/ V. This Pope Does Not Negotiate, And Does Not Compromise /
i.
When Lenny back to his chamber, his heart was pumping, he minds was roaring, like an engine running hundred miles per an hour. He couldn't focus, there was something he couldn't comprehended…things that happened at last couple days. He was under a confusion.
Therefore, he put himself under the shower, closing his eyes and let the water ran through his body, trying to focus his mind.
The Bible verses were flashing in and out thought his mind.
The Temptation of Jesus [Matt. 4:1-11]: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."
He was shocked.
It was a test. Three, in total; and he had been through two already.
It was a temptation.
Lenny opened his eyes; his mind was clear than ever, and then he chuckled.
I think I might just get mine…What I experienced now maybe counted as one…
How could I think I don't have a Calling?
A Calling maybe a voice, maybe an image, maybe a vision, maybe a feeling, maybe a predisposition…
It can be in any way, any form.
Silly me.
Yes, it seemed that was Voiello's plot, but it could be a challenge from God too.
He knew what's coming next. What's waiting out there for him.
The final temptation.
What was it could be?
No matter what, all he should do was like what Jesus do: facing the temptation then casted the Devil away.
He prayed and thanked God before he went to bed.
ii.
As the head of the Church, Lenny should visit the cloistered nuns at the convent earlier, but he didn't got time to do it. As he was freed from his engagement this afternoon, he went to the convent with Gutierrez.
Unfortunately, they were taking their afternoon nap.
Footsteps echoed through the hallway. Lenny stopped and told Gutierrez, "I've made an important decision."
"What is that, Holy Father?"
"You will go to New York to investigate the Kurtwell case." Lenny had considered this for sometimes.
"Why do you want to punish me, Holy Father?" Gutierrez didn't find that was an honour.
"This is no punishment; this is a promotion." Lenny assured Gutierrez. "I trust you."
"Holy Father, spare me." Gutierrez pleaded, he didn't find himself could manage the task, "I'm a modest, limited man, believe me. The Kurtwell case is something far too big for me, beyond my scope."
"Quit selling yourself short." Lenny held his hands together, looked at Gutierrez, "You're going to New York. You'll investigate. You'll gather the necessary evidence, and you'll put Kurtwell into my hands."
That was official, Gutierrez was receiving a direct order from the Pope.
Lenny did care about children, "My Papacy won't let the harm done to even a single child slip away into indifference. And you will help me, because I trust you. Blindly!"
"Holy Father, I am a recluse. I only know how to live inside these walls." For the truth to be told, Gutierrez was scared and insecure, "In all these years, I've left here only twice, both times to go to the hospital. I don't know how to cross the street, I don't know how to get a hotel room, I don't know how to order a meal in a restaurant. I'm like those canaries in cages. If you free them, they die."
"You're afraid." Lenny understood, shouldered a huge responsibility was always scary. Actually, he had one too, without a notification. "I was afraid too before I accepted my destiny as head of the Church."
"How do you overcome fear, Holy Father?" Gutierrez did need an advice.
"By giving in to the complex and unfathomable architecture that God has designed for us." That took Lenny long enough to learning to trust in God and believed he was always in His good hands.
Gutierrez looked at the Pope, who gave him a smile with understanding, "Gutierrez, I believe in you, so don't be so terrify. And you wouldn't be off to New York tomorrow. There are works still needed to be done before hand, I will not send you to fight a monster with bare hands."
That comforted Gutierrez a lot, at least he wouldn't be set off on the next day, it did give him time to sink in the idea, "Holy Father, sometimes, you can be very convincing."
Lenny smirked, "Well, I guess their nap time is over. Shall we?"
When Gutierrez turned around, he saw a shadow in the light, and there was a voice said, "Be calm, Bernardo. Be calm. The boy has become a man. But I will continue to protect the boy. Where do May afternoons land? The boy has become a man. I land here. Yes. That's true. But I will continue to protect the boy."
Gutierrez was blessed by Holy Mary.
iii.
At night, Lenny was having a trouble sleeping, so he listened to the music record of Nada, the gift from the Prime Minister of Greenland and was thinking of the time he spent with the nuns in the afternoon. They were not just shared their life in the convent with the Pope, but also their sadness – they missed their family too.
Yes, we all sacrificed ourselves to serve God.
