/ I. There is a New Pope Now /
/ Prologue /
What a terrible day. Rains and thunders never end. For a such important day, it's definitely not a good day.
Not a good day at all.
But there is no choice. It must be done.
They are waiting for me.
Can you hear the roaring outside those curtains? The faithful are waiting at the square.
They are waiting for me.
All right, take a deep breath, then take the stage, just like those old days at New York.
You can do it.
I can do it.
Once walk through the white curtains, I show myself at the balcony, to the World. I open my arms to embrace the crowd. All in a Sudden, the rain stops, and the sky starts turning blue.
"Ciao, Rome! Ciao, World!" I greet the crowd, "What have we forgotten? What have we forgotten? We have forgotten you!"
The crowd are cheering and applauding, "Let me be very clear, I'm here for one very simple reason: 'To not forget anyone.' God does not leave anyone behind. That is what He told me when I decided to serve Him. And it is what I say to you now. I serve God. I serve you!"
The crowd is cheering.
"We've forgotten the women and children, who will change this world with their love and their kindness. And with their marvelous, divine disposition to play. Play is the only authentic means we have to make us feel in harmony with life. And to be in harmony with God we have to be in harmony with life. We don't have a choice: we must be in harmony with God!
"And what else have we forgotten? We have forgotten to masturbate, to use contraceptives, to get abortions, to celebrate gay marriages, to allow priests to love each other, - and even to get married."
Suddenly, the crowd is no longer in cheers, they all felt into silence. They look up at me, puzzling.
I take a breath and continue.
"We've forgotten that we can decide to die if you detest living. We've forgotten to have sexual relations for purposes other than procreation without feeling guilty!"
The air is getting intense, "Help! To divorce, to let nuns say mass, to make babies in all the ways science has discovered and will continue to discover.
"In short, my dear, dear children, not only have we forgotten to play, we have forgotten to be happy. And there is only one road that leads to happiness. And that road is called freedom. Sancti Apostoli Petrus et Paulus, de quorum potestate et auctoritate confidimus…"
"What are you saying, Lenny? What's all this nonsense? You're not the Pope, Lenny!" There is one cardinal at the balcony said, "I am the Pope! I'm! And you, Lenny, are no longer a member of the Church. You are done with God, Lenny."
/
i.
"Who are you, Lenny?"
I am a contradiction. Like God,one in three and three in one. Like Mary, virgin and mother. Like man, good and evil.
"What you mean done? I just barely got started with God." Lenny Belardo, or from now on should called him: Pius XIII, the Pope, Holy Father, Your Holiness, was mumbling when he was waking up. Sweats covered on his face, he gazed around the room, trying to focus his mind, for seconds, he still couldn't tell whether he was still dreaming or not. Until he saw the crucifix on the wall. Then he got off the bed, turned on the radio and walked towards his en-suite bathroom. He wetted his face, looked at himself in the mirror, "Who am I?" he asked himself.
The radio was broadcasting: "Today, Pius XIII's papacy begins. Cardinals are still in Vatican City, and they will leave Rome only after the new Pontiff's first homily…"
Oh yes, I am the Pope.
'I am the Pope.' The voice was echoing in Lenny's head. How did he become the pope? He had no idea, maybe, that's God will. However, he was so ready for his new role, he smirked. Finally, he got dressed, looked at himself in his vestment: a pure white plain simar and fascia, with the white zucchetto on his head, then walked down the hallway to the dining room, he was shocked by the table in front of him.
There were all kinds of food: toasts, donuts, pancakes, sandwiches, frittata, bacons, ham and cheese, sunny-side egg, scrambled egg, boiled eggs…and all kinds of jam and butter.
That was a feast, not a breakfast. Lenny gave a look.
"Not knowing your tastes, Your Holiness, we took the liberty of preparing a little of everything." One of the priests replied.
"Didn't anyone tell you I don't eat much? Hardly anything, in fact. All I have in the morning is, a Cherry Coke Zero." Lenny said.
"We will get some right away." said the priest and he sent one of the nuns with a look.
"What's your name?" Lenny asked.
"Domen, Your Holiness." said Domen, "I am Your Holiness' majordomo."
"Do you know what Domen means?"
"One who belongs to God."
"Precisely." Lenny smiled, "So, by transitive property you belong to me."
"How did you sleep, Your Holiness?" Domen shown his concerns.
"I had an amusing dream: Cardinal Ozolins and Cardinal Aguirre slapping each other, and I said the most outrageous things to the crowd in Saint Peter's Square." What a hilarious dream, "Well then, I'll wait here for my Cherry Coke Zero."
Lenny took his seat, waiting for his coke.
"In the meantime, would Your Holiness care for a regular Diet Coke?" Domen suggested.
"Let's not utter heresies, Domen. It's death to settle for things in life." Cherry Coke Zero is irreplaceable.
