User:Jeremygbyrne/Peter of Rome

Pope Nicholas VI (Latin: Niccolo PP. VI; born June 21, 1931 as Giovanni Masci in Ostia, Italy) is the 266th reigning pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. He was elected on January 28, 2009, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on February 14, 2009 and was enthroned in the Basilica of St. John Lateran (Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano) on February 18, 2009.

Due to the "extreme nature" of his ecumenical activity and dissolution of Church assets (and more recently the controversy over his early history) Nicholas VI is regarded by many both within and without the Church as fulfilling the prophecy of the great antipope (Petrus Romanus).

Early History
Masci's early history is shrouded in ambiguity and assusations of illegality.

Alleged Origins
An article first published in Rolling Stone in August, 2012, it is claimed that Masci was born of unknown parentage on September 18, 1929 in the slums of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala as Pedro Ximenez, and was inspired towards the religious life by a heretical Trotskyist Friar named Brother Menchú, who helped rescue the nine-year-old from psychotic cultists in 1938. It is further alleged that he travelled alone to Tuscany and thence to Rome, where he was informally (and illegally) adopted by Giovanni and Marisa Masci, and assumed the identity and changed his date of birth to that of their deceased son (also coincidentally his real mother's birthday).

Priesthood
Masci entered a Franciscan seminary at Ostia in March 1947 and was ordained on 21 July 1949 at the age of 19. His subsequent rise to become Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mireto in 1982 and Giovanni Cardinal Masci in 1989 was driven by a long-standing personal ambition to occupy the Throne of Peter.

Election
After the untimely death of Benedict XVI in January 2009, Masci is elected as a compromise candidate, returning an elderly Italian to the Throne.

Styling
The choice of Nicholas VI, and the fact that Masci discussed his choice in a 2003 newspaper article, have been variously credited with his papabile status and used to castigate him by his critics. (See Nicholas V, Antipope Nicholas V.)

Ecumenical Activity
Masci has announced his intention to reunite the Catholic and Anglican churches, and has met on several occasions with William V of the United Kingdom to discuss related issues. He has also written of his interests in uniting all the Faiths of the Book into a single command structure subordinate to the United Nations.

Dissolution of Church Assets
Nicholas VI's first acts provides settlement payment to all victims and alleged victims of "paedophile priests". He apologises on behalf of the Church, and begins a process of purging suspect clergy.

In 2012, Nicholas VI reveals a secret Franciscan affiliation, and a radical theology concerning the poverty of Christ. He begins the active dissolution of the Vatican through commercial sale of its assets. Money realised via this strategy is directed to paying down African debt, and to providing development aid to both African and Latin American countries.