AN HISTORIC document which lay unseen in the Vatican for nearly a century has been unveiled after it was rediscovered by the actor who plays Game of Thrones’ version of the Pope.
Paul Bentley, who plays the character of the High Septon in the popular TV fantasy series, uncovered the ‘Six Propositions’ signed by the Jesuit priest and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who lived from 1881 to 1955.
Bentley uncovered the propositions from the Jesuit archives in Rome as he was researching for a new play.
Bentley had planned to write the play for a number of years, but first needed access to the six propositions.
He told The Scottish Catholic Observer that their discovery was "wonderful."
He said: "They are essentially six of the traditional teachings of the Church about Adam and Eve and Original Sin.
"He had to sign up to all six and he was prepared to sign five of the six, but the fourth proposition he felt he couldn’t sign up to because, as a scientist, he didn’t believe it was true."
Teilhard, who studied fossils and evolution, was ordered to sign six propositions by the Vatican, "to prove he was absolutely orthodox on the subject of Adam and Eve and Original Sin."
Bentley said Teilhard "agonised" over what to do, before deciding to sign up to all six propositions.
Of the document, he said that "nobody has seen it from that day to this, and that day was in 1925."
When Pope Benedict XVI made available for study documents produced from 1922 to 1939, Mr Bentley decided to investigate.
The release included the years 1924 and 1925, around the time when Teilhard was asked to sign the six propositions.
Bentley was allowed to look through the Jesuit archives.
Teilhard, a paleontologist and specialist in fossils and geology, was banned from publishing books detailing his theological ideas during his lifetime as he was thought to be heretical.
Following his death in 1955, his books were published.
"In the 1950s and 60s, Teilhard de Chardin was a name to conjour with," Mr Bentley added.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel