Chronovisor: The Rumour That the Vatican Once Had a Machine to View the Past

On May 2, 1972, the Italian magazine La Domenica del Corriere published an article titled “A Machine That Photographs the Past Has Been Invented.” It interviewed a Benedictine monk named Pellegrino Ernetti. He said a group of scientists had created the Chronovisor, a screen-like device able to recover images and sounds from events that had already happened. The machine did not send anyone into the past. It let an operator look back at the past as if a distant broadcast were playing.

Ernetti did not say the Chronovisor could see only one room or an old film. His story took it to the furthest places in history. It was said to have shown a speech by Cicero in ancient Rome, a lost play by Quintus Ennius, the Last Supper and the crucifixion of Jesus. A photograph of Christ's face on the cross, printed beside the 1972 article, became the most famous piece of evidence. In the rumour, the Vatican did not keep the Chronovisor for curiosity. A machine that could view the past could check religious texts, state secrets, war testimony and any moment power wanted to know but did not want the public to see.