Lenny was holding his precious pipe, lost in thought.
After all these years, he still misses his parents, so badly. However, all they left him, were only a piece of the pipe, pieces of memory on their last road trip, the pain of being abandoned, and the sadness of being an orphan.
But he didn't remember how they looked like, as he didn't have a picture of them, their faces were start fading away from his memory…he was worried, one day he would no longer remember them, and he would never meet them again. There was only one thing left, the pain.
Finally, he fell asleep, with tears in his eyes.
iv.
He had a dream… He was in Venice. St. Mark's Square was empty, cold and dark. He was so confused, he didn't know what to do, or where to go.
He was just running around, looking and searching…searching for the one he was longing the most.
And then he saw them.
There was a couple, a hippie couple. 'Please! Don't go!' he was chasing after them.
But they ran, trying to escape from him.
All he could do, was kept running, trying to catch up the phantoms.
At last, they hopped on the ferry.
But him, just missed it.
He got left behind, again.
He stared at them, panting. His parents, they didn't say a word, and their eyes were stone-cold, no care, and no love.
He was trapped, he got nowhere to escape.
There was nothing he can do. He just let them leave before him and disappeared.
v.
Lenny had a tough morning, because the dream was so disturbing.
He went to the pool, swimming. Swimming until he was drained, and his emotions and stresses were all out of his body.
He asked Sister Mary to empty his schedule of the day because he didn't have the energy or the mood to meet anyone.
He needed a time out.
Sister Mary sensed that there was something wrong with Lenny.
"Your Holiness, are you okay? Something is bothering you."
"No." Lenny said in a hoarse voice, he just didn't want to talk about it.
"Don't lie to me, Lenny." Sister Mary said softy, placed her hand on his face, "Tell me, what's wrong?"
Sister Mary's warm hand did comfort him. Lenny couldn't help it, tears started rolling, he cried soundlessly, "I... I had a dream last night, I…I dreamt about…"
"Your parents." Now Sister Mary understood.
"They ran, and I ran after them, I was unable to catch them, they were just…just gone…"
"Lenny, don't let your parents hurt you anymore, they don't worth it." Sister Mary hugged him close, to show him that he was loved, and she would be with him. "You have me."
Lenny holding her tight and crying out loud.
vi.
"Where is He now?" Tommaso asked the Pope.
Lenny, after having a quiet day, he was at the roof, under the God's House. He stared at the starry sky, seeking for the reassurance.
"He's angry. But not with you, or for that matter with me. His anger keeps Him from viewing matters objectively. And so, in protest, he's moved to a new place, he's gone to the outskirts of town, a filthy studio apartment upstairs from a tire repair shop."
"At night, God suffers from the heat. He can't seem to sleep, because He's come to the conclusion that there's nothing He can do about human beings. He's decided that He's lost the U."
He lowered his head and shoved Tommaso with his shoulder, "Now it's up to you."
With hesitation, Tommaso started, "The attentions that Your Holiness has been paying to the wife of the commandant of the Swiss Guard have not gone unnoticed. According to vox populi (i.e. most people), it is believed that the Holy Father is conducting an unseemly relationship with that woman."
"Monsignor Gutierrez was right: in the Vatican, gossip is called calumny." Lenny knew this day was coming.
"Your Holiness, what do you intend to do?"
"Revolution, Tommaso." That was the moment Lenny was waiting for, he said, "I intend to start a revolution."
vii.
Lenny had a lot of work today, as he took a day off the day before. After all those exhausted meetings, he finally freed and enjoyed a quiet moment at the Gardens. When he was reading the Bible, he heard steps approaching.
He tilted his head, that was Esther. She sat next to him, looking at him with admiration, "People say you're a saint. People say you're a saint who performs miracles."
I am never a saint.
His eyes wild-opened when he noticed Esther unbuttoned her blouse, she reached out her hand to take his, and placing on her bare tummy.
Oh Lord, this is it.
There was surprised in his eyes, but he didn't move or say anything. He was waiting what Esther was going to say and going to do.
Then she closed her eyes and started to pray, "Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
After she finished the prayer, she unbuttoned the last couple ones, then moved her hand with Lenny's, up to her breast. "Now, Holy Father, I no longer really know what miracle to wish for."
