After creating a ruckus in 'The Da Vinci Code', it is now the turn of the Vatican to generate more interest in Knights Templar history. Probably Dan Brown's novel has generated Vatican's interests in taking up such an assignment.
The Vatican has finally decided to release a crucial document relating to the disappearance of hundreds of Templars, the wealthy and secretive order of monks, who were massacred for alleged crimes against Christianity in 1307.
The Vatican will publish a book, titled Processus contra Templarios, on October 25 based on the document discovered in its secret archives in 2001 by Professor Barbara Frale, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported here today.
"I could not believe it when I found it. The paper was put in the wrong archive in the 17th century," Prof Frale was quoted by the daily as saying.
The order was founded by Hugues de Payns, a French knight, in 1112 to protect pilgrims along the path from Europe to Jerusalem. Its headquarters was the captured Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, which lent the Templars their name.
But when Jerusalem fell to Muslim rule in 1244, rumours surfaced that the knights were heretics who worshipped idols in a secret initiation ceremony.
In 1307, King Philip IV of France, in desperate need of funds, ordered the arrest and torture of all Templars. After confessing various sins their leader, Jacques de Molay, was burnt at the stake.
Pope Clement V then dissolved the order and issued arrest warrants for all the remaining members. Ever since, the Templars have been thought of as heretics. However, Prof Frale is not convinced.
"This is proof that the Templars were not heretics.
The Pope was obliged to ask pardon from the knights. For 700 years, we have believed that the Templars died as cursed men, and this absolves them," she said. |