"Holy Father, while you wait, may I present Sister Bice, from Nepi, in delightful province of Lazio. She will be your personal cook."
Sister Bice went by, she looked over sixty, round face with glasses, and a weird smile.
"Sister Bice also served three pontiffs who came before you. When she was young, she was a missionary in India and fortunately for us, she speaks a good English."
Lenny held out his hand and waiting for the greeting. However, it was never happened.
"Well, my sweet Holy Father, now what is it you would like to have for your lunch? You just tell your Bice what you want, and I'll prepare it for you." When Sister Bice approached, she did not kiss the pope's hand. Instead, she was touching Lenny's face without hesitation, even worse, kissed his temple, then walked away, "Matriciana, pasta e fagioli, carbonara, lasagna…"
That made Lenny annoyed, he wiped his temple with the napkin, his eyebrows knitted, "Am I mistaken, did she say, my sweet?"
"Your Holiness, Sister Bice is rather quaint." Domen tried to explain.
"No, Domen, she is not quaint. She's friendly." Lenny dropped the napkin, raised his voice and called, "Mother! Let me explain something to you, that you, in your long life, have not yet had the occasion to understand: friendly relationships are dangerous."
Sister Bice stopped and turned around, eyes with fear.
"They lend themselves to ambiguities, misunderstandings, and conflicts, and they always end badly. Formal relationships, on the other hand, are as clear as spring water. Their rules are carved in stone. There's no risk of being misunderstood and they last forever. Now, you need to know - I do not appreciate friendly relationships." Lenny made his rules and do hope Sister Bice could keep them in her mind.
"But I'm a great admirer of formal ones. Where there are formal relationships there are rites and where there are rites the earth order reigns."
Noticed the Pope was upset, and Sister Bice started sobbing, Father Valente interrupted and said, "Your Holiness, His Eminence the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Prefects of the Various Congregations can't wait to make your acquaintance and to welcome you."
"Well, they're gonna have to wait, because first I have to drink my Cherry Coke Zero."
No one can stop Lenny for enjoying his breakfast.
ii.
The Vatican, one of the smallest states in the World. It's not just the home of the Pope, also, the Papal State, the Holy See, the heart of the Catholic Church.
No doubt, there was also the centre of power play. Some of the cardinals were enjoyed this game so much, they would do all sort of tricks to maintain his power and influence.
For some of them, might think they were even more powerful than the Pope.
"May God, who has enlightened every heart, help you to know your sins and trust His mercy. Your sins, Voiello?" Tommaso, the priest and the confessor, who was staying inside the confessional booth, waiting for the confession proceed.
However, Angelo Voiello, a cardinal and currently the Secretary of State, was busy on his phone, being very impatience and said, "Tommaso, don't waste my time. My sins have to do with high finance and diplomacy. Even if I were to confess them, you wouldn't understand a thing."
"So, confess those I can understand." Tommaso felt troubled.
"I've had impure thoughts." Voiello's eyes didn't leave the phone.
"About who?"
"About the Venus of Willendorf."
"Who's she?" Tommaso concerned.
"The Paleolithic statue the Pope keeps in his library. It's 25,000 years old."
"Impure and gerontophilic thoughts about a statue… What sort of penance can I assign for that?" Tommaso left the booth, "You're making things difficult for me, Voiello!"
"You think about it and let me know." Voiello rushed away as a message pop-up on his phone, "I'm in a hurry."
Meanwhile, there was a small group of cardinal fellows, having a secret meeting in the Papal Garden.
"Look, guys, the Holy Spirit is blowing away." Cardinal Aguirre said when he noticed a white feather was flowing in the sky.
The others smiled, "Speaking of the Holy Spirit, what do you think? Did He illumine the cardinals?"
"The naivete of you Africans is really touching." said Cardinal Ozolins, scaritily. "Do you really believe that the Holy Spirit elects the Pope?"
"We Africans, no, but we Catholics, yes, that is what we believe. Don't you, Ozolins?"
"Well, the Holy Spirit is not stupid, but he is ironic and cunning." Cardinal Ozolins noticed that his colleague still didn't understand.
"What he's trying to tell you is that, here, in Vatican, the Holy Spirit is just another name for Voiello." Cardinal Aguirre explained.
"Belardo is forty-seven years old. That's young." Cardinal Caltanissetta was very disappointed, "Which means we won't live to see another pope. How sad!"
"Caltanissetta, it's already a miracle that you've lived long enough to see this one." said Cardinal Aguirre.
Everyone laughed.
"I'm not so sure that Voiello has shown good leadership this time." Cardinal Caltanissetta did believe that was a power play within the Conclave this time.
"I've never really trusted Voiello myself. He's the devil incarnate." Cardinal Aguirre agreed.