Lenny felt nothing, he didn't have any feelings or impulse, he was just sitting there, his clear eyes were still fixing on Esther.
At the same time, Lenny heard a camera shutter snapping.
How disappointing. Voiello. Lenny sighed internally. He retreated his hand, and holding her hands, placed on the stone bench. He looked at her and said, "Esther, I love God because it is so painful to love human beings. I love a God that never leaves or that always leaves me."
Lenny looked away, "God, the absence of God, always reassuring and definitive. I am a priest, I have renounced my fellow man, my fellow women, because I don't want to suffer, because I'm incapable of withstanding the heartbreak of love, because I'm unhappy, like all priests."
There was no room for him to love someone with affection and commitment other than God. Also, he felt pity that Esther was falling into the trap which was set up by Voiello.
"It would be wonderful to love you the way you want to be loved, but it's not possible. Because I am not a man. I am a coward. Like all priests." Lenny sighed, his head leading on the wall.
Oh Lord, I got over the temptation. My Lord, I praise you. With the eyes closed, Lenny prayed, and he only felt peace, and he seemed to understand his destiny, from the most surreal to the reality.
Around the corner of the Gardens, behind the bushed, Voiello, Amatucci and the photographer were spying on the two of them. Voiello's plan, was trying to create some compromising photos that he could use to blackmail the Pope, so that he could win back to control of the Church. However, when he was over-heard what the Pope just said to Esther, he felt shamed. "That's enough photos for now."
He knew, he couldn't use those photos to against the Pope.
0 to 4, Voiello knew he lost again.
viii.
Finally, at night, Lenny got time to visit his brotherhood friend, Andrew Dussolier. Lenny was at Andrew's dormitory in his white tracksuits.
Without any etiquette to the Pope, they just hugged each other liked an old good friend.
"You couldn't get to sleep!" Andrew said.
"The evening doesn't console me." Lenny said, he was happy as he was no needed to be the Pope for a moment, "Nothing's changed, as you can see."
Lenny was still Lenny, even they hadn't seen each other for a long time. Andrew chuckled, "Well, something's changed. You were just a jerk, now you've become the Pope."
Lenny laughed, "Let's smoke a cigarette together, secretly."
"Like when we were kids." They said together.
They were sat and facing each other, Andrew said, "I'm glad that you find a moment to say hello to me."
"How could you doubt that I'd come?" Lenny mocked.
"I always doubt." There was one question in Andrew's mind, "When are you gonna make this blessed speech to the cardinals?"
He was very homesick, he wanted to go back to Honduras.
"When I have something to say." It was only a covered story; Lenny was waiting that to arrive. Until then, all cardinals needed to wait.
Andrew searched his pockets, "Well, I'm all out of cigarettes."
Lenny gave Andrew a mischievous smile.
Therefore, those two did what teenagers did...sneaking out of the house and had some fun.
However, they were not kids anymore, especially one of them was happened to be the Pope. Having fun, was always have a consequence.
Shortly after Lenny and Andrew left the Vatican, His Holiness' majordomo, Domen, noticed that the Pope was not at home. He went to Sister Mary's apartment for help.
"Somethings wrong, Domen?" Sister Mary asked when she got the door.
"The Holy Father isn't in the Apostolic Palace, nor is the Cardinal Secretary of State." Domen said in a frustrated voice.
"What time is it?" Sister Mary was still sleepy.
"Three in the morning."
Lenny you better have a good reason for sneaking out at this hour. "I'll take care of it. You go to sleep, and don't say a word to anyone."
Sister Mary did not know the Pope's whereabout, however, she did know where was Voiello.
Sister Mary headed to the city and rang the doorbell, and there was Voiello got the door in a second.
"Will you let me in?"
Voiello was surprised that Sister Mary was at the door, she got worry written on her face, "Of course."
"Thank you."
Voiello shown Sister Mary in, and they sat down next to each other at the living room. And she found that they had a company there as well.
"You are very beautiful at night, Sister Mary." In Voiello's eyes, was full of admiration, "Please let me introduce you to my best friend, Girolamo."
Girolamo was the boy who Voiello was taking care. He was with a severe illness, even he couldn't speak properly, he was still a very responsive, active and an adorable child, only who needed to stay on a wheelchair.
"Is he a good friend?"
