The belief that Mary Magdalene was an adulteress, the wife of Jesus, and a repentant prostitute can be traced back at least as far as the fourth century. Because of that opinion's acceptance in an influential homily of Pope Gregory the Great in about 591the historical error became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity. In his homily, the Pope mistakenly identified Magdalene not only with the anonymous sinner with the perfume in Luke's gospel, but also confused her with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Karen King concludes that the discoveries of new texts by biblical scholars, combined with their sharpened critical insight, have now proved beyond any doubt that the disreputable portrait of Mary Magdalene is entirely inaccurate.