(September 3, 2023 at 10:19 am)Bucky Ball Wrote: It appears to be a fraud.
All the recent dead popes laid in state for a rather lengthy time, for all to see, and as far as I can tell none of them
were "mutilated" at any point in their post-mortem period. They may have been "tapped" ceremonially but I can see no evidence for this as an actual proof of death.
The silver hammer was used to smash the papal ring.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hammer-time/
They did check that new popes had testicles for a while, after Pope Joan manages to get through election.
LOL
It think it would better a better idea to hit a newly elected Pope in the head with a very large hammer three times. If he lives through it, he gets to be Pope.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson