Documentary: Papacy is a Sham

It’s amazing to me that every Easter and Christmas the media decides to attack Catholicism, Jesus, Christianity and say that it “shakes the pillars” of everything we believe.

The major proponent of this every Christian holy day is Dr. Robert Beckford hosted a one-off documentary called Who Wrote the Bible? on Christmas Day a few years ago. Beckford begins this documentary with this question and pursues the assertion that the Bible’s history involves multiple revisions, exclusion and political imperative.

On April 15, 2006, Beckford hosted his second documentary, called The Passion: Films, Faith & Fury. This was Beckford’s exploration of the history and the increasingly uneasy relationship between religion and the film industry, as well as the controversy that often arises as a result of any major religiously-themed film being released.

The Secret Family of Jesus aired in 2006 on Christmas Day. In this documentary Beckford explores the history and legacy of Jesus’ family. Beckford presents historical evidence of: Jesus’ familial relationship to John the Baptist; his family unit consisting of 4 brothers and (at least) 2 sisters; his relationship with Mary Magdalene; and of Jesus’ ministry being passed to his eldest brother James for the approximately 30 years prior to the destruction of the second temple.

There are others, but my point is that this guy is a professional Christian enemy.

Well consider my faith unshaken. Beckford’s pushing that St Peter was not the first Pope and never went to Rome. The documentary challenges the link between Peter and the papacy as nothing more than a “conspiracy of faith”. In it, prominent academics accuse the Vatican of misleading the world over the fate of the man regarded as Jesus Christ’s closest disciple.

Of course, they accuse the Church of fabricating a connection with the apostle to validate giving ultimate power to the papacy.

Catholicism has taught for centuries that Peter was martyred and buried in Rome and that all popes succeed him, but the documentary asserts that he never reached the Italian city. Instead, it will accuse the Church of ignoring the discovery of a tomb in Jerusalem that archaeologists believe contains the bones of Peter.

Hey at least he’s not saying Peter had a child with Mary Magdalene.

Dr Beckford, a theology lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, who presents the documentary, denied that this was an attempt to attack the Catholic Church. I love when they slander and then act surprised. “This is about looking at what the pillars of power are founded on and examining the scholarship that most Catholics take for granted,” he said. “We found that there is no scientific evidence to support the idea that Peter was buried in Rome, but yet the rival theory has not got out because it challenges the Church.

“If you undermine its basis for power you undermine the Church. It’s tragic that the faith gets reduced to manipulating the facts and to one Church trying to make itself superior to others.”

Uh-oh. It seems like someone is airing their issues out in public -just a little.

As Christianity spread following the crucifixion of Jesus, it became important for the new churches to claim a link with the disciples and led the Catholic Church to establish a connection with St Peter.

I guess they’re not really focusing on the whole “That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven” part of what Jesus said. Oh yeah, that’s right they translate rock into pebble and all sorts of other weird and wonderful things.

It is traditionally believed that Peter was crucified in Rome and buried where the Basilica of St Peter was later built, beneath the high altar.

In 1939, the Vatican announced that the bones of Peter had been found in Rome during an archaeological dig. But the documentary casts doubt on this, questioning why the dig was carried out “in total secrecy”, and led by a “personal friend” of the Pope.

Because you know normally when we have someone to do something like dig up the bones of the first Pope you, of course, hire an enemy who wants to destroy Catholicism.

“The Pope’s authority over the world’s one billion Roman Catholics derives from the belief that Peter died and was buried here almost 2,000 years ago,” said Dr Beckford.

Sounds like Beckford’s having a little denomination envy.

The documentary, The Secrets of the Twelve Disciples ­suggests it that is much more likely that St Peter was buried in an ossuary found in Jerusalem with the inscription Shimon Bar Jonah – Simon son of Jonah – the Hebrew name for Peter.

This just in: Nobody else had that name in Jerusalem.

Gerald O’Collins, professor emeritus of Systematic Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, said that the documentary contradicted the “great weight” of tradition that accepted Peter had been martyred and buried in Rome. “This is awful stuff, total ­nonsense,” he said. “This kind of outlandish garbage drives me nuts.”

John Medlin, the general manager of the Latin Mass Society, said of the “intellectually-challenged” arguments: “They are on a par with Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and are unsubstantiated. It shows undisguised disdain for the Catholic Church.”

Like I said, consider me unshaken…at least until the next documentary.