Abstract

Among the accusations raised against Peter of John Olivi, during the Council of Vienne, one of the strongest concerned de ecclesia vocata Magna meretrix. The Council Fathers were concerned about the identification of the great prostitute of the Apocalypse with the Roman See. This interpretation, as we know, was well weighed by Ubertino de Casale, and the pope, Clement the fifth, preferred to leave the question aside and it disappeared in the final texts of the Council.1The recent “double” publication of the Lectura super Apocalipsim2 now permits us reconsider the question of the conciliar fathers of Vienne regarding the identification between the Church and the great prostitute of Apocalypse. In addition, we can...