Pope Paul VI returned a stolen skull

The claimed skull of Saint Andrew was returned from Rome to the Greek Orthodox Church in 1964. This is what New York Times recorded.

Skull1B
Pope Paul VI carry the byst with the claimed skull of saint Andrew.

PATRAS, Greece, Sept. 26 1964:  A relic venerated as the skull of St. Andrew the Apostle was returned today from the Vati­can to Patras in a gesture of goodwill to the Greek Orthodox Church.

It was taken from this south­ern Greek port to St Peter’s Basilica in Borne 504 years ago. Its return by Pope Paul VI was marked by a striking revival of Byzantine pomp—and of the religious feuds that raged in the Middle Ages

The ceremony was boycotted by Greece’s 84‐year‐old Ortho­dox Primate, Archbishop Chry­sostomos and scholars chal­lenged the authenticity of the relic.

Resting in a golden reliquary shaped into the features of St. Andrew wearing a crown, the relic was brought by Augustin Cardinal Bea, the 83‐year‐old German Jesuit who is president of the Vatican Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

Source: The New York Times.

My commnet:

First some more photos:

Skull1
The rare Byzantine golden reliquary (Paperweights iconoclastic period) of the skull of St. Andrew (down left).  Delivered by Thomas Palaeologus to Pope Pius II to rescue from the Ottoman Turks.
skull2
The claimed skull of Andrew can be seen, as the head cap of the bust is open.
deliv
Delivery on September 26, 1964 the Venerable skull in Patras Metropolitan Constantine by Cardinal Beaune, archbishop Villemprans and Fr. Peter Ntypre.
Skull3
The old Roman Catholic bust, and rhe new Church like bust where the skull is kept today.
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The Greek Orthodox are proud of their claimed skull of Andrew.
skull6
The skull can be seesn through an opening of the bust.
Skull7
The Greek Orthodox also kiss and worship their ” holy skulls”.

 

Source: Greek Orthodox blogger.

My comment:

Many Christians are shocked, when they see pictures of Roman Catholics veneration of skulls and corpses. Rather than being surprised by such apostasy of the Vatican, they should question their own leaders:

Why have they not told the truth about the Papacy?

How can they accept Roman Catholics as a part of the Christians family?

The “Holy father” is a thief. He stole a skull.  The return of the skull in 1964 will forever stand as a proof of the ancient crime.  In the receiving end is the Greek Orthodox Church. Equally a skull and bone society as the Vatican priesthood.  Both of them defame the true Messiah in the name of “Christ”, and will face stern judgment for this misconducts.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

Have nothing to do with such religious people, but rather expose their evils. May Jesus the Messiah have mercy on all deceived souls.

Written by Ivar

27 thoughts on “Pope Paul VI returned a stolen skull

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    1. After the fall of Constantinople to the Mohammedans in 1453, Christian relics were no longer safe in those regions.

      There are historical records of the Mohammedans defecating in chalices, fornicating on altars, burning sacred relics of the saints, and pouring the blood of Christians into the baptismal fonts of captured churches.

      The holy head of Saint Andrew the Apostle came to Rome when it was given to Pope Pius II in 1461 by Thomas Paleologos (Google it).

      As an gesture of good will, Pope Paul VI in 1964 had the skull of Saint Andrew removed from its place in St Peter’s and returned to the Greek Orthodox Church in Patras where it remains to this day.

      1. Dear armorrcc

        Shalom, and love in Jesus.

        You seem to surface from time to time, not honoring your word of never returning to this site. Still I will spend a few seconds to reply to your last defense of the papacy.

        That religious people collect skulls from the graves, is horrible. These kind of items deserve to R.I.P. Avoid being burried at a Roman Catholic grav yard. You never know what these mad priests and bishops might do to the remains of the dead.

        To carry skulls with you along the road, and into shrines to be worshipped, is simply pathetic. If the Sultan wants to use these Roman Catholic “holy items” as a toilet, so what?

        Leave these dead men alone. Let them go and bury their own dead. And do never entertain a man, who transport a skull from A to B. Rebuke these religious people. And expose their evil deeds of darkness. Explain, by using scriptures, to non-believers how these men defame Jesus the Messiah, claiming to follow “Christ” of the Pope. So as few people as possible falls into the traps of this death cult.

  1. Honor among thieves, relics are an outward show for the approval of men, not acceptable to God.

    Gal 2:6 And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)

  2. Whether you believe in early Christian tradition regarding relics or not – I merely pointed out that the relics of Saint Andrew was not stolen. What reason could there be for you to write that it was stolen by the Catholic Church.

    1. Dear Armorrcc

      Shalom, and love in Jesus.

      Some few points related to claimed ownerships to ancient skulls:

      1. When people remove a skull from a grave, is is already a matter of theft. Who owns the corpse? What kind of permission has been granted?

      2. The Greek Orthodox Church split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 A.D. The fall of Constantinople took place 29th of May 1453 A.D.

      There is a gap of 400 years when the papacy had no power in this city. There are multiple places in Greece where skulls have been kept safe from the Muslim invaders. No need to “take them” to Rome.

      3. Rome stole a lot from Constantinople during the crusades, from the local Greek Orthodox Churches. The Bishop of Rome was branding local priests and bishops as heretics, even before the split took place. The skull of Andrew is not the only stolen item, the Greek Orthodox Church has demanded back from the Vatican.

      4. The Greek Orthodox Church demanded back the claimed skull of Andrew, they claim the papacy had stolen. Eventually, in 1964, the Pope returned it. If is was not stolen, why return what is yours?

