One of the reasons I started writing this blog was purely selfish. For the last few years, each week, I’d squirrel away articles of interest I would find on One Note. One of my hopes was to be able to discern some patterns in news stories and track new research into the areas I’m interested in. One of the patterns I’ve seen this summer in the “Seeker-esque” news cycles has been events in Italy.
I’m not a conspiracy monger by nature. I think it’s a bad form of logic to use the argument that since event “A” follows event “B” they must be connected. However, this summer has seen events in Italy that have an oddly gestalt feel about them. Are the events connected in some odd way or is it just the great synchronicity of the universe playing tricks on my mind? Below are the headlines and datelines that caught my eye.
5 June 07: Italian Police investigate Masonic Lodges
The Catholic World News web site had a small blurb about Italian Police investigating 20 separate Masonic Lodges and gathering membership lists from various Lodges around the country. This is the only report I’ve been able to find on this and since there has been no follow-up in the press I’ve seen.
6 June 07: Five Men Are Acquitted in the Roberto Calvi Case
The P2 Masonic Lodge scandal of the early 80’s is brought into the minds of the world again when five men are found not guilty of murdering “God’s Banker” Roberto Calvi. Calvi was found dead in London hanging from the Black Friars Bridge on 18 June 1982. The prosecution claimed that the five defendants had lured Calvi to London after his bank had collapsed in a huge fraud scandal. Calvi’s death and his connections with the irregular Masonic Lodge were brought to the world’s attention by authors Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh in their book The Messianic Legacy.
19 June 07: Italian cops put "obscene" Da Vinci Code movie under the scanner!
Italian state prosecutors put the Da Vinci Code film under the microscope for being obscene from a “religious standpoint”. The complaint stemmed from someone in the unnamed faction of clergy near the Italian village of Civitavecchia. Why did it take so long for the complaint to be made when the film debuted over a year ago? According to the article a prosecutor made the brilliant statement: "I don't know. Maybe they (the clergy who filed the complaint) have just seen the film”
21 June 07: Archaeologist sparks hunt for Holy Grail
Archaeologist Alfredo Barbagallo announces that he has found the Holy Grail in Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura in Rome. Barbagallo claims that the Grail is actually buried under a “funnel whose lower part opens out over the face of a skeleton”. The purpose of which was used to give liquid refreshment to the dead in a funerary rite.
30 June 07: Pope OKs opening of St. Paul's tomb
Pope Benedict XVI gave the go ahead to place a fiber optic probe into a tomb in that has been “positively identified” by Vatican archeologists as that of Saint Paul. To my knowledge, no images or reports have come of what was founding the tomb.
6 July 07: Modern-day ‘tomb raiders’ feel the heat
Italian authorities renew their efforts to stem the tide of illegal archeological digs and an ever increasing black antiquities market. The article goes on to say that there is also a growing problem with antiquities thefts., “Thefts in churches, libraries and state archives have increased in recent years, and the Carabinieri are still seeking more than 2.5 million missing objects registered in the art squad’s database”
18 July 07: Scholars in panic mode over Vatican Library closure
The Vatican closes it’s main library for three years worth of renovations. This is the first time in the library’s 500 year history that it will have been closed. Photocopies and microfilm requests will still be considered by the Library’s officials. A related BBC article mentions that the Library is already using technology to help preserve the works. Many books have microchips that will signal librarians if they are removed from the building. Also parchments that might have been used multiple times are going through a process "using ultraviolet rays we can now easily scan documents digitally to reveal the writing underneath, which is invisible to the naked eye" The Vatican also puts up a web page in Feb 06 for the Secret Achieves. A number of sources are available digitally including the Chinon Parchment that gives absolution to Jacques DeMoly.
27 July 07: New ‘Last Supper’ theory crashes Web sites
Slavisa Pesci, an amateur scholar announces that he has found interesting results in Da Vinci’s Last Supper when applying an overlay mirror image on top of the original. He claims that one of the images unlocked is of a Knight Templar holding a baby. The news crashes a number of websites that have photos of his theory.
10 Aug 07: Priest under investigation apologizes to Jews after insulting remarks
Priest Pierino Gelmini makes the remark in an Italian press interview that the “radical-chic Jewish lobby is stretching out to weaken the whole Church, starting with the American Church". The Priest later retracts his statement and says that he meant to state that it was the Freemasons, not the Jews he was talking about.
26 Aug 07: Bad Luck for Black Cats in Italy
An animal rights group in Italy announces that around 60,000 black cats are killed in Italy every year by Italians that think they bring back luck. (Evidently they didn’t get the moral of my article The Templar’s Plague) Given the population of Italy is somewhere around 58 million, dividing out the deaths into the total population, one out of every 967 Italians kills a black cat every year.
Yes, many of the events are totally unconnected. No I don’t think there’s a shadowy hand pulling the strings over each of the events that connects them. But, I think it’s worth watching the headlines. There seems to be a back drop forming here that I can’t totally discern yet. Either that or I’ve had way too much coffee this morning. As always, your thoughts, jabs, and observations are always welcome.
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