The Legend of Pope Joan: In Search of the Truth

Although I am not yet entirely convinced that Pope Joan existed, as Mr. Stanford argues, having read this book I now believe it's by no means impossible for her to have been real. I also learned a great deal about women in the church, then and now, and much of it was interesting. I applaud Mr.

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Stanford's research and his writing was superb also. Both the general reader and students of religious history would enjoy this book.

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I still don't believe in the legend, but I would really like to!

A prime example of journalists writing poor works of history. From the get go Stanford is the central character, not the history, not Pope Joan. I did this, I think that, I visited such-and-such, I believe that, I felt that.

As history, the accounts of Pope Joan presented here are incomplete and

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scattered in such a fashion that this book is useless as a historical reference. Nowhere does he put all the quotations from authorities in order and with full quotations and proper citations. (Chapter two comes close, but, again it is scattershot and full of journalistic/personal interpretations and asides.) There is a "Bibliography" that is really just a "Suggestions for Further Reading," and there are endnotes, but they are a mess. Some things aren't cited in the text, some are poorly cited. Many citations are incomplete. Many others refer to a previous citation instead of giving a shortened form of citation! Annoying! (E.g.: "See chapter 3, note 7.")

And, it's hard to take a "researcher" seriously when he makes this ignorant statement (p. 7): "The Catholic church's objection to female ordination is based not on scripture but on tradition."

What?

Stanford, who says he is a practicing Catholic, has not consulted his own Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1577: "'Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination.' The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible."

And Stanford, practicing Catholic, has probably never consulted the Bible on the subject, being bound more to Catholic Church tradition than Scripture. Thus, I Corinthians 14:34 (ESV): "The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says." Or, I Timothy 2:11-12 (ESV): "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." There are others.

Now, you can disagree with these teachings, you can interpret the Scripture differently, you can dispute these ideas. But, you can't say that the Catholic ban on female priests is not based on any Scripture.

It's hard to take Stanford seriously as a researcher after this.

That said, Stanford does give a reasonable feeling of an argument that just maybe a woman could have been elected Pope in the middle of the ninth century. (I am aware other historians have evidence that suggest Stanford's placement between Leo IV and Benedict III is impossible.) Definitely people in the Middle Ages thought Pope Joan was real, including people in the Catholic Church hierarchy. And, indeed, it seems that there was, at least sometimes, a ceremony and chair where the Pope was proved to be a male upon his election. (The latter need not be proof of a Pope Joan, but proof people believed in a Pope Joan.)

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