"Yes, the only one who never criticizes me."
Voiello found that Sister Mary was rubbing Girolamo's shoulder, and he smiled happily. Voiello said, "He likes you. And what bring you come here, Sister Mary?"
"Because of the Pope." Of course, it's about the Pope, what does he expected?
"How disappointing! I thought you came because of me."
"Nobody knows where the Pope is." Sister Mary tried to ignore or define what that question meant. She couldn't forget that Lenny did have a runaway record when he was a boy.
On the contrary, Voiello didn't worry at all, "Oh, don't worry. We had to go to retrieve Pius XIII's predecessor from a bingo parlor. He was arguing with the caller, saying he was cheating."
Unfortunately, Lenny was not the same case. Sister Mary knew him well, there was only one reason for him to run out from his responsibility.
"Sooner or later, all popes need to remind themselves what freedom is. Then they come back." Voiello didn't worry at all.
"When you want, you know how to be quite comforting." Sister Mary said.
"How beautiful you are, Sister Mary, at night."
"You already told me that." Sister Mary reminded Voiello.
Voiello just looked at Sister Mary, then he said, "We love God because it is so painful to love other men and women. You and I have renounced our fellow men, and women, because we don't want to suffer, because we're incapable of withstanding the heartbreak of love. Because we're unhappy. Because we're cowards, like all priests and all nuns."
"Your words are beautiful." Sister Mary was still patting Girolamo. "But that's not all, they're true."
"They are not my words," he shook his head, "they're the words of your Pope."
In the meantime, Girolamo gurgled, like reminding Voiello that was something important, "Yes, yes, Girolamo, now I'll tell Sister Mary."
"What are you going to tell me?" Sister Mary gazed at Voiello.
"That I had found a way of destroying the Holy Father." Voiello said nervously.
Sister Mary always knew that Voiello didn't work along with Lenny and wanted him out of the office. But destroy him?
"I'd collected all the evidence for a good old-fashioned scandal. But I'm not going to do it." Voiello was holding a USB, handed to Sister Mary, "The evidence is in here, you take it. Your hands are safer than mine."
Sister Mary collected it, not sure what should say.
"And, you know something, Sister Mary? You were right, your Pope really is a saint."
"Yes!" Sister Mary never doubted it, "He is!"
ix.
Lenny and Andrew, both walked down to the city in their tracksuits. They went to a hotel just liked the tourists and asked whether they could sell them some cigarettes or not.
"I don't know if we have any." said the duty manager, "Make yourselves comfortable. I'll go check."
"Thank you."
Lenny and Andrew wanted to wait at the lobby, and there was a young woman walked by, she dressed in a short black dress with high heels, definitely a sexy beauty, and highly possible a prostitute.
She caught their eyes.
Andrew followed her into the lounge, but Lenny was trying to stop him. As he found that was inappropriate.
Andrew didn't care, dragged Lenny along with him.
"Please, take a sit." said the woman.
They both sat down, and she studied them both, "English?"
Lenny chuckled, tried to stay the conversation as simple as possible, "Americans."
"You look like a couple of priests." She narrowed her eyes and said.
Lenny surprised that her guess was right, but he shook his head and declined it, "We are not priests. Have you ever seen two priests wearing tracksuits?"
She doubted it, "I've seen everything. By the way, did you know I have clients who insist I am proof of the existence of God?"
Proof of the existence of God? It takes our whole life to study in Theology, still don't have the answer. Lenny doubted it, and mocked, "Interesting theory!"
"But they are wrong." She said, looking at Lenny, liked she could see through his mind, "They see me because they can't see far."
Lenny wondered, 'I see everything.' Sister Mary told me once. So he asked, "Can you see far?"
"Yes, and I have proof of the existence of God." She said firmly.
"Show me." Lenny leaned forwards, eagerly asked, "Ma'am, show me, I implore you."
Off guarded, she took out her phone and took a picture. That was the first time Lenny willingly to let someone take a picture of him.
She enlarged the image and studied for a while.
She stared at the picture and said in a very happy voice, "Your eyes! Your eyes, sir. They are proof of the existence of God."
My eyes?
Why she said almost the same thing as Sister Mary?
'I see Christ's reflection in you.'
Who I really am?
"We should go." Lenny was shocking, he gave Andrew a look, "Goodnight, ma'am."
