Women's Ordination and Legend Theory
The legend theory is currently the attitude of the official Catholic Church.
It is apparently weakly justified and is refuted by newly accessible documents.
Their most eager representatives are characterised by the fact that they are often not interested in a discussion - they «know» about it. The numerous evidence to the contrary is ignored.
Martinus Polonius hasn't just invented the story in 1277 - that would be early medieval fake news. What use could the Dominican and Bishop have of such an invention? For him the Popess was no instrument for church criticism.
The real reason why large parts of historical science and theology today want to see Pope Joan as legend is another: It is ultimately about the question of the ordination of women in the Catholic Church. Popess Joan questions the dogma according to which only men can be ordained. The means of choice seem to be avoiding the issue, refusing to discuss it and denying its existence.
Built under Pope Paschalis I, about a generation before the pontificate of John Anglicus.
Bishop Theodora on the left.
All authors of recent decades who have spoken out in favour of the Pope as a historical reality are either researchers outside medieval history or theologians who are at the end of their careers or cannot otherwise be punished:
Joan Morris was a Catholic theologian. She wrote her groundbreaking book only a few years before her death.
Elisabeth Gössmann is a Catholic theologian and has received five honorary doctorates.
Peter Stanford is a journalist.
Friedrich Spanheim was a theologian, but a Protestant. Thus he was protected from persecution in the Protestant areas of the 17th century.
