Secrets of the Vatican

If you believe everything you see and read, then you'd probably be up to your ears in conspiracy theories... and if you believe that the Illuminati is out there to expose the Catholic Church to the world as a ruthless organization, then you may as well just stop reading altogether. Hehe.

As much fun and entertainment these conspiracy theories are, they are still just works of fictions... or are they?

Here are some sites that try and unveil what goes on behind the walled city in Rome.

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Best source for Vatican Secrets is... from the Vatican itself! Awesome find here, the Vatican has their own website and a complete section on their Secret Archives.



Not so secret anymore eh?

Click here to see it.

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TheHarrowing.com is a pretty strange website, but you can find some interesting stuff in there about some of the Vatican's Secrets.

"Of all the vexing questions surrounding the widespread and on-going clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps the ones involving the Pope are among those most begging for an answer. For such a centralized, authoritarian organization headed by one single man, the Pope, the key Watergate-type question of 'what did he know and when did he know it?' is crucial to any understanding of the full dimensions of the crisis..."

Interesting eh? Click here to read more.

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Of course Wikis are a great source for information like this. But someone actually posted an ENTIRE BOOK... I think it's the book being mentioned in the video I posted below... not sure though.

Click here to read it... if you can read something that long anyway.

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This video I found on YouTube is another one that seeks to uncover the Secrets of the Vatican... though if you ask me, it's just rubbish. Fun to watch anyway... what the poor editing didn't give it away? Watch out for their 'interview resource person' at the end, after The Church and UFOs. Hahaha!

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After reading Angels and Demons and after seeing the latest trailer, I'm pretty sure there are more fired up conspiracy theorists out there (whether serious, or, like our last link, 'interesting'), especially those with an interest in Catholicism and religion in general.

You think they'll be in line for the movie when it opens on May 15 as well?

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About the Illuminati

When you talk of religious conspiracy, or world-domination conspiracy, one of the most notorious organizations that come to mind is The Illuminati. Based on research and historical accounts, the Illuminati was "a secret society in Bavaria in the late 18th century. They had a political agenda that included republicanism and abolition of monarchies, which they tried to institute by means of subterfuge, secrecy, and conspiracy, including the infiltration of other organizations."

"They fancied themselves to be 'enlightened' but they had little success and were destroyed within fifteen years of their origin (Pipes 1997)." (Source: Skeptic's Dictionary)

Believed to be already defunct, the novel by Dan Brown and the movie by Ron Howard, 'Angels and Demons' presupposes that they survived their apparent dissolution and have lain in wait for the most appropriate time of their return.

There is also some discussion on their apparent tie in to the Freemasons, another organization that is a well-known mover in religious circles, a frequent target of religious and political conspiracy and a very old and long-thriving organization. "Because of Freemasonry's inadvertent involvement and misuse by its founder, Adam Weishaupt, the legends of its continued existence (and influence) persist into the twentieth century. (Weishaupt founded the organization and then tried to get the Freemasons involved.)" (Source: MasonicInfo.com)

What's cool about the Illuminati in the novel and in the upcoming movie is their apparent flair for symbols and symbolisms! Just the way the name of their organization is written already shows a lot in the ways of symbols and cryptic clues. (Image borrowed from TheOpenCritic.com)



For more info on the Illuminati, click here and here:

For more info on the novel, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, click here:

Angels and Demons looks to be a very interesting and trivia-infused movie! It's showing in the Philippines on May 15, 2009. Hope you've already reserved tickets!

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About Roberto Langdon

Robert Langdon, the character in the novels and the movies is like me.

Robert Langdon is a professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His specialities include classical iconology, symbols of pre-Christian culture, goddess art, and the decryption of ancient ciphers. He has written over a dozen books, including The Symbology of Secret Sects, The Art of the Illuminati, The Lost Language of Ideograms, and the renowned collegiate textbook Religious Iconology. (Source: RobertLangdon.com)

Like Robert, I have an eidetic memory--I can easily recall patterns, symbols and messages with ease, and describe them in detail at a later date. Like Robert, I have a great interest in classic iconology, symbols used in ancient times in the Philippines, and I've written a handful of books detailing these lost cultures, their alphabets and writings, and a few textbooks for universities. And, tragically, like Robert, I have great fear of enclosed spaces, elevators, enclosed cubicles, my faculty restroom... for all intents and purposes, I feel like Robert Langdon.

My real name is Roberto Langco.

And I'm about to encover the truth behind Catholicism in the Philippines.

(And yes I'm a big fan of the books and movies as well!)

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