They left, and totally forgot about the cigarettes.
x.
Finally, Lenny and Andrew went to a food truck and having their night snack.
"Do you remember the time Sister Mary took us to the custodian's house? Billy's mother, on her deathbed?"
"Yeah, I remember." Lenny took a bit of the sandwich, "I don't wanna talk about it."
"It's pointless for you to go on pretending nothing happened, Lenny." Andrew was one of the witnesses, he couldn't forget it, "That day, something extraordinary happened in that room."
"I don't feel like talking about it." Lenny was avoiding it.
"You're my best friend and I don't understand you. I don't get it, why don't you wanna talk about it?" Andrew did believe on that day, Lenny was literally performed a miracle.
"I only want to talk about things that I understand. Don't you get that?" For Lenny, he didn't find what happened that day was significant, it was just a coincidence.
"So, what if I asked you to become Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy? Select the candidates for the priesthood from all over the world." Since Michael was no longer in the picture, Lenny really needed his best friend's support, "Would you do it?"
"And what if I were to refuse?" If Andrew could have a choice, he rather not to.
Lenny sighed, he really didn't want to say this, "Then I'd be forced to make recourse to my sovereign power."
He didn't want to give his best friend with a no choice option, "You know, I am the Pope now. Please don't make me, to force you into the position."
"Can I have some time, to think about it?"
"Of course," Lenny smiled to Andrew, "only don't make me wait too long."
xi.
Lenny seemed didn't want to home yet. They stopped by the Bridge of Angels on their way back, they both leaned on the bridge.
"I wanna tell you something." Andrew said, "It's something I've never told you before."
Lenny shrugged his shoulder, "So tell me now."
"When you first came to the orphanage," Lenny blinked when Andrew mentioned about their childhood, that drew his attention.
Andrew continued, "I was watching from a window, and I don't remember your father, but I remember your mother."
"What did she look like?" Lenny didn't know Andrew was there too.
"Her hair was parted in the middle and long on the sides," Andrew was recalling the first day of Lenny's arrival, "and her eyes were bright and impassive, which made me think she was sad."
"That's exactly how I dream of her." The sadness in Lenny's voice was very noticeable, "Always."
But Lenny was also upset for Andrew never tell him before, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"When we were boys, I thought…I thought it would cause you too much pain." Andrew thought that was for Lenny's own good.
"It causes me too much pain even now." Lenny said, some pain was not easy to get over, all because of the scar was too deep.
"We better go back, I guess Sister Mary is waiting." Andrew said.
In the grey half-light of dawn on the way back, Andrew asked Lenny, "Do you still remembered the day we ran away from the orphanage?"
"How can I have forgot? I wanna find my mom and dad."
"What would you do if you found them? Do you have anything to say to them?"
Lenny exhaled deeply. What would I say? Asking them why they abandoned me? Can they have me back?
After all, it was forty years already. Suddenly, Lenny felt so lost, he didn't know, he never thought about that, at all. All he wanted was found them or seeing them again. He really had no idea what he should do if his parents shown up, was he expected a happy-ever-after ending?
"Lenny, as you said, you are the Pope now, if you wanted to look for someone, you no need to do it all by yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean? You shouldn't hide. Go out and show yourself, having interviews, telling your story…God helps those who help themselves. You call for help, the help will come."
When they walked back to the Vatican, passed through the gate and the Swiss Guards gave them a salute, they found Sister Mary was waiting for them.
Just liked the day when Lenny ran away then came back to the orphanage.
She is always here for me.
She was relieved when they were back. She didn't angry at all, just said, "I haven't said anything to the Cardinal Secretary of State."
"Thank you so much, Sister Mary." Lenny smiled and they walk back to the Apostolic Palace.
xii.
Later that night, Lenny was having dinner with Sister Mary. He was thinking about the woman he met at that hotel, then he said, "Sister Mary, someone told me that my eyes are the proof of the existence of God."
"That's true. Who told you this?" Sister Mary was so curious.
"Doesn't matter, and you always talk to me about my holiness, the miracle I've supposedly performed, but you never tell me anything about the only miracle I need, the miracle that doesn't happened and never will: seeing my parents again."
"You must have faith in God, Your Holiness."
