Historians who have attempted to rescue Lucrezia Borgia from her legend as a poisoner who slept with both her father, Pope Alexander VI, and her brother, Cesare Borgia, have mostly described her as a pawn.
Lucrezia Borgia, on hearing that her father, Pope Alexander VI, was choosing her third husband, noted that her first two had been "very unlucky".
As a white-and-gold cardboard miter emblazoned with a Venus symbol was lowered onto her head, Patricia McQuillan declared herself Her Holiness Pope Patricia the First.
To her astonishment, the pope telephoned her directly and told her that if, as she feared, priests refused to baptise her baby, he would perform the ceremony himself.
As a measure of her stature, Pope Benedict XVI sent the movement a telegram of condolence on Friday, praising her "constant commitment for communion in the church, for ecumenical dialogue and for brotherhood among people".
Twenty-five yeafterfter her death the pope pronounced her innocent and made her a martyr.
The messages that Lueken received denounced the recent Vatican II reforms, and even told her that Pope Paul VI was a Communist imposter.
Mr. Woolfolk and his second wife, Dorothy, who is deceased, had a daughter, the author Donna Woolfolk Cross, best known for her novel "Pope Joan".