"Spencer would have been the right choice." Spencer was the one Cardinal Caltanissetta elected.
"He is far too independent," Cardinal Ozolins was worried, "and that wouldn't have been the good news for us cardinals."
"True." Cardinal Caltanissetta used an inhalator to ease his chest, "But all we have in exchange is a telegenic puppet."
Whoever had met Lenny Belardo, would agree that he was not only young and indeed a good-looking eye-candy pope.
"And that means that he can be manipulated. This is a masterpiece of Voiello's diplomatic cunning, the way he shepherded the cardinals' votes to Belardo. Now Belardo holds office, but Voiello is pulling the strings. And he'll run things the way we tell him, because once again we saved his life."
Nobody was expected that Lenny Belardo was elected. Cardinal Ozolins believed that was the plan of Voiello, by choosing a young, inexperienced, good-looking pope, so that he can maintain his power as the Secretary of State easily.
"I may be African, and I may be naive, but if you ask me… you're simplifying the future to an unhealthy degree."
"I'm in agreement with our African colleague." Cardinal Caltanissetta said.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Cardinal Ozolins.
"That you've forgotten to ask one fundamental question." Cardinal Caltanissetta eyed far away, "What's Spencer going to do now? That his beloved, detested protege has become the pope?"
iii.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? said Jesus before he was about to die." Lenny kneeled inside his chamber, praying to God. "Which is what I say to you now, before I begin to live. God's infinite silence, God's infinite silence, God's infinite silence…"
Frustrated.
There was always a better way to do this.
"Your Holiness, your sins." Tommaso asked, he didn't expect His Holy Father came for a confession on his first day as the Pope.
"I don't have any sins to confess." Lenny declared confidently.
"Are you serious?" Tommaso was surprised; he never has a confession session like this.
"My only sin," Lenny looked at his hands, "and it's an enormous one, is, that my conscience does not accuse me of anything."
"Ego te absolvo peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."
Then both drawing the cross on their chest and left the confessional booth. Lenny walked to the coffee table and lighted a cigarette, then sat down.
"If I always heard confessions like yours, Your Holiness, I'd be out of a job." Tommaso chuckled.
"How many confessions do you hear in the Vatican, Don Tommaso?" Lenny smoked deeply and waiting for the answer.
"Me? The entire Curia, a good number of nuns and priests, as well as several lay employees who work in Vatican City."
Lenny stood up and approaching, stopped and placed his hand on Tommaso's shoulder, looked into his eyes, "How old are you?"
"Sixty-one."
"And how's your eyesight?"
"I don't even wear glasses."
"And your hearing?"
"My only problem is my hair, Your Holiness."
"You mean it's falling out?" Lenny smiled with curious.
"Not only that. Sometimes it hurts."
"Your hair hurts? Good, very good!" Lenny exhaled slowly, a plan was established in his head, "I'll be frank, Don Tommaso, I need you. You must do something very important for the eminency of your pontiff."
"Whatever you wish, Holy Father. Tell me." Tommaso replied eagerly.
"Come then, I'll tell you in the confessional." Lenny moved towards the booth, "Confessional booths are so beautiful. They look like little mountain huts. Do you like the mountains?"
"I don't like the snow."
Lenny got inside and sat down, took a smoke and said, "Here's what I want you to do."
iv.
In the Pope's private office, Voiello was a bit pre-occupied, staring at the Venus of Willendorf, fantasizing.
"Your Eminence." Father Federico Amatucci called and brough Voiello back to reality.
"Do you know how many books have been written about me?" Voiello asked casually.
"Seventeen?" Amatucci guessed.
"Eighteen." Voiello corrected him. "The last one's going to press next week, and it's got the best title of all."
"Which is?"
"The Man Behind the Scenes." a satisfaction was in the voice of Voiello.
"Beautiful." Federico did not really care what the book was about.
"Of course. I suggested it myself."
"Who wrote it?" Amatucci was curious.
"Manna, that leftist reporter."
"That means it's going to be critical of you, Your Eminence."
"Of course, those are the best."
While Voiello and Amatucci were chatting and laughing, waiting for the Pope. When the door opened, they both stood up, expecting the Pope. However, it was Father Valente.
"Where is His Holiness?" Voiello surprised.
"He's at the Heliport."
"He just got here, and he already wants to leave?" You better fly away and never come back.
Amatucci was laughed repressively.
"Now you could have laughed a little more."
"He sent me to tell you he'll be late for your meeting, Eminence." Valente said.
"Okay, but if you see him, tell him not to be too late, because I, unlike him, have a lot to do. I've got to steer this boat, which that indecisive fisherman Peter left me."
That was a complain, no doubt, in Voiello's mind, Lenny Belardo, or Pope Pius XIII, was only a puppet in his pocket. And he, was the one who run the Church.
