Chapter 14
Soon after the Pontiff’s reported stroke, the College of Cardinals gathered to decide on how the church would proceed. The men, dressed in their traditional red cloaks, had taken their seats when the clone walked through the door. A large percentage of the Cardinals were intense followers of the new Messiah and some had been influenced to the opposite by the recent Pope. A few others were more like Russo than anything else. They wanted whatever would uphold themselves in high esteem. The clone came to speak with them. It was such an important historical moment that a transcript was released of his speech.
The Messiah stood among them. His face was filled with sadness. His red, swollen eyes were signs of the hours of weeping that the news had reported or maybe it was the work of a top level TV make-up artist. He moved slowly between their chairs to one end of the room where each Cardinal could see him. It would be a very important talk and most likely one of the most pivotal speeches of his life. He looked at each of them and opened his mouth. No words came out but tears began rolling down his cheek. Jesus sucked in a breath, and wiped his eyes with a slow, methodical stroke of his forefinger.
“I can barely speak. My heart is filled with such emotion that it is blocking my words. Please, bear with me in this difficult moment. I almost find it difficult to believe that I sat, partaking of the Holy Eucharist, with the Pontiff only a few days ago. Today, he lies in a coma. The church will soon lose one of its truly great leaders. It will not be easy replacing a man of such grand stature and abilities.
“I do not totally understand all that I am. I have memories from when I walked this earth before. I have a true and sure, historical record in the Bible of other things that I said and did, but I don’t fully perceive that. In the last few days, a very strong memory has flooded my mind. I was standing with the Apostle Peter. I had asked him, ‘Who do you say that I am.’ He answered, ‘You are the Christ.’ I can remember smiling at him, overjoyed that he finally understood and that he finally committed totally to me. I said, ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.’
“On that day, I named the man who would be the first Pope. He was the first man to sit in the Chair of Peter. Two thousand years ago I named the first Pope. My prayer and desire is that you allow me the opportunity to once again name the person who will sit in the Chair of Peter.
“Today, there is only one man of God that can fill sandals and the chair vacated by so many great men of faith through the centuries. He is a man of great foresight. He is a man of tremendous spiritual strength and he serves his god. Bishop John Russo is my choice. No it’s better to say, upon this rock of John Russo, I will continue building my church.”
Applause rose from the College of Cardinals. The sleeves of their red garments flapped like so many red winged birds. Jesus stepped down and slowly but intently walked towards the door. He greeted, shook hands and hugged many of those men sitting along the aisle in the marble lined room. As he reached the door, the clone turned to the Cardinals and said, “I leave you to your very difficult task of choosing a leader for my church. It might be today or it might be in a few weeks but we know it will soon be your task to decide. Thank you for your time. May my Father in Heaven guide you.” He wept again and exited the room.
The speech was marvelous but the distrust of Russo by some of the dissenting priests was even greater. The College of Cardinals had to wait for their vote on a new Pope. Their recognized leader, Archbishop Carello, stood amongst his brother's in the faith and explained how trying this time was and that they should use the future days to fast and pray. Very few would take his advice for they had already decided to follow the clone's guide.
Suspicions varied within and without the Vatican and the church at large. A few suspected foul play. Others believed it was a manipulation of Jesus by Russo. A few more wanted to see Johnny Russo assume the throne as Pope Simon Peter and the sooner the better. Instead, Carello convinced them to wait.
To appease Russo and to show the world their support for the words of the Messiah, a letter to the Holy Roman Catholic Church was written. It simply said that in this trying and difficult time, the College of Cardinals were seeking God's guidance and needed time to read, pray and fast. In the interim, Bishop Russo would assume the reins of the church until the Pontiff passes and a new Pope is selected.
I was glad I wasn’t around when Russo found out about that. His reaction would have been like Hell visiting itself upon earth.