Lenny had waited for forty years already, he was losing hope, "I'm getting old, so as my parents. Time is turning into a thin sheet, seeing them dead is of no interest to me. I'm only interested in the living."
"Then you should keep your faith, when time is come, you'll see them again."
Lenny sighed.
Sister Mary put an USB on the table. "This is for you, Your Holiness."
Lenny picked it up, "What is it?"
"I haven't view them, but they are evidences that can put you into a scandal."
"Photos?"
"I think so."
So, those are the photos of Esther and me, mainly taken on yesterday. Voiello, you are really running out of tricks.
"From Voiello?"
"How could you know?"
"That's obvious, he is the only one who wanted to destroy me." Lenny put the USB in his pocket, "Thank you, Sister Mary."
xiii.
On the next morning, Lenny met Gutierrez at the Pieta.
Lenny looked at the Mary, his eyes full of empathy. "Monsignor, I forgive you for having betrayed our confidences to the Cardinal Secretary of State."
Gutierrez was stunned, "Your Holiness, how did you find out?"
Lenny didn't tell Gutierrez how he found out, instead, he reassured Gutierrez, "I forgive you for being an alcoholic and I recommend you stop drinking now, that you're about to set off on a challenging mission to America."
"Your Holiness, what else do you know about me?" Gutierrez wondered; His Holiness was so profound.
Lenny said casually, "I know everything a powerful man needs to know about the people he works with. And I, not Voiello, am the most powerful man of all."
"And what else do you know about me, Holy Father?"
"What else is there to know?" Lenny looked at Gutierrez and gave him a smile, his footstep was echoing over the Basilica.
He was heading to the heliport, where he was expecting the arrival of the papal tiara.
Voiello was next to him, with his most humble attitude, "Holy Father, I beg you to reconsider your decision to send to America Monsignor Gutierrez. The Kurtwell case needs to be examined by a person of substantial reputation. Gutierrez is not up to it."
Lenny was just staring at him, without saying a word.
"He has none of the necessary expertise, and moreover he's fragile and emotional, and the Holy See will send the world the message that it does not take seriously the problem of child abuse or, even worse, is not interested in it."
The overture is over. Next, he is going to reveal the secret of Gutierrez. That bored Lenny.
"And there is another problem." Voiello stopped, and looked at the Pope with all his sincerity, "I didn't want to tell you, but now I'm forced to: Your Holiness, Gutierrez is an alcoholic."
Lenny gazed at Voiello, with no surprise in his eyes, "I know."
That was a surprise to Voiello, tried to keep calm, he gulped and said, "And there is also another secret."
"What if I knew that one as well?" Lenny lowered his voice, and every single word was penetrated to Voiello's mind, "What if I knew all your secrets, too, Your Eminence?"
For now, Lenny was with no interests in Voiello. All he interested, was on the helicopter. When it unloaded the wooden case with Papal armorial on it, Lenny was pleased that the Tiara was finally home.
Now then, back to the business.
Lenny had gone through the files on the USB last night. Those were the pictures of Esther and him, or so-call compromising photos, which journalists would be happy with it. As they would create a juicy story to frame the young pope.
"Let's have a walk." Lenny walked down to the Gardens and Voiello followed.
"What were you hoping to achieve?" Lenny was questing Voiello's intention, "Start a scandal? The idea of threatening that poor girl, who suffers from sterility! Will you stop at nothing, Your Eminence?"
Voiello, who felt ashamed and his hand covered his face. He was walking with his head down. And Lenny, who was carefully walked up to the ledge, "Don't you know the meaning of the word pity? How far were you willing to go? Would you have blackmailed the Holy Father? Would you have gone so far as to give those pictures to the press, to insinuate a nonexistent sexual relationship between me and that young woman?"
Lenny stopped, now he was on the top of the ledge, looked down at Voiello from a higher position, "You haven't figured out that your old methods only work on the old popes, who were afraid of losing consensus. They don't work with me. I am the young pope. I put no stock in consensus."
"Who told…" Voiello was shocked when he found out Lenny was towered over him. "Who told you all these things?"
He looked up with terrified, he was overpowered by Pope Pius XIII.
"You put on airs as a politician, you still haven't figured out you've run up against a politician far cannier than you," Lenny smirked, "Me! And there is one mistake on your master plan: I am happened to be an American. Do you know what that means? Americans, are born to be a politician; I was not only training to become a priest, but also a politician since the first day I joined the seminary."
