Papasellus

I noticed that the History blog here at Alexander Street Press put up some political cartoons.  I noticed because they were strutting around the office bragging about it for weeks afterward.  Well, now it's time to show them that we have political cartoons too, except that ours are hundreds of years old and require paragraphs of explanation.  That'll show 'em.

What we have here is what you'd call an allegorical representation of the Catholic Church.  I don't know who drew it, but it's found in Martin Luther's Miscellaneous Writings, 1523-1524.

See the flag with the crossed keys in the top left corner?  That's how you know this is about the Papacy.  Anyway, a helpful guide to the puzzling symbolism is included.  I summarize:

• The head is a donkey's because it represents the Pope, who is head of the church.  The implication is clear.
• "The right hand is similar to an elephant's foot, signifying the Pope's spiritual authority, with which he overpowers and destroys all terrified and fragile souls."
• "The left hand is a man's, which signifies the civil power of the Pope, even though Christ clearly forbade this."  This is explained as having something to do with the Devil.  I don't know if there's a theological equivalent of Godwin's Law, but I'm guessing this would be it.
• "The right foot is a cow's hoof, which signifies the ministers of the spiritual authority, who like pallbearers support and sustain the papal regime in the oppression of souls."  Why a cow?  He doesn't say.
  
• "The left foot is similar to a griffin's which signifies the ministers with civil power." "For just as griffins grab what they want with their claws and don't easily give up, so do these papal cronies seize the goods of all Europe with their canonical talons."  Leading cryptozoologists inform me that that's exactly what griffins do, so the story checks out.
• "The stomach and chest are a woman's, signifying the body of the Pope, i.e., the cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, and other holy men, martyrs, and that type similar to pimps and a well-stuffed herd of Epicurean pigs . . ." After this is gets pretty nasty.  I'm not even going to leave it in Latin.  Suffice it to say that the author believes that the behavior of the clergy is wanting.
• "The fish scales that cover the arms, legs and neck . . . represent princes and lords.  For in Scripture the sea signifies the world, and fish represent worldly men, just as Christ himself represented St. Peter with a net in Matthew 4 when he said: 'I will make you fishers of men.'"  We're almost done.  Just a couple more to go.
• "The old man's head by the hip signifies the decline, the old age, and the death of the Pope's reign."  This is cheating, if you ask me.  Up until this point, the Popemonster has at least had only body parts that real people have.  Giving it a head on its hip is making it hard for me to suspend my disbelief.
• "The dragon looking out from the rear end of the monster, threatening a torrent of flame from its open maw, represents the threats, insults and horrible bulls as well as the hateful writings which the Pope along with his cronies vomits over the whole world."  This isn't realistic either, but it's cool enough that I don't mind.

It's not exactly thoughtful discourse.  But thoughtful discourse lends itself neither to hilarious caricatures nor to punchlines.