The Cross, the Tiara and the Sword

The Cross, the Tiara, and the Sword

In these days when the world's public opinion is focused on the Vatican, the book by M. RICO, JC. LOSADA, and J. AYMAR, The Cross, the Tiara, and the Sword. An Unbraided[1] History of the Popes (Toledo, Ledoria Publishing, 2024)[available on Amazon], is particularly relevant. The unbraiding method aims to rigorously elucidate:

1. What, throughout history, Peter's successors have done out of fidelity to the gospel and in fulfillment of their apostolic mission (the cross)

2. The acts resulting from having been constituted pontiffs of the DOM (initials of Deo Optimo Maximo, a Latin phrase that in paganism meant "to the greatest and best God" with all the pomp and circumstance derived from this spiritual authority (the tiara or triple crown)

3. And, finally, their actions in the exercise of temporal power (the sword): that is, when, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Supreme Pontiff saw himself as the only force capable of uniting religious and political power and, from this high vantage point, launched crusades, led armies, and fortified himself in castles and palaces. 

Since the Second Vatican Council, significant gestures of returning to the origins have been made. Popes have renounced the tiara, the gestatory chair, and even lived in the Apostolic Palace. John Paul II inaugurated a style of itinerant pontificate, in dialogue with other religious and cultural traditions. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis called himself "Bishop of Rome," asked cardinals to abandon princely attitudes, and has strengthened the synodal style. A few days before his death, he descended into St. Peter's Basilica without his white cassock, wearing a simple “poncho” and black trousers. He also left his written will that his tomb be in the earth: simple, without particular decoration, and with the only inscription: Franciscus.

The unbraiding has been applied to popes, but the stories of kings, dignitaries, and all those in whom different missions converge can also be unbraided. As Federico Mayor Zaragoza said, history is meant to be described, not rewritten. It's not about making a post-mortem judgment, like the aberrant one Pope Formosus was subjected to in the 10th century, but rather about providing researchers and the general public with a pedagogical tool for interpretation.

 

 

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[1] The original Spanish word is “destrenzar,” which means “to undo a braid,” that is, a hairstyle made by weaving long hair together.