"Holy Father, I've already destroyed those pictures." Voiello confessed.
"You better be." Lenny ordered.
"It's true! No backups at all! I was thinking of using old, violent methods, but I repented in time, Holy Father. I repented before I could sin." Voiello put his hands on the Pope's red slippers, pleading for his mercy, "The wonderful words that you said to that young woman illuminated me. I implore you, forgive me. I need your forgiveness."
"You don't need my forgiveness; you need my compassion." Lenny looked at Voiello, then kicked him off, "Now stop making a spectacle of yourself and get off."
0 to 5, the match was over.
Lenny was the ultimate winner.
A priest came over to report to Lenny, "Holy Father, the papal tiara has arrived from Washington, it's in perfect condition."
Lenny was so relieved, he eyed on the blue sky and told Voiello, "Prepare the Sistine Chapel. The time has come to address the cardinals."
xiv.
By the time Voiello was preparing the Sistine Chapel, Lenny was getting himself ready for his address too.
This would be his first official address to the College of Cardinals. Not like his first homily, this time he needed to be in perfect. He dressed himself in the papal regalia, he chose the red embroidered mantum, with the white shirt, trousers, the white cassock, lace-trimmed rochet and red embroidered stole underneath, followed by the red groves, the red with gold-embroidered slippers, and the rings.
The most important highlight of the papal vestment, was the papal tiara. When the wooden case brought over to his dressing room, it was like a Christmas for him.
Over a thousand years, the papal tiara was an unmistakable symbol of the unique claims of the papacy.
It would be a statement: to tell all the Cardinals that Pope Pius XIII, was not just the Head of the Church, but also the Sovereign of the Papal State.
When the College of Cardinals were inside the Sistine Chapel, Pope Pius XIII with the papal tiara on his head, was waiting for his sedia gestatoria, his throne.
Lenny was on the sedia, with twelve footmen, who were dressed in red and purple uniforms, carried the throne on their shoulders.
Pope Pius XIII made his entrance to the Sistine Chapel.
All cardinals disbelieved when they saw the sedia. It was the first time, since 1963, the Pope who wore the papal tiara and carried into the Sistine Chapel.
They all stood up to receive their Pope.
With two flabella behind, Lenny was standing on the sedia, looking up at the Last Judgment on the ceiling, praying when he was carefully carried down the nave. Finally, it settled at the altar.
Sistine Chapel was full of silence.
A tension was building.
"Knock knock! Knock knock!" Lenny's voice was deep and clear, echoing within the Sistine Chapel.
"We're not in." the Pope announced. "Brother cardinals, from this day forward, we're not in, no matter who's knocking on our door. We're in, but only for God.
"From this day forward, everything that was wide open is gonna be closed. Evangelization. We've already done it. Ecumenicalism. Been there, done that.
"Tolerance, doesn't live here anymore. It's been evicted. It vacated the house for the new tenant, who has diametrically opposite tastes in decorating. We've been reaching out to others for years now. It's time to stop!"
Like the air and time was frozen. Only left, was the breathings of the Pope, and his voice.
"We are not going anywhere. We are here. Because, what are we? We are cement, and cement doesn't move. We are cement without windows. So, we don't look to the outside world.
"'Only the Church possesses the charisma of truth', said St. Ignatius of Antioch, and he was right. We have no reason to look out. Instead, look over there."
There was a small golden door at the Chapel's entrance. Everyone looked at it.
"What do you see? That's the door. The only way in small and extremely uncomfortable. And anyone who wants to know us has to find out how to get through that door.
"Brother cardinals, we need to go back to being prohibited, inaccessible and mysterious. That's the only way, we can once again become desirable. That is the only way great loves stories are born.
"And I don't want any more part-time believers! I want great love stories! I want fanatics for God, because fanaticism is love. Everything else is strictly a surrogate, and it stays outside the church. With the attitudes of the last Papacy, the church won for itself great expressions of fondness from the masses. It became popular."
"Isn't that wonderful?" Lenny asked, and criticizing the last Papacy, "You might be thinking! We received plenty of esteem and lots of friendship. I have no idea what to do with the friendship of the whole wide world. What I want is absolute love and total devotion to God."