"Valente, what do you make of him?" Voiello needed to know more about Lenny.
"He's a man of little appetite. Actually, very little."
"This is not a good sign. Not a good sign."
"By the way, Your Eminence. His Holiness is waiting for me, will see you around." Valente left the office and headed back to the Heliport.
v.
Lenny was looked up to the sky, waiting. Waiting for the one who can make him felt settled.
As the helicopter lowered to the ground, a sister came out. She was over sixty, with a warm smile on her face. Lenny looked at her, took a deep breath, and started to walk to her; just like forty years ago, on the day his parents abandoned him. When he opened that gate, she was there waiting for him. And since that day, Sister Mary became his mother, even though he was not permitted to call her 'Ma'.
Now, they both looked at each other. For a moment, they both speechless.
"Lenny!" Sister Mary called him with endearment.
"Sister Mary." She's always here for me. Lenny looked into Sister Mary's eyes, trying to cover all his emotions.
"Here you are my saint."
"No, I'm not a saint." Lenny had never found himself fit as a saint.
"Yes." For Sister Mary, there was no question about it, Lenny Belardo was a living saint. She bowed and held Lenny's right hand, kissed the ring.
Lenny wasn't very comfortable with this, he knew that was the manner to greeting the Pope, however, Sister Mary was not anyone. She was the one who closest to his heart, more than anyone, more than his own parents.
He smiled at her, gave her a hug back.
"Do you still have it on you?" Sister Mary asked.
Lenny took out a piece of pipe from his vestment's pocket, "Always."
Sister Mary looked at that half piece, which was Lenny's father left it for him. She knew that was the only link to his parents, he kept it close to himself since the day he walked through the orphanage gate. After forty years, he was still the child who longing for his parents.
She took his hand and held it tight, "I'm here now."
"Thanks Sister Mary." His voice was cracking, he needed to change the subject, "Shall we?"
Sister Mary nodded, and they both walked to the Vatican Gardens.
Once they passed the American Garden, they stopped at the end of the Leonine Wall.
"What's this?" asked Sister Mary while they walked up the steps.
"A replica of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. It's being restored."
Due to the restoration, most of the structure was covered, only left the Madonna. Lenny and Sister Mary stood in front of the statue.
"From now on, you're going to be living at the exact center of the Church." Lenny said, then he pulled her couple steps back.
Sister Mary wondered, "But I don't understand. What does that mean?"
"That means that just now the center of the Church took a few steps back." Lenny smiled at Sister Mary, then they took their way to the Apostolic Palace.
vi.
Lenny was showing around the new apartment to Sister Mary, "Do you like the apartment?"
"I'll be just fine here, Lenny." Sister Mary was not care much about it, really.
However, Lenny was very pleased, "You're only a few feet away from me."
It was a very long time he can just found Sister Mary in the next door, since he left the orphanage and went to the seminary. Afterwards, he became a priest, then the bishop, the archbishop, the cardinal, and now, the Pope.
It was a lonely journey. Even now, he became the Pope, the journey still went on.
Although Lenny visited Sister Mary sometime in between, it still couldn't compare that could bring her over, to share this moment.
"On the plane I read this amusing description of Rome: A suburb of Vatican City." Sister Mary was next to the window, enjoying the view of St. Peter's Square.
"Well, that's not exactly true, but it will be." Lenny chuckled. Everyone in the Church knew that the Papal State should never be only Vatican City. If not the Lateran Treaty in 1929, Rome should be part of Papal State too, and the State would be ten times bigger than now.
Lenny lighted a cigarette, in a deep thought.
"What's wrong, Lenny?" Sister Mary worried, she felt his pain.
"What's not wrong, Sister Mary." Lenny stood next to her, he pointed outside, "North is that way, where Venice is."
Venice, was the possible whereabout of Lenny's parents. They abandoned Lenny because they wanted to seek a new life there.
"Listen to me, Lenny. Starting today, you have to lead the Church. One billion people. One fifth of the world's population." Sister Mary was totally understood Lenny's painful childhood, it's a burden to him. Therefore, she hoped she could talk him out.
"Do you understand what I'm saying, Lenny? One billion people will depend on what you say and do. They'll make important decisions, happy or sad, of life or death, in order to obey you, in the name of God. All of this creates a new perspective. An immense perspective.
"Now, your personal aches, your enormous sufferings, your terrible memories It's a harsh thing to say, Lenny, but I have to say it, they must take a back seat. They are things of this earth."
"Do you understand what I'm saying, Lenny?" She looked into Lenny's eyes, shown him that she will not leave him no matter what, "I know all your sorrows, I've lived with them together with you, I've wept over them with you, but now the time has come for you to let your sorrows to fade, to become irrelevant, distant memories, insignificant, vanquished, destroyed and overpowered by the terrible responsibility that God has given you. From now on, you are no longer Lenny Belardo, the fatherless, motherless boy. From now on, you are Pope Pius XIII, Father and Mother of the entire Catholic Church."
