Talk:Pope Formosus

How many fingers
We appear to have a disagreement between Pope Stephen VII and this article. Specifically, this article says three fingers were cut off, but Stephen's article says two fingers were. I believe I read somewhere that Sergius III cut off the remaining fingers. Is that where the two numbers come from? for instance, says two. says three. I apologize if I'm confused, since I know almost nothing about Catholicism, but I'd like to see this resolved. - Wesley crossman 06:46, Apr 29, 2004 (UTC)

The two sources (indeed, every source I've seen) agree that the fingers used in extending the apostolic benediction were cut off. Unless they did it differently back then, that would be the middle three fingers, (think of the hands of the Pope blessing Uri et Orbi from his balcony) leaving only the thumb and pinky behind. - Nunh-huh 06:23, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Okay. Should I/you change Stephen's article or do you want to wait for confirmation? - Wesley crossman 06:46, Apr 29, 2004 (UTC)


 * I leave it up to you, but I think: go for it. -- Nunh-huh 23:58, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

When I did a search on Wikipedia for "Formosus" without including the word "Pope" the Disambiguation page didn't list "Pope Formosus".

--NotWillDecker

The contemporary sources actually disagree on how many fingers were cut off. Some say two, some say three. I've been researching this for a PhD dissertation for several years. You can find some of my results here: http://www.wsmonroe.com --WSM

"immoral man"
I removed a statement referring to Pope Sergius as an "immoral man" because that is POV.

Le pape en mort
I though for sure the title of the Laurens work was Le pape en mort? Srnec 15:02, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

This is a lousy picture
Can't we have one of him that's not of his corpse? Zazaban (talk) 04:39, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

His body was found after thrown in the river
Nothing is mentioned in the article about the body of Pope Formosus being found by a fisherman after it was thrown in the river. The body was kept later by the Vatican as a body of a saint. --188.161.252.8 (talk) 12:08, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

Second Cadaver Synod
The article presents a long list of authorities who do not mention a Second Cadaver Synod: "Joseph Brusher, S.J. says that "Sergius [III] indulged in no resurrection-man tactics himself"[5] and Schaff, Milman,[6]Gregorovius,[7] von Mosheim, [8] Miley,[9] Mann,[10] Darras,[11] John the Deacon of Naples, Flodoard, and others make no mention of this story." This long list is nothing but an attempt to provide negative evidence, which has little value. Positive evidence is needed. The list should be trimmed. --Vicedomino (talk) 09:20, 10 January 2018 (UTC)

Dates in main article do not make sense
There is a serious need for clarification of the dates of his activities and excommunication in the article. They do not match known dates for other external events and are self-contradictory. I suggest a complete re-write. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:810D:8DBF:C81C:4874:AE99:C6AE:2FCE (talk) 20:58, 19 March 2019 (UTC)