Mystery Files - Season 2 - Eps 9: Pope Joan
In Rome today is the street known as Vicus Papissa, ‘the street of the woman pope’. In that avenue is an alcove in which it is said an image of Joan once stood, in memory of the spot where she gave birth. The street runs between St Peter’s and the Lateran to the Coliseum and was part of the processional route of all popes in Rome until the 13th Century, when it was suddenly redirected away from the location of Joan’s legendary procession. Some scholars believe that the official route was changed so that the new pope wouldn’t have to pass the notorious site. No contemporary 9th century accounts of a female pope exist, but with no conclusive proof to the contrary, the possibility remains that a talented woman could have risen to become Bishop of Rome? The words of the first writer to account for Joan, Jean de Mailly, resound even more loudly today than they did centuries ago; next to his story of Joan, he wrote the words, ‘to be verified’.
About Mystery Files
Title: Mystery Files
First Air Date: 2010-02-01
Last Air Date: 2011-06-14
Status: Ended
Rating: 1/10 (from 1 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 2
Total Episodes: 26
Network: National Geographic Smithsonian Channel Investigation Discovery
Genres: Documentary
Production Companies: Parthenon Entertainment
Synopsis
From the Legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood to the recent events of the Russian Revolution, history is full of fascinating and evocative unsolved mysteries. They have inspired, intrigued and often confounded us – but how much do we really know about them? And can we separate fact from fiction? In Mystery Files, the dust is blown off the case files of the world’s most famous and iconic mysteries in a dynamic series that asks, what is the truth behind the greatest stories ever told?
Cast
Struan Rodger
Himself / Narrator