Of course, Lenny understood all these. However, his past was too painful, the scar was too deep, and that made the reality was too hard to swallow, too hard to face.
vii.
With Sister Mary by his side, Lenny felt more settled in and he could start the duty as the Pope. He was at his desk with Cardinal Voiello.
"Allow me to say, Your Holiness, what joy! What joy! The Holy Spirit could not have illumined us in a better manner. In the name of the entire Church, welcome. May your pontificate be long, radiant, and fruitful."
"Let's settle for long." Lenny was young, and he was so sure that for a foreseeable future, he could be the Pope for decades.
It seemed Voiello not agree with this, he chuckled and said, "What a telling joke!"
"Jokes are never telling. They're jokes." Lenny said with a cold face.
Voiello looked apological, trying to change the subject. "Well, Holy father, first of all, a small piece of information of a practical and picturesque nature under your desk, on the right, you will find a button."
Lenny took a look on his right and checked, there was a button. He was wondered how useful of that can be.
"If you feel that an encounter is becoming disagreeable or a waste of time, all you have to do is to press it discreetly, and an assistant will swiftly appear with some excuse, liberating you from your engagement."
"He'll lie, in other words." Lenny was disgusted with the idea.
"Yes, but he'll have plenty of time and opportunity to repent." Voiello laughed.
How can he say that? Lenny was very upset.
For him, repent, or confession, was a serious matter. No one can abuse it so that he or she can tell lies so easily, without guilty at all.
"Well, Holy Father, if you agree, I would like to start with our top priorities. The most urgent of them all is your first homily in St. Peter's Square. There is a great deal of agitation about it, something which I, in my long career, have never quite seen before. The entire office of the Secretary of State is working on it."
Why I still need to be here? Let Voiello telling me what I should do or shouldn't do? Lenny was so annoyed. He massaged his temple and hoping that could ease the headache.
"I myself worked all night long on a rough draft, which I would like to submit you. The press and the faithful who are coming here from every corner of the globe were all convinced that you were going to deliver your homily today. We did an excellent job at calming their spirits, but at the same time, Your Holiness, I am sorry to say that we can only delay for so long. Tomorrow would be ideal. There, this is the most pressing issue."
Finally, Voiello's speech was over, but Lenny had no interest on it. There was only one thing he needed most, with his eyes still closed, "The most pressing issue, is my need for a cup of American coffee. Would you make me one, Your Eminence?"
"Certainly." Voiello turned around and tried to call Amatucci to do it for him.
"I didn't ask him. I asked you." Eyed on Voiello, Lenny ordered.
"It will be a pleasure and an honor for me to bring you coffee, Your Holiness."
With a fake smile, Voiello reluctantly left his seat and went to the bench to prepare the coffee. Amatucci was amazed, there was no one, no one, at the Vatican can order Voiello to do anything, he was the Secretary of State, only he can order the others, sometimes, even the Pope needed to listen to him.
However, what just happened was Pius XIII demonstrated his authority and power. Maybe it was just a small cup of coffee, it was significantly to tell everyone that the Pope's sovereign power is absolute. Amatucci laughed, as he knew, from now on, do not cross the Pope, otherwise, you would get yourself in hell.
Voiello was back with a cup of coffee in his hand, and he placed it on the desk for the Pope.
"Thank you, Your Eminence." Lenny took a sip of coffee, exhaled. He felt much better now.
"It's my duty, Blessed Father." Voiello kept his poker-face.
When Lenny was enjoying his coffee, at the other side of the office, Sister Mary left her seat and approaching the cupboard at the side, she took out a red pouch and walked to the desk, collected a copy of Voiello's new book and then placed the red pouch next to Lenny, then she waited by the window.
"Holy Father, now, about your homily, how would we like to proceed then?" Voiello started the discussion of his agenda.
"Later."
"And has the Holy Father already thought of some candidates for the delicate role of a special assistant?"
"I have an idea." Of course, Lenny already had someone who fit for the job.
"I do too. Monsignor Gemelli comes to mind…"
"My idea is Sister Mary." Lenny interrupted and simply rejected Voiello's nominee.
Sister Mary was shocked, with her eyes wide-opened. She did prepare that Lenny needed her, otherwise, there was no reason to fly her here all the way from the United States. She was here for a purpose, she knew it, it was not a general visit. But she did not expect that Lenny was planned to place her at his inter-circle.
Voiello was totally not agree with the Pope, "An admirable idea, Your Holiness, and completely understandable. Allow me to add, however, that unfortunately, the Curia has complex mechanisms which might seem like astrophysics. Therefore, the Holy Father's inevitable lack of experience, together with Sister Mary's inevitable lack of experience would lead me to suggest an internal contribution Of course I realize how central Sister Mary seems to you. We could invent a sort of ad hoc role for her. We won't lack for imagination around here."
