Myths and legends surrounding the Papacy: Encyclopedia II - Myths and legends surrounding the Papacy - Documents of Jesus Christ

Myths and legends surrounding the Papacy - Documents of Jesus Christ

Another legend of the Vatican is that, buried in the archives beneath St. Peter's Basilica, there exists a collection of documents that directly refer to, or were in fact personally written by, Jesus. One such document is said to be the execution order for Jesus, signed by Pontius Pilate, while another is said to be a series of letters, hand-written by Jesus, explaining to his followers how to conduct the formation of the Catholic Church after his death. Still other legends speak of Christ having revealed the exact date of his return to judge mankind in a letter to his Apostles.

It is said that only the Pope may look upon these "original Jesus texts", and that the existence of such documents is a closely guarded secret of the Catholic Church. The legend of the Jesus documents most likely originated during the reign of Pope Pius XII when a large number of Vatican treasures were sealed in underground vaults in the event that Nazi Germany invaded the Vatican.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Documents of Jesus Christ", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki