The Vatican is a sovereign city-state in Rome, Italy. It has its own government, led by the Pope and the Holy See, which represents and speaks for the entirety of the Roman Catholic Church. It also has its own small military force, called the Swiss Guard.
Oh, and a time machine.
Chronovisor – The Time Viewer?
The 2002 book The Vatican’s New Mystery by Francois Brune contains the peculiar testament of Father Pellegrino Maria Ernetti.
According to Ernetti, long ago the Vatican commissioned the development of a strange machine: a large cabinet with a cathode ray tube, like a television set, and dozens of buttons, levers, and switches. Ernetti himself helped construct it, alongside scientists from around the world, including Enrico Fermi and, some say, Nikola Tesla.
But this wasn’t any old device. It was a time machine. But not in the traditional sense — they called it a chronovisor, a type of “time viewer.” This machine would allow its user to view events throughout history, or even focus on specific people, to watch them through time.
“…it worked by receiving, decoding, and reproducing the electromagnetic radiation left behind from past events…”
Ernetti claimed to have, himself, used the chronovisor to observe the crucifixion of Christ. However, reportedly the vision was actually that of a postcard from Santuario dell’Amore Misericordioso in Collevalenza, according to Wikipedia.
There’s no particular reason to believe any of these claims. As popular as they are as time travel stories, it’s even questionable how much power and control would be gained by simply viewing past events. It’d be fascinating, yes, but what would you do with that information?