It was a statement that Voiello was not allow any nun (or a woman?) to get involved within business of the Holy See. Also, it hinted that Lenny Belardo was way too young for the top job.
"Yeah. You're exactly right, Voiello. She's central."
That gave Voiello some hope, to hope that the Pope would change his mind. Be that as it may, Lenny insisted. "Sister Mary took me in at her orphanage when I was seven years old, she raised me, and she loved me. She made me a good Christian."
"A great Christian! Monsignor Gemelli is experienced, I would rely on him…" Voiello was hoping the best.
"Perhaps you didn't hear me correctly."
"Perhaps, Holy Father. My English does have its limits." Voiello didn't want things get heat up.
"You'd better improve it then."
"Sister Mary will be my special assistant." Lenny said firmly and without negotiation.
0 to 1, Voiello lost.
"As you wish, Holy Father." One down, moved onto the next issue, "Then, of course, there is the matter of drafting and delivering your address to the College of Cardinals. They're all still here. They will not leave the Vatican until you address them."
"Later." Lenny took a sip of coffee.
"In the office of the Secretary, we have been wondering if the Holy Father would care to provide us with some indications regarding the draft of an encyclical."
"Later." Another sip of coffee.
"The prefects of the various congregations are of course eager to see you with their own eyes. But I imagine that you would like to deal with this matter… later?"
"No, now." Lenny put down the coffee. That was out of Voiello's expectation, "First off, I want to meet the Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy."
"At any rate, Holy Father, I understand your reluctance about the encyclical. Your predecessor always made me laugh when he said that an encyclical is like Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time':Everyone quotes it, but no one reads it."
The room felt into silence.
Everyone's eyes were now at the Pope. His eyes were closed, head tilted down, hands held together, and not moving an inch. Only Voiello found that was funny, never knew that he got himself into big trouble.
"Are you sleeping, Holy Father?" Voiello tried to break the ice.
"No." Lenny was taking his time, "Your Eminence, I'm praying. For you."
Voiello's mind was wandering elsewhere, he was staring at the small showcase on his left.
"Stop looking at the Venus of Willendorf in that way." Lenny's eyes still closed.
Voiello was surprised, how can he know what I am doing? He cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment.
When Lenny finished the pray, he opened the red pouch, took out a silver portable ashtray, and started smoking.
Voiello could not believe it, he almost had a heart-attack, "Holy Father, Holy Father, smoking is not allowed in the papal palace!"
"Is that so?" Lenny really didn't care, he exhaled casually, "Who decided that?"
"John Paul II." Voiello answered.
"The Pope?"
"Yes, the Pope."
I see. Lenny took another smoke, "There's a new Pope now."
"True." Yes, there's a new pope.
"Your Eminence." Lenny said, with the cigarette in his hand.
"Yes, Holy Father," waiting for the Pope's lecture.
"You're too tied to the past."
"They say the same thing about you, Your Holiness."
"The past is an enormous place, with all sorts of things inside. Not so with the present. The present is merely a narrow opening, with room for only one pair of eyes. Mine."
Lenny leaned to the right and pushed the button under the desk, Voiello knew his meeting with the Pope was over. He stood up and noticed the Pope shown the right hand, he took the hand and kissed the ring, then made his departure.
By the time Voiello got the door, he was called by the Pope. "Yes, Your Holiness."
"Our top priorities."
"Here I am. As I was saying…"
With serious on the face, Lenny addressed, "You will be in charge of politics, finance, theology, appointments and promotions. I will take care of worldly matters, travel, adulation of the masses, celebrations."
"A most effective division of roles, Holy Father." Voiello was pleased, finally the Pope said something normal.
"Your Eminence." Lenny didn't miss that smile on his face, which meant –
"Yes, Blessed Father?"
"I was just kidding." Lenny laughed, "That wasn't obvious?" – he didn't get it.
"Hardly!" He made me looked like a fool.
"So, as I was saying, our top priorities are –" Lenny put out the cigarette, walked away from the desk. He waltzed along the windows, "One: The Radio Vatican signal needs boosting. It is unacceptable that reception is so poor. Two: the pope wants to see all the gifts the pope receives. Have a storage facility fitted out for storing all the gifts I receive. Three: the Vatican must immediately buy back the papal tiara from the basilica in Washington D.C., which my predecessors, who favoured sobriety over tradition, imprudently let go."
Finally, he stopped next to Sister Mary, "And four, Sister Mary will also look after you. She will oversee all your activities and report directly back to me. She will be your guardian angel."
"I'm sixty years old, Holy Father." Voiello found that was insulting, "I don't need a guardian angel."
