least, they don’t advertise the secrecy
in the name. See, the Archives’ full name is Archivum
Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum, and the “secretum” part doesn’t actually mean “secret”
in a confidential sense at all. A closer translation would be “The Vatican’s
personal archives,” or perhaps even “The Vatican’s private archives,” which is
a lot less exciting than “secret archives,” which is basically a promise of an evil lair
filled with forbidden knowledge. Evidence of a female pope Pope Joan, a female pope who allegedly sat
on the Chair of St. Peter sometime around the year 855, is a touchy subject for the
Catholic church despite the fact that some 500 historical texts specifically mention
her. Joan is said to have escaped the era’s violence
and poverty by disguising herself as a clergyman called John Anglicus — meaning “English
John,” a hilarious con-man name in itself. She was adept and popular enough to climb
the church ladder all the way to a cardinal’s position, and was eventually “the choice
of all for pope.” These were turbulent and violent times in
Rome, and popes were literally hammered to death by ambitious clergymen. It’s hard to keep a female pope hidden from
history even if she was playing the role of a man — especially since many texts mention
that she was elected while she was pregnant, and actually had the child in the middle of
her own papal progression. Many texts say both she and the child were
killed. Some claim that she “was sent to a convent,”
but the child eventually became a bishop. Regardless of the aftermath, the afterimage
of a female pope lingered, with street names, Tarot cards and other odds and ends named
after her. Or were they? Did she ever exist in the first place? The church is not a fan of the Pope Joan story,
and various scholars say it’s nothing more than a weird “Dark Ages urban legend”
or a cautionary tale. There’s a theory that the mention of Pope
Joan may have been snuck in some important manuscripts as a joke after the author’s
death, and history kept repeating the lie. Still, while the former head of the Vatican
Secret Archives has stated that there is “no evidence and no documentation” in the Archives
of Pope Joan or Pope John Anglicus … which, of course, begs the question: Is there any
evidence in the Archives that she didn’t exist, then? Or is there something they’re not telling
us? The last pope Pope Francis isn’t exactly hidden in the
Vatican. On the contrary, he’s easily the most visible
person in the mini-country, and one of the most famous figures in the entire world. However, if you believe the Petrus Romanus
Prophecy — also known as the Prophecy of the Popes — he’s also a herald of the
end times. The prophecy was written in 1143 by the Archbishop
of Armagh, who was visiting Pope Innocent II in Rome when he had a strange vision about
“future popes” as a litany of mysterious phrases describing them. The Archbishop wrote the whole thing down,
and it turns out that the last pope on the list — who the prophecy alleges is a sign
of the end of days — is the one called “Petrus Romanus,” or Peter the Roman. His entry in the prophecy goes: “In extreme
persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will
feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills
will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.” Ouch. While it seems that the only thing connecting
kindly old Francis to this mysterious Final Pope is the fact that he was once photographed
with a lamb and may very well have stealthily fed treats to it, there’s also the fact
that all the other entries have been matched with 111 popes that came before him. Still, it must be noted that in true prophecy
style, the phrases are vague enough that pretty much anything can be made of them. For instance, John Paul II’s entry read
“From the labor of the sun,” and Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI was simply “Glory
of the olive.” The true face of Christ We all probably have an idea of what Jesus
looked like, thanks to the literal millions of images featuring his visage — or, at
least, the image of a white, bearded dude with a halo, dressed in immaculate robes. In reality, the biblical Jesus lived in Galilee,
a mountainous region in Northern Israel, and was a carpenter by trade, so as the BBC notes,
he would probably have looked a lot darker and scruffier than all those altar paintings
would have you believe. Of course, according to some, there’s no
point in speculation, because the Vatican (or at least Vatican higher-ups with sufficient
security clearing) is fully aware of what Jesus looked like. There’s a theory that the Vatican’s Secret
Archives may contain several “contemporary depictions of Jesus,” which means formal
portraits painted by the people who met him in real life. Then again, it must be noted that judging
by the art of the Jewish communities in that rough time period, it seems pretty unlikely
that anyone would have been able to make a Renaissance-quality portrait of Jesus. The mysterious bones of St. Peter One of the Vatican’s most enduring mysteries
— at least of the precious few ones that aren’t related to the Secret Archives — is
the discovery of St. Peter’s bones. The nine pieces of bone the Vatican presents
as those of the First Apostle were found in 1939 from a necropolis under St. Peter’s
namesake basilica, resting in an unceremonious shoe box. While this may seem like a dubious place to
waylay the bones of the guy who actually has the Vatican’s famous church made after him,
the church certainly seems invested in them. In 2013, Pope Francis even presented the supposed
bones of the first pope to the public in a Sunday service that included a segment where
he prayed before them. The story goes that a worker at the basilica
had been given what remained inside a casket with the inscription “Petros Eni” (Greek
for “Peter is Here”). The worker then dumped them in the infamous
shoe box and stored them in a cupboard. Decades later, a scholar of Greek antiquities
called Margherita Guarducci discovered the story and informed Pope Paul VI. Interestingly, all popes have avoided outright
stating on record that the bones are one hundred percent those of St. Peter. The closest to a “yeah, they’re legit”
that we’ve gotten came in 1968, when Paul VI stated that the bones had been “identified
in a way that we can consider convincing.” However, many archaeologists disagree, which
isn’t exactly helped by the fact that none of the popes has let experts take the bones
through a proper study. Why? Oh, because of a supposed 1,000-year-old curse
that supposedly falls on all who disturb “the peace
of St. Peter’s tomb.”
