Document of Constantine

The Document of Constantine

The Document of Constantine, or simply known as the C-Document (C文書, C-Bunsho^?) is a magical artifact that belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Its power was "to make whatever the Pope says seem to be the absolute truth." During the events of the Academy City invasion of Avignon, Kamijou Touma destroys the artifact with the Imagine Breaker.

Appearance

The document appears as a rolled up old piece of parchment sealed with a red wax, about 15 centimeters long and 3 centimeters across. The seal was designed by Haimura Kiyotaka to carry the SPQR initialism.

Principles

The real power of the document allows for the Pope to distort accurate information, or more specifically, allows for the Pope to make people believe that things are true. No matter how ridiculous it is, it makes people think it must be true because the Pope said it is, and doesn't actually alter the laws of physics. For example, if the Pope declared that the members of a certain faith were enemies of humanity that were upsetting the public order, it would be a fact from the moment he said it. If he declared that "you will not burn your hand if you touch a hot sheet of metal as long as you pray while you do," that too would be believed without a shred of evidence.

Moreover, it only makes people believe if they care what the Roman Catholic Church says, people who don’t care whether what the Roman Catholic Church says is true or not aren’t affected by it, making only affect those who are Roman Catholic.It essentially grants the current-ruling Pope the powers of absolute obedience to the entire Roman Catholic population; whatever the Pope says while the C-Document is activated will be registered into every Roman Catholic around the world, and the Pope's statement will be treated by the people as a proven fact.

However, usage of the document is difficult as its effects are enormous. Once something is set as being "correct," it would be hard to undo it even by using the document again. Because of this, the Church cannot set every little thing as correct. Moreover, the document is not easy to use, as it can't be just used by just anyone and it can't be used just anywhere. It was originally made so it could only be used when it was at the center of the Vatican, and the command spreads around the world all at once from there via ley lines. Because of this, permission to use the document is restricted. Apparently, approval to use the document takes a long time as though the Pope has a lot of power within the Church he can't use the document on his decision alone, requiring the unanimous vote of the 141 Cardinals at the top of the Roman Catholic Church for its use. Furthermore, there are conflicts between the factions within the Roman Catholic Church and that rule prevents the document from being used during one of those conflicts.

Background

Creation

Due to the multiple crises throughout history that threatened the Church, such as the Black Plague, the failure of the Crusades, and the neighboring Ottoman Turks, the people began contending against the idea of a benevolent God that took care of them. The idea that "God is absolute," which the Roman Catholic Church needed around, was challenged again and again. Out of fear, they created the Document of Constantine and created a lavish propaganda surrounding it to hide its true power. With it, they could ensure that the people's hearts would stay with them even in the worst crisis.

Despite what the propaganda says, the document did not declare that the land that once was ruled by Constantine is under control of the Pope, but was a document that allowed for the Pope to distort accurate information.

Propaganda

Early Christianity originally underwent persecution by the Roman Empire until Emperor Constantine recognized it as the empire's official religion. Roman Catholic Church propaganda to establish its legitimacy, apparently claimed that Constantine the Great created the document for the Roman Catholic Church. It was fabled that upon the document it declared that the Roman Pope is the leader of the Christian Church and the land in Europe that Constantine ruled over belonged to the Pope. Since Constantine ruled over the majority of Europe, it essentially meant that the Pope ruled over Europe and all of the people living there had to obey the Roman Catholic Church.

The document is like a compass, as the land Constantine ruled over about 1700 years ago, one can use the document even today to make symbols appear that indicate that the land was inherited from the emperor. Since the emperor's inheritance is composed of things given to the Roman Catholic Church, it is given the lands and items that correspond on the document to develop or use as necessary.

This notion persisted up until the 15th century when a scholar declared the document to be a fake. The document does not declare that the land that once was ruled by Constantine is under control of the Pope, but was a document that allowed for the Pope to distort accurate information. It essentially grants the current-ruling Pope the powers of absolute obedience to the entire Roman Catholic population; whatever the Pope says while the C-Document is activated will be registered into every Roman Catholic around the world, and the Pope's statement will be treated by the people as a proven fact.

Chronology

Document of Constantine Arc

Main article: Document of Constantine Arc

The document was taken away from the Vatican to go around the long and tedious bureaucratic restriction in using it, and is taken to Avignon. Here, taking advantage of the Vatican–Avignon Ley line to allow for its usage in a location that is not Vatican, as well as the more loose regulations of controlling spiritual items in Avignon (not needing the approval of the Cardinals) because the method is so irregular, the document was used by regular magicians under the command of Terra of the Left in the Palais des Papes. Because of the fact that they were in Avignon in spite of the presence of the ley line, preparations had to be made, causing the activation to not to be instantaneous like usual.

Through the command of the Pope, the document caused widespread unrest throughout the world, stating that the enemy of the Roman Catholics is Academy City. As a result anti-Academy City protests erupted in different parts of the world, especially Europe. In order to stop the civil unrest caused by the document, the Amakusa Christians were deployed by the Anglican Church to France to investigate, while under the patronage of Oyafune Monaka, Kamijou Touma and Tsuchimikado Motoharu were deployed to destroy it, to avert an escalation of aggression on the side of Academy City.

After intense battles against God's Right Seat's Terra of the Left and escaping the mobs created by the C-Document's magical effect, Touma, Amakusa Christians' Itsuwa and Tsuchimikado Motoharu managed to find and destroy the C-Document. Ultimately, the destruction of the C-Document rendered the Roman Catholic Church with one more powerful weapon less after the destruction of the Croce di Pietro and the destruction of the monk choir who is in charge of performing the Gregorian Chant. However, the damage was done, as Academy City furthered its aggression in Europe in order to destroy it, and forced the Russian Orthodox Church to side with the Roman Catholic Church, as Terra of the Left had hoped, pushing the two sides further into an inevitable conflict.

Trivia

• A similar piece of document, and most likely the inspiration for the item, relating to the Roman Emperor Constantine I is the "Donation of Constantine", supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. This, however, is a forgery dating between the 8th and 9th Centuries CE.