"Oh, we all need a guardian angel, Voiello. Especially unscrupulous, ambiguous men." Like Lenny cared about Voiello's feeling. All he knew was he needed to keep an eye on this man, because, he believed that there was a hidden agenda in the Conclave, and he needed to know why they made him the Pope.
"Then, please, allow me to choose mine myself."
"In another life. In this life, the Pope chooses your guardian angel for you."
"And he is the Pope." Sister Mary reminded Voiello.
"Did you call for me, Holy Father?"
Lenny shook his head, "Thank you, Sister Suree."
viii.
After the meeting with Voiello, Lenny was alone at his huge office, he needed some fresh air, or a quiet time, to change his mood. There was only one place he wanted to go now, and he needed to meet up someone, someone can be his ally. So, he picked up the phone and hoped Sister Suree could arranged for him.
And now, with Sister Suree's guide, Lenny got the door and down the stairs, then took a turn and he found himself in a long hallway. Walked till the end, another stair, when he opened the door, he found himself in a huge white chamber, where was under the St. Peter's Basilica. Oh, that's the Pope's secret passage.
He never at this part of the Basilica before, and now he was lost and trying to look for his way up, to the main nave. It's like a maze here. When Lenny tried a door, he was surprised by the crowd, unfortunately, a boy yelled at his face happily, "Papa!"
He quickly closed the door, panting. Retreated to the underground white chamber, he tried and another one down the aisle. Thank God. He made it this time.
The Basilica without the tourists, was so quiet. With the sun shining through the dome's window, was so peaceful.
Now, Lenny was in front of the Pietà, the sculpture of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the crucifixion, one of the masterpieces of Michelangelo.
Bernardo Gutierrez, Master of Ceremonies of the Holy See, was next to him.
"It all comes back to this in the end, doesn't it? To the mother." Lenny was staring at Mary, thinking of his own mother. Why my mother abandoned me? "How was your mother like, Monsignor Gutierrez?"
"She was a woman who did not scorn wickedness."
"And it had the effect of creating a son full of goodness." Lenny smiled, "I've inquired about you. Everyone tells me you are a shining example of goodness."
"I thank you for believing them, Holy Father."
"It is I who should thank you," with gratitude, Lenny said, "for allowing me to be here without hordes of tourists."
"That's my duty, Holy Father."
"Was it hard? To close off the Basilica to tourists?" Lenny was curious, how could he managed to evacuate the crowd in a such short notice.
"No, no, all we had to do was hang up a sign saying 'Closed'."
Never believe can be that easy, Lenny cleared his throat. "I will never shed my aversion to tourists."
"Why is that, Holy Father?" Gutierrez was wondered.
"Because they are just passing through." For Lenny, tourists came here just for a visit, to see how the Basilica looked like, some of them didn't have faith, or even didn't believe in God.
St. Peter's Basilica is not a tourist attraction, it is the Church! This is the God's house!
They both walked along the nave to the altar, took the steps and back to the underground chamber.
"I was late because I couldn't find your office." Lenny said.
"I know. You opened the wrong door and found yourself face to face with some visitors to our museum."
"Oh, you've been inquired about me too." Lenny chuckled.
"It's very difficult to keep anything secret here in the Vatican. Rumors fly so quickly that sometimes they arrive even before the event has taken place."
"That's quite a useful piece of information for my future." Lenny noted it down in his mind.
"Which is exactly what it was intended to be, Holy Father."
"What is one to do, Monsignor? It's the times. In America, we call it gossip."
"Here in the Vatican, we call it calumny. This way." Gutierrez shown Lenny the way to a side chapel.
"How many years have you been at the Vatican?" Lenny approached the small altar, knelt and prayed.
"So many that I've stopped to counting."
"Do you like it here?"
"Yes, I feel safe here." Gutierrze said, here was his home, too. "It's as if time were dead."
"Speaking of that time, the other day, during the Conclave, I read an Italian newspaper. It was an article about this politician who had hidden some compromising files in the gaps between the walls of his house."
"Yes, I read about that as well." Gutierrez remembered that article.
"I thought, I wouldn't need to hide anything in the gaps in my house. Because my mind is a gap. And everything that is hidden from me, sooner or later is revealed. As if it were being entrusted to me." Lenny sighed.
"A precious skill for leading the Church."
"It's not a skill, Gutierrez," Lenny, with determined written on his face, said, "It's my destiny."
ix.
At night, Voiello summoned his personal assistant Amatucci to his place.
"Federico, do you know why all the good souls of this world rage against power?"
"Why, Your Eminence?"
"Because they simply don't know: Power is knowledge."
"What is it you want to know, Eminence?"
"Who is Pius XIII? Or rather, who was Lenny Belardo? You need to carry out a small investigation, discreet but thorough. Everything. His weak spots, traumas tribulations and sins. Especially his sins. Because the sins we commit in the past are the same ones we'll commit in the future. Because man is like God. He never changes."
