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Oct. 24, 2019, 12:45 EST update: A statement by Dr. Taylor Marshall has now been added to this report. 

October 24, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Internet records show that someone within Vatican city edited the Wikipedia page of prominent Amazon Synod critic Dr. Taylor Marshall in what appears to be an attempt to undermine his reputation.

“Someone inside Vatican City is trying to attack my reputation via Wikipedia,” tweeted Dr. Marshall last night, linking to the material that was edited. Marshall has a Ph.D. in Philosophy which he obtained in 2011 from the University of Dallas. He wrote his dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas, which was titled “Thomas Aquinas on Natural Law and the Twofold Beatitude of Humanity.”

Internet sleuths quickly found that the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the source on Vatican property that edited the page originated from within Vatican City. Further investigation traced the source to the Secretary of State office. 

Dr. Marshall told LifeSiteNews, he was alerted by Wikipedia that changes had been made to his Wikipedia entry. Other people alerted him to it, too. 

The Wikipedia entry on his biography had been changed in such a manner that it said that Marshall was a “self appointed Catholic theologian without a Catholic theological degree.” It also states that he praises “Amazon Catholic Synod theft,” adding epiteths such as “radical,” “heretical,” and “traditional.” Someone else – not Dr. Marshall himself – has since corrected these changes.

According to IP logs and documentation on Wikipedia, there have been two sources on the Vatican's internet making demeaning changes to Marshall's entry.

As it turns out, one of the two sources is in the Vatican Department of Telecommunications and of Information Systems, its point of contact being the e-mail address of its director. The Department of Telecommunications is responsible for the Vatican's telephone system and comes under the Secretariat of State in the Palazzo Belvedere, part of the Vatican City Governate. Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, L.C. is the current secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State, director of the Telecommunications Directorate. He also sits on the Vatican's Financial Security Committee.

Bishop Alzaga has been placed in his position by Pope Francis in 2013 and was subsequently made a bishop. He is a member of the controversial Legionaries of Christ whose founder had been found in numerous accounts to have committed sexual misconduct.

LifeSiteNews reached out to the Vatican Press Office for comment. LifeSite also reached out to the Vatican's director of Telecommunications Directorate, Bishop Fernando Alzaga, whose email address is listed as the contact person in the internet log of the Wikipedia page change. 

Marshall said in a statement (read full statement below) that he would like the Vatican to investigate the matter. 

“I am making no accusations, but I would kindly ask the Vatican City Governorate and its Secretary General, Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, L.C. (to whom this email address belongs), to make an investigation as to why the libelous edits were made from the IP address of the Vatican City’s Department of Telecommunications attached to the Vatican email address: [email protected],” he said. 

“Perhaps an investigation can identify who made these harmful statements using the Vatican City’s IP address,” he continued.

“As a Catholic follower of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I would be broken hearted to learn that within a week, Vatican City has violated not just the First Commandment: 'Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” (Ex 20:3), but also the Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness,'” he added.

Dr. Marshall has claimed that the current Amazon Synod in Rome is a “proof” that the Church has been “infiltrated” by non-Catholic elements. He stated at the beginning of October at an event in Rome that was co-sponsored by LifeSite: “For over a century, the organizers of Freemasonry, Liberalism, and Modernism infiltrated the Catholic Church in order to change her doctrine, her liturgy, and her mission from something supernatural to something secular.”

Dr. Marshall recently published a book called Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church From Within, in which he goes in detail into the indications and historical documents that show that there exist plans to destroy the Catholic Church from within, with the help of Modernism.” He also speaks about the role of Freemasonry in this regard.

Dr. Marshall has a large community of followers on his regular podcast shows, in which he discusses, together with his colleague Timothy Gordon, the new developments and happenings in the Catholic Church. He is a traditional Catholic who holds the Traditional Latin Mass in high esteem and defends the traditional Catholic teaching as it has been taught for centuries.

Marshall is regarded as well-versed in the theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas, writing his doctoral dissertation on him. He is also the author of many books defending traditional Catholicism. 

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Full statement by Dr. Taylor Marshall

I received notice that someone using a Vatican City Department of Telecommunications IP-address assigned to the email address [[email protected]] was libelously editing a Wikipedia page about me by reporting false information meant to discredit or slander me. I am making no accusations, but I would kindly ask the Vatican City Governorate and its Secretary General, Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, L.C. (to whom this email address belongs), to make an investigation as to why the libelous edits were made from the IP address of the Vatican City’s Department of Telecommunications attached to the Vatican email address: [email protected]. Perhaps an investigation can identify who made these harmful statements using the Vatican City’s IP address. As a Catholic follower of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I would be broken hearted to learn that within a week, Vatican City has violated not just the First Commandment: “Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” (Ex 20:3), but also the Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”

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Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany, after having written in Switzerland her doctoral dissertation on the history of Swiss intellectuals before and during World War II. She now lives in the U.S. and is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits.

Dr. Hickson published in 2014 a Festschrift, a collection of some thirty essays written by thoughtful authors in honor of her husband upon his 70th birthday, which is entitled A Catholic Witness in Our Time.

Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany, and she has been writing articles on religion and politics for U.S. and European publications and websites such as LifeSiteNews, OnePeterFive, The Wanderer, Rorate Caeli, Catholicism.org, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Notizie Pro-Vita, Corrispondenza Romana, Katholisches.info, Der Dreizehnte,  Zeit-Fragen, and Westfalen-Blatt.