To the left side of the picture there is a square column which is part of the same building as the pillar of truth. I first thought of it as the Pope’s column because in the chip in the column some have seen a face with a crooked triple tiara.
The Pope’s column therefore has a role with regard to the pillar of truth. In contemporary language he exercises the Magisterium of the Church. It is his duty to see that the revealed truth is preserved and proclaimed and that error is suppressed. In Christendom heresy was not only condemned but penalised by death exercised by the state, the temporal arm of Christendom. The Pope was also a temporal ruler who sometimes led armies into the field of battle. His task then while essentially concerned with the “pillar of truth”, was full of distortions which is why perhaps his column is physically distinct from the Column of the Truth.
I am going beyond architectonics to the area of secrets when I confess to not having seen the triple tiara but to have discerned a wolf above the face.
As Christendom is in danger of splitting, the Papacy is perhaps being presented as essential to things, yet in need of reform. This would square with the year 1437.
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