Voiello was angry about this afternoon, he was humiliated by the Pope! He just couldn't take this. To take down your emery, you should know your emery better.
No man is perfect.
Not even Lenny Belardo.
For Voiello, Lenny was just a kid! He supposed to be his puppet, he should follow his advice and to do what he told him to do.
It was clear that this game was no longer under his rules. To change the game, he needed to arm himself.
"I'll start right in." Amatucci said, "but is the situation of this papacy already that serious?"
"No, not yet. But if it were to become so, we'll be ready. Because the powerful may have knowledge, but they don't realize what it takes to be more powerful than anyone else."
To take down Pius XIII, Voiello needed Lenny's dark secrets. "And it takes getting knowledge before anyone else does."
x.
Lenny and Tommaso walked up to the roof of St. Peter Basilica.
"See how beautiful it is?"
"Fabulous." The view here was so different from the Pope's Office, also, a much-secured place for private meetings.
"Go on, Tommaso, don't be afraid." Lenny needed more inside information, to help him figured out the situation, to manage the Church.
"But violating the secret of the confessional is…" Tommaso still had concerns.
"No, no, it's not. Not if the information is intended for me, the Pontiff, and is for the survival of our Church. Don't disappoint me, Tommaso." Lenny tried to persuade Tommaso that there was nothing wrong to tell him all the details.
"Your Holiness, I'm just a poor, simple priest, and the secret of the confessional is the only respectable thing I have." It was his job to keep the others' secrets.
"Today. But think of tomorrow." There was one weakness of Tommaso, "Scarlet robes and the ring are in your future. The cardinalship, my dear. Which is much more respectable."
"What if someone hears us?" Being a cardinal was Tommaso's dream.
Lenny looked up to the sky, "Only He can hear us up here."
"Who knows where He is?"
"There!" Lenny pointed out to the sky, "By the big dipper. That's where God's house is."
"God's house!" Tommaso was amazed, no one knows where the God's House is. "What's it like?"
"Half of a duplex, with a private swimming pool." Lenny was eager to know more, "Come on now, tell me people's sins."
"Well, have I already told you about Voiello's impure thoughts about the Venus of Willendorf?
"Yes, yes you told me already." That was a very useful one, "What else?"
Tommaso started laughing, Lenny rise his eyebrows, "No, nothing Cardinal Aguirre did an imitation of you today, Your Holiness. Everyone laughed."
"Did you laugh?"
"Yes," Tommaso confessed, "but to myself. So no one noticed."
"Good. What else?"
"Everybody is wondering who Sister Mary is to you, what she's doing here."
That was exactly what Lenny cared about, he needed to be more careful from now on. He didn't want Sister Mary got hurt or let her become the centre of confliction. "What else?"
"Everybody is also wondering: is the Pope thinking about his first homily? I ask myself the same thing all the time."
"Of course, I'm thinking about it. It's all I think about. I even dreamt about it." That was the tough task Lenny was still working on.
"I'm let you in on a secret: ever since I was little, I've learnt to confound people's ideas on what's going on in my head." Therefore no one could truly get to know what he is thinking.
"You're so wise, Holy Father."
"Not only that, I'm also intransigent, irritable, vindictive and I have a prodigious memory. And now I want to make my confession."
"Fine. Let's go back downstairs…" Tommaso felt that would be better back to the confessional.
"No, here. Before the house of God." Lenny insisted. He sat down and Tommaso followed.
"Oh okay. In nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. (Latin: In the name of the Father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit.)"
Lenny said with his eyes closed, "God, my conscience does not accuse me, because you do not believe I am capable of repenting. And therefore, I do not believe in you. I don't believe you are capable of saving me from myself."
"Holy father, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I don't believe in God, Tommaso."
"What are you saying, Blessed Father?" rage was written on Tommaso's face.
"Tommaso, Tommaso." Lenny noticed that he just went too far, "I was joking."
Tommaso smiled with relieved.
And Lenny knew that he successfully confounded Tommaso.
Did Lenny believe in God?
Yes, he did, wholeheartedly.
Even though he said he didn't.
/\/\/\ NOTES /\/\/\/\
First of all, I don't own this. This is Sorrention's work and HBO, Sky & CANAL+.
This story is a retold version of the TV drama "The Young Pope" (2016) and "The New Pope" (2020).
The storyline is based on the drama itself, plus my add-ons.
It took me a while to find out how to post it here. This is a story I wanted to convert into a fiction shortly after I watched the New Pope, as that completed Lenny's journey, not just as Pope Pius XIII, but as a man as well.
In no doubts, the dramas did inspired me a lot, and means a lot to me.
Please do comments! And I intended to finish it. Once it finished, I will back to my old ones.
Cheers!