      5. How can the papacy, or any religious leader, claim ownership to skulls of ancient people? What kind of stupidity is this? People who loot graves and display skulls in religious shrines should be arrested and kept behind bars.

  3. Armorrcc, Perhaps intuition told him to. Because your story sounds a lot like today. Suppose the RCC had some alliance with the Muhammadans. These terrorists go around keeping the RCC’s competition down. Like Isis today is limiting “small business” in religion, by killing them. The pope keeps his hands clean but still gets to be the big fish.

  4. Seems odd that if the place was overrun with Muhammadans the pope’s men could just walk right in and take the relics. Unless they were friends.

    1. Theodore Shoebat

      If it was wasn’t for the Catholic Church, and the Crusades, there would have been no Christianity today. All Christians in the world owe their gratitude to Catholics who took up swords and fought to preserve the Faith. If it wasn’t for them, Christianity would have been destroyed by the Muslims, by the pagans and other anti-Christian forces.

      1. Dear Armorrcc

        Shalom, and love in Jesus.

        You junp the topic about the theft of the Vatican, and try to debate another issue. The “whose crimes are worst, the Muslims or the Roman Catholics” we leave for another day.

        Stick to the topic, or leave. You have been given many warnings.

        The Greek Orthodox Church do bell the cat. They claim the Vatican has stolen a lot of their “holy items”. Particularly during the crusades. The Internaitonal community should basically demand that the Vatican open their treasure vaults, and return all they have stolen.

        http://www.holytrinityorthodoxchurch.org/load.php?pageid=59

  5. You’d like us to believe that. Didn’t the Catholics ultimately lose the crusades? It seems more likely that between the Muslims and the Catholics those without the “Armorrcc” get caught in the crossfire. I mean what did they gain. The middle east isn’t predominately christian. Hell the bigger the pope gets the more Christians seem to die in the middle east. But we will see on the judgement day when all is revealed.

    1. Just as the Reformation joined the Muslims in the hope to destroy the Papacy and the Catholic Church during the battle of Lepanto, I am not surprised by your comment. This battle did keep the Muslims out of Europe.

  6. And lets not put the cart before the horse. The only reason people are decieved by the pope is he pretends to be Christian. Otherwise those who love Jesus would not be supporting him as they do.

  7. Liar, Lets read about the Battle of Lepantano. The reformation Christians were the captured slaves forced to row the Ottoman ships. Outgunned 2 to 1 the battle was a slaughter and the pope killed 37,000 protestant Christians, and kept his hands clean since it was under the guise of war.

    1. Historical source and proof for above figures please.

      Question
      Why did God choose Catholics to stop Islam in its tracks in all the major battles intended to destroy Christendom?

      Or are you implying it was Martin Luther and Calvin who stopped Islam in its tracks.

      It is a well known fact that the Protestants supplied tin to the Turks to manufacture canons to destroy Catholic states.

      1. Dear Edward and Armorrcc.

        Shalom, and love in Jesus.

        This is a final warning. If you do not want to debate the topic of the article, please find another forum. Edward. Do not entertain this fellow. He do not reply to the questions given to him, but jump around the bush. Always.

      2. Dear Armorrcc

        Shalom and love in Jesus.

        This is an article about theft of skulls.

        What is the legal base, of the Vatican being in posession of skulls, removed from Greek Orthodox Churches after this church movement renounced the papacy?

        Since the Pope has accepted the demand from the Greek Orthodox Church, to return skulls, the Pope admits that the Greek Orthodox had valid claims.

  8. OK Ivar, I have explained the myth that the Catholic Church stole the skull of Saint Andrew. All reliable evidence shows that it was not stolen.
    God Bless.

    1. Dear armorrcc

      Shalom, and love in Jesus.

      You have not “explained the myth that the Roman Catholic Church stole the skull”.

      The skull was shipped from Greece to Rome in 1560 A.D. The Bishop of Rome had no legal rights in Greece in those days. Rome did not represent the Orthodox Greeks.

      The Greek Orthodox Church had separeted is self from Rome 500 years earlier. That is why the Greek Orthodox Church wanted their skull back from the Pope. And the Pope had to surrender the skull.

      I know you will defend the papacy at any cost. But her, you have a very, very weak cover-up story in a bid to blur or twist the truth.

      1. From my first post.

        Thomas Paleologos gave the head to Pope Pius II, who had it enshrined in one of the four central piers of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

        Big difference between steal and give.

      2. Dear Armorrcc

        Shalom, and love in Jesus.

        Yes, fascist dictator Benito Mussolini gifted the Pope the Vatican statehood in 1929. The Pope can forever claim, that he is innocent of this crime. And all fools will believe him.

        Let see what Wikipedia has recorded, about the man who is supposed to have gifted the Pope the skull of Andrew, before he him self fled to Italy:

        Thomas Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Θωμᾶς Παλαιολόγος Thomas Palaiologos; 1409 – 12 May 1465) was Despot in Morea from 1428 until the Ottoman conquest in 1460. After the desertion of his older brother to the Turks in 1460, Thomas Palaiologos became the legitimate claimant to the Byzantine throne, a claim he maintained during his exile in Italy.

        (end)

        Thomas Palaiologos eventuelly converted to Roman Catholicism. Surprise, surprise. The Pope supported his claim on the throne of Byzantine (Constantinople), but never to return. Neither Palaiologos, nor the papacy. But the skull came back.

    2. Dear Armorrcc.

      Shalom, and love in Jesus.

      Even, if the Pope’s version is right. That the skull was shipped out of Greece in 1461 A.D, this year the Pope had no power in Greece. No rights to ransack and steal “holy items” from Greek Orthodox Chuches. In 1460, 1459, etc, the Pope was not in the posession of this skull.

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