Then he continued, "Could that mean a Church only for the few? That's a hypothesis, and a hypothesis isn't the same as reality. But even this hypothesis isn't so scandalous. I say: better to have a few that are reliable than to have a great many that are distractible and indifferent.
"The public squares have been jam-packed, but the hearts have been emptied of God. You can't measure love with numbers, you can only measure it in terms of intensity. In terms of blind loyalty to the imperative. Fix that word firmly in your souls: Imperative."
Lenny took a deep breath, amplified his voice, "From this day forth, that's what the Pope wants, that's what the Church wants, that's what God wants. And so, the liturgy will no longer be a social engagement, it will become hard work. And sin will no longer be forgiven at will."
This Church, was Lenny's castle. And now, he was pulling up the drawbridge and locked up the castle. Everyone, inside or outside, should follow his will, and his rules: Stay away, if your heart don't have God; don't come in, if your heart don't have God; leave at once, if your heart don't have God. Do come in, if you are devoted to God.
"I don't expect any applause from you. There will be no expressions of thanks in this chapel. None from me and none from you.
"Courtesy and good manners are not the business of men of God. What I do expect is that you will do what I have told you to do. There is nothing outside your obedience to Pius XIII, nothing except Hell.
"A Hell you may know nothing about, but I do. Because I've built it," Lenny pointed that golden door, "right behind that door: Hell."
"These past few days, I've had to build Hell for you, that's why I've come to you belatedly. I know you will obey, because you've already figured out that this pope isn't afraid to lose the faithful if they're been even slightly unfaithful, and that means this Pope does not negotiate, on anything or with anyone.
"And this Pope cannot be blackmailed! From this day forth, the word 'compromise', has been banished from the vocabulary. I've just deleted it. When Jesus willingly mounted the cross, he was not making compromises, and neither am I. Amen."
There was a deadly silent inside the Sistine Chapel. This speech was an enhanced version of Pope Pius XIII's first homily. It made all cardinals, scared and petrified.
Pope Pius XIII, ran his eye over the College of Cardinals, then two altar servers holding the hem of the mantum, the Pope coolly poked his slipper out from his vestment, and waited.
"Crack!" a chair moved, which broke the silence.
Everyone followed the sound, and found out it was Cardinal Spencer, who left his seat, hat off, carefully placed it on his chair, and then walked up to the throne.
Lenny was relieved. He saw his mentor knelt in front of him, and delicately kissed his slipper.
Cardinal Spencer shown his loyalty to Pope Pius XIII.
Next one, was Andrew.
After that, was Voiello. He was full of hesitations, however, as the Secretary of State, it was essential for him to swear his loyalty to the Pope.
At last, Voiello knelt before the Pope and hovered over the slipper, who still had reluctant to do it, Pope Pius XIII gave him a help, by using his other foot, shoved his face down.
Voiello kissed His Holiness' slipper.
One by one, all the cardinals were in the line.
Pope Pius XIII, the young and invincible pope, won his battle beautifully.
xv.
What a peaceful afternoon.
Lenny and Esther were once again at the Gardens, and Lenny's fellow kangaroo as well.
"Jump." Lenny, who was sitting on the stone bench by himself, told the kangaroo.
Unexpectedly, it jumped for him.
Lenny was so joyful with a big smile on his face.
Esther, who was sitting on the grass where was covered with a blanket. She just looked at the Pope's back, she plucked up her courage, planning to tell him the truth, "Holy Father, I have to confess a horrible thing I did."
Lenny eyed at the front, raised his hand and stopped her from continuing, "Confess your secrets to God alone, Esther. Even those that have to do with me. There's only one thing I can do for you: forgive you."
He knew Esther was just a victim of Voiello's plan, what Esther needed, was forgiveness, "Forgive you always."
At this exacted moment, there was a breeze, with a lily was burst into blossom next to Esther, she had a strange feeling, "Holy Father, I feel it."
The warmth ran through her body, she smiled with tears in her eyes, "Yes, I feel it."
"Yes." Lenny with his eyes closed, his emphatic prayer on her behalf, had been answered by Holy Mary, "You're right. I feel it too."
He held his palms together and prayed.
I praise you, Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
Esther's wish was granted, she was pregnant.
