In Cesare’s Name We Pray…Amen


“Art is a deception that creates real emotions, a lie that creates a truth. And when you give yourself over to that deception, it becomes magic”-Marco Tempest

One of the most redundant quotes that is often recited when referring to what is believed to be the ultimate veil of deception, is the one that states that: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world that he did not exist”. Indeed such a quote like this leaves very little room for examination or reevaluation, as it is both masterfully poignant, as well as, prolific in nature. The truth however, tends to also hide behind a veil of deception that often requires labor intensive excavation in order to bring it to both the surface and towards the apparent light. Often it is during this tedious and laborious process that the tenuous people tend to flail off. They begin to resign to the information that is given, as opposed to seeking a greater understanding of the said “truth” and analyzing its origin and its construct. To paraphrase my former philosophy professor Peter Antonelli: “one should be able to step outside of his/her own belief and be able to examine, evaluate and scrutinize it without feeling discomfort if you truly believe in what you say you believe in”. So I guess the real question is, how much do you believe in your beliefs? Can you truly step outside of yourself and evaluate the philosophy that you have subscribed to throughout your very existence and still remain staunchly invested in your theory? It was the character of Morpheus (played by Lawrence Fishburne) who alerted Neo: “You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes”. For me, I always choose the red pill. I will always choose to seek the truth.

My red pill truth was more of an accident than an actual research item. I was on Facebook and saw an article posted relating to theology. It was in this very post that the name Cesare Borgia was referenced by someone who replied to the article, stating that his image or the likeness of his image had been utilized in the Christian realms to portray Jesus. Of course I did what I always tend to do, I began my vetting process, via Google, to try to either substantiate or dismiss the premise at hand. Interestingly enough my research resulted in finding articles that supported this notion. Cesare Borgia was the son of Pope Alexander VI (born Rodrigo Borgia). It was during the Holy Crusades in which war was declared by the Roman Catholic Church upon the purported infidels whose Islamic movement circa 1492 resulted in the capturing of Constantinople and the northern region of Europe extending towards Germany. These supposed “infidels” threatened the reign that the Roman Empire and its churches held over Europe at the time. Pope Alexander VI was faced with not only the dilemma of the Roman Empire losing its dominion, he also had an even greater fear of his own practicing religion (Christianity) and the physical appearance of its savior, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, in all renditions of art (paintings carvings, sculptures) was depicted as a Middle Eastern man, whose complexion was dark-skinned. This of course was in direct conflict to the Roman Catholic Church, being that their enemy, the infidels or Islamic people, appearance resembled that of the very savior they ritually worshiped. So Pope Alexander VI upon achieving papacy, feared that he would have a hard time convincing his constituents that the infidels were indeed wicked, decided that the image of Jesus’ needed to be revamped to suit the new congregation of European Christians (note that prior to this most Christians were of Middle Eastern decent) that they must defeat the forward efforts of the Islamic people. Pope Alexander would in turn destroy any and all images of Jesus and solicit the help of Leonardo Di Vinci to re-form Jesus’ image in the Vatican and throughout. The model for the new Jesus was his son Cesare Borgia. The Roman Catholic Church accepted Cesare Borgia as the new-found template to represent Jesus, in spite of his questionable morals as accusations of a homosexual relationship with Leonardo Di Vinci and numerous other sexual partners surrounded him in controversy. Cesare Borgia is also said to have had an incestuous relationship his sister Lucrezia and was also said to be directly responsible for taking the life of his own brother Giovanni. In this case we find out that something as simplistic as art can not only become interpretive, but it can also falsify documented ancestry as it pertains the realm of religious origin. If indeed Pope Alexander VI fashioned Jesus in the image of his son Cesare, not only did he create a blasphemous diametric of biblical testament, he also created a misleading perception of Islamic people. If Jesus was indeed of Middle Eastern decent and possessed darker skin, then the question that must be posed is why has this erroneous image still remained at the forefront of Christianity? Why did Pope Alexander VI destroy the original images of Jesus and revamp the Vatican to his favorable liking? Did this create a sense of entitlement for one culture, while denigrating and ostracizing another? It makes one ponder as to what would the temperament of America and the world abound be, if Cesare Borgia remained the son of Rodrigo Borgia, instead of trying to fill the role of the son of God. #1John 5:21

One Response to “In Cesare’s Name We Pray…Amen”

  1. Yao Guy Stephane Says:


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