His Holiness in order to catch him if he fell, whispered to Di Quaglio.
“The Pope wobbles,” Di Quaglio muttered to Cardinal O’Malley, who was close at hand.
“Then let him wobble,” O’Malley replied, his thin Irish lips curling slightly.
Di Quaglio slipped his arm through that of Gonzales, holding him back in order to point out his admiration for the thigh bone of Saint Satio. The Pope shuffled on ahead, trembling. There was a gathering in the red velvet rug. Naturally the Pope’s foot, which never rose above three eighths of an inch from floor level, contacted the said gathering. He tripped. His head collided with the side of the glass case and he fell to the ground. There was only a very small gash above his left eyebrow, but the man was dead.
The sensation was tremendous. All the bells in Rome were rung. Merchants closed their shops; field workers lay down their tools and hurried home. The air was full of stories of mysticism and conspiracy. While the chroniclers mourned to have lost this gracious ruler who, though leaving the papacy unsullied, had let it descend into one of the least powerful forces in Europe, antagonistic parties slithered out from their holes like snakes.
“ My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me,” Cardinal Gonzales sighed, wiping a very large tear from his right eye. “Oh, it is so distressing. I was not there to catch him!”
“No need to fret,” Di Quaglio smiled, putting his hand on the shaking shoulder of Gonzales. “Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.”
“Aye,” O’Malley grinned. “But you have to be quick to catch them alive. At the present time we’d better be thinking about filling the office instead of whipping ourselves raw because an old fellow is enjoying a sweet bit of rest.”
***
Dressed in the cardinalatial colours of red and black, like brightly wounded ravens they swept in on the Vatican City, important, each face encased in an austere mask, behind which swelled brains broiling with supra-mundane or mundane ambitions and plots. There were one-hundred and seventeen of them, Cardinals, conclavists under the age of eighty, and each took up lodging in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the accommodations being equivalent to those of any four star hotel.
This group was particularly noteworthy for its large number of Latin Americans. Aside from Cardinal Gonzales from Mexico, who carried enormous weight, there was Cardinal Palafox from Argentina, Cardinal Velasco from Ecuador and Cardinal Nunez of Peru, as well as many others. It was thus widely expected that the next Pope would be from that part of the world, most likely in the person of one Cardinal Hernando Dominguez Hojeda, of Colombia, who the entire Latin American faction was backing.
The following morning the Cardinal electors gathered in the Basilica of Saint Peter and took part in the solemn Eucharistic celebration with the Votive Mass Pro Eligendo Papa. They then met for an early lunch of beef steak and rice before re-congregating in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, where they appeared in choir dress, invoked the assistance of the Holy Spirit with the chant of the Veni Creator, and then solemnly proceeded to the Sistine Chapel.
The conclave seated itself. The Cardinal Dean rose, cleared his throat and, in a voice swollen with importance, read: “We, the Cardinal electors present in this election of the Supreme Pontiff promise, pledge and swear to observe scrupulously the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution. We likewise promise, pledge and swear that whichever of us by divine disposition is elected Roman Pontiff will commit himself faithfully to carrying out the munus Petrinum of Pastor of the Universal Church and will not fail to affirm and defend strenuously the spiritual and temporal rights and the liberty of the Holy See. We promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity everything that in
“The Pope wobbles,” Di Quaglio muttered to Cardinal O’Malley, who was close at hand.
“Then let him wobble,” O’Malley replied, his thin Irish lips curling slightly.
Di Quaglio slipped his arm through that of Gonzales, holding him back in order to point out his admiration for the thigh bone of Saint Satio. The Pope shuffled on ahead, trembling. There was a gathering in the red velvet rug. Naturally the Pope’s foot, which never rose above three eighths of an inch from floor level, contacted the said gathering. He tripped. His head collided with the side of the glass case and he fell to the ground. There was only a very small gash above his left eyebrow, but the man was dead.
The sensation was tremendous. All the bells in Rome were rung. Merchants closed their shops; field workers lay down their tools and hurried home. The air was full of stories of mysticism and conspiracy. While the chroniclers mourned to have lost this gracious ruler who, though leaving the papacy unsullied, had let it descend into one of the least powerful forces in Europe, antagonistic parties slithered out from their holes like snakes.
“ My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me,” Cardinal Gonzales sighed, wiping a very large tear from his right eye. “Oh, it is so distressing. I was not there to catch him!”
“No need to fret,” Di Quaglio smiled, putting his hand on the shaking shoulder of Gonzales. “Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.”
“Aye,” O’Malley grinned. “But you have to be quick to catch them alive. At the present time we’d better be thinking about filling the office instead of whipping ourselves raw because an old fellow is enjoying a sweet bit of rest.”
***
Dressed in the cardinalatial colours of red and black, like brightly wounded ravens they swept in on the Vatican City, important, each face encased in an austere mask, behind which swelled brains broiling with supra-mundane or mundane ambitions and plots. There were one-hundred and seventeen of them, Cardinals, conclavists under the age of eighty, and each took up lodging in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the accommodations being equivalent to those of any four star hotel.
This group was particularly noteworthy for its large number of Latin Americans. Aside from Cardinal Gonzales from Mexico, who carried enormous weight, there was Cardinal Palafox from Argentina, Cardinal Velasco from Ecuador and Cardinal Nunez of Peru, as well as many others. It was thus widely expected that the next Pope would be from that part of the world, most likely in the person of one Cardinal Hernando Dominguez Hojeda, of Colombia, who the entire Latin American faction was backing.
The following morning the Cardinal electors gathered in the Basilica of Saint Peter and took part in the solemn Eucharistic celebration with the Votive Mass Pro Eligendo Papa. They then met for an early lunch of beef steak and rice before re-congregating in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, where they appeared in choir dress, invoked the assistance of the Holy Spirit with the chant of the Veni Creator, and then solemnly proceeded to the Sistine Chapel.
The conclave seated itself. The Cardinal Dean rose, cleared his throat and, in a voice swollen with importance, read: “We, the Cardinal electors present in this election of the Supreme Pontiff promise, pledge and swear to observe scrupulously the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution. We likewise promise, pledge and swear that whichever of us by divine disposition is elected Roman Pontiff will commit himself faithfully to carrying out the munus Petrinum of Pastor of the Universal Church and will not fail to affirm and defend strenuously the spiritual and temporal rights and the liberty of the Holy See. We promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity everything that in
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