Vincenza Taffarel

Last updated

Vincenza Taffarel [1] [2] (died 1984) was the Catholic nun who found the body of Pope John Paul I. [3] [4] She was brought in as his housekeeper in one of his very first papal acts, [5] and was the first to find him dead. [6] [7] [8] Taffarel was portrayed by Maroussia Frank in The Last Confession , a play by Roger Crane. [9]

Controversy

There have been several differing reports on details surrounding the discovery of the pope's death. [10] These views have resulted in several conspiracy theories in which Taffarel plays a role. When the report of death was first made, the Vatican excluded her from the official reports to avoid possible perceptions of unseemliness [6] resulting from a woman's being in the papal apartments early in the morning. [4] [11]

There has also been confusion over alleged changes in her story. Taffarel told French reporters the morning after the death that she had discovered the Pope's body in the bathroom at 4:45 am.[ citation needed ] She had entered the room after he had not retrieved his morning coffee that she had left outside his door. Later, it was claimed, she was sworn to secrecy about the event by Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot, before being sent to a nunnery. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope John Paul II</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope John Paul I</span> Head of the Catholic Church in 1978

Pope John Paul I was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent year of three popes and the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement VII in 1523.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Paul VI</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978

Pope Paul VI was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in August 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. In January 1964, he flew to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This was the first time a reigning pontiff had flown on an airplane, the first papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the first time a Pope had left Italy in more than a century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Siri</span> Italian cardinal (1906–1989)

Giuseppe Siri was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. He was a protege of Pope Pius XII. He was considered a likely candidate to succeed Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul I.

Hutton Peter Gibson was an American writer on sedevacantism, a World War II veteran, the 1968 Jeopardy! grand champion and the father of 11 children, one of whom is the actor and director Mel Gibson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanisław Dziwisz</span> Polish cardinal of the Catholic Church

Stanisław Jan Dziwisz is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków from 2005 until 2016. He was created a cardinal in 2006. He was a long-time and influential aide to Pope John Paul II, a friend of Pope Benedict XVI, and an ardent supporter of John Paul II's beatification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Posner</span> American journalist and author

Gerald Leo Posner is an American investigative journalist and author of thirteen books, including Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK (1993), which explores the John F. Kennedy assassination, and Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1998), about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. A plagiarism scandal involving articles that Posner wrote for The Daily Beast and his book Miami Babylon arose in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papal conclave</span> Election of the pope

A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palmarian Christian Church</span> Episcopal see based in Andalusia, Spain claiming to be the Catholic Church.

The Palmarian Church, officially registered as the Palmarian Christian Church and also known as the Palmarian Catholic Church, is a Christian church with an episcopal see in El Palmar de Troya, Andalusia, Spain. The Palmarian Church claims to be the exclusive One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. It claims that the Holy See, the institution of the Papacy and the headquarters of the Catholic Church was moved to El Palmar de Troya at the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Crowned Mother of Palmar, under the auspices of the Patriarchate of El Palmar de Troya, in 1978, due to the apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church from the Catholic faith.

David Anthony Yallop was a British author who wrote chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s, he contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows, including Minder. In the same decade he also wrote 10 episodes for the ITV court drama, Crown Court.

Malachi Brendan Martin, also known under the pseudonym of Michael Serafian, was an Irish-born American Traditionalist Catholic priest, biblical archaeologist, exorcist, palaeographer, professor, and prolific writer on the Roman Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 papal conclave</span> Election of Pope Benedict XVI

A papal conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a successor to John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Upon the pope's death, the cardinals of the Catholic Church who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave. Of the 117 eligible members of the College of Cardinals, those younger than 80 years of age at the time of the death of Pope John Paul II, all but two attended. After several days of private meetings attended by both cardinal electors and non-voting cardinals, the conclave began on 18 April 2005. It ended the following day after four ballots with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals and Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. After accepting his election, he took the name Benedict XVI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II</span> 2005 death and funeral of the 264th pope

On 2 April 2005, Pope John Paul II died at the age of 84. His funeral was held on 8 April, followed by the novendiales devotional in which the Catholic Church observed nine days of mourning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julián Herranz Casado</span> Spanish Catholic cardinal (born 1930)

Julián Herranz Casado is a Spanish cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts in the Roman Curia from 1994 to 2007, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.

Paul Casimir Marcinkus was an American archbishop of the Catholic Church and president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, from 1971 to 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papal election of Giuseppe Siri theory</span> Traditionalist Catholic conspiracy theory

Some hold the conspiracy theory which asserts that the conservative Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, then the Archbishop of Genoa, was elected pope in the 1958 papal conclave, taking the name Pope Gregory XVII, but that his election was suppressed. Siri did not associate himself with this idea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope John Paul I conspiracy theories</span>

Pope John Paul I died suddenly in September 1978, 33 days after his election. Following his death, several conspiracy theories have sprung up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vatican conspiracy theories</span> Theories involving the Roman Catholic Church

Vatican conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories that concern the Pope or the Roman Catholic Church. A majority of the theories allege that the Church and its representatives are secretly controlling secular society with a satanic agenda for global domination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo Maria Viganò</span> Retired diplomat of the Holy See

Carlo Maria Viganò is a bishop of the Catholic Church who served as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States 2011 to 2016. He previously served as secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 2009 to 2011. He is best known for having publicized two major Vatican scandals. These were the Vatican leaks scandal of 2012, in which he revealed financial corruption in the Vatican, and a 2018 letter in which he accused Pope Francis and other Catholic Church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Fr. Diego Lorenzi, F.D.P. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who served as the personal secretary to Pope John Paul I. Lorenzi served as a private secretary of Albino Cardinal Luciani in Venice for two years prior to his election to the papacy in 1978, and remained his secretary for his brief pontificate. During his time as John Paul I's personal secretary, he was aided by John Magee, an Irish priest who would later become a bishop.

References

  1. ↑ Hofmann, Paul (8 October 2002). The Vatican's women: female influence at the Holy See. St. Martins Press. p.  145. ISBN   0-312-27490-4.
  2. ↑ "Many are called and few are chosen" . Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  3. ↑ Kennedy, Billy (2 October 1998). "Cornerstone: Pope 'died of natural causes'". The News Letter. Belfast, Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Evidence of foul play in Pope death claimed". Chicago Tribune. 7 October 1978.
  5. ↑ "Pope Had History of Minor Illness". The Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press United Press International. 29 September 1978.
  6. 1 2 Gorner, Peter (17 June 1984). "The Death of A Pope: British author sparks controversy with theory of intrigue at Vatican". Chicago Tribune.
  7. ↑ "Foul Play". Baltimore Afro-American. 10 October 1978. pp. 1–2.
  8. ↑ Rocha, Luís Miguel (2008). The Last Pope. Google Books: Penguin. ISBN   9780399154898 . Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  9. ↑ "Post-mortem on the year of three popes". Church Times. 11 May 2007.
  10. 1 2 Reardon, Wendy (2004). The Deaths of The Popes. McFarland. p.  248. ISBN   0-7864-1527-4.
  11. ↑ "Bishop tells story of Pope John Paul I's death. He debunks conspiracy theory, but says Vatican altered some details". St. Louis Dispatch. Associated Press. 11 October 1998. p. D4.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.