Pierced by a Sword (20 page)

And I can't go to a hospital. If I surface, they'll just kill me "again."
Angus laughed at his own dark humor. Almost despite himself, he remembered prophecies from Marian apparitions predicting attempts on the life of the pope–and the rise of an antipope. His pale face became a shade paler.

So I better stay out of circulation until I get more information about what's going on. Information is the basis for all future action,
he said to himself, repeating one of his own favorite sayings.

So where can I go? Before I die for the second time in as many days?

2

Monday Afternoon
9 October
Notre Dame, Indiana

Father Chet absolved Nathan of his sins. For penance Chet asked Nathan to begin
practicing the habit of making a daily examination of conscience. This involves taking stock of one's good and bad actions at the end of every day. Chet waited patiently while Nathan prayed his Hail Mary before the French Gothic tabernacle in the center of Sacred Heart Basilica.

Chet smiled when Nathan walked back toward him. Together they left by the side exit of the church.

"How come I don't,
you know, feel anything?" Nathan asked Chet outside. "I'm supposed to feel good, or sad, or something, right?"

"Not necessarily, my friend," Chet replied. "Religion is not based on feelings. It's based on supernatural realities. In reality, Jesus absolved your sins through me regardless of what you feel. It means that your soul is different–cleaned up completely. You still have all your bad habits–the
Church calls it the residue of original sin, but you are not the same where it counts, in your immortal soul.

"Let's say you stole ten bucks from me, felt sorry, and asked me for forgiveness, then I forgive you. Well, that's what Jesus did on the cross–forgave all sins up to that point and into the future."

Nathan nodded like a grade school student being introduced to a new subject. Father Chet
took this cue.

"But let's suppose you've still got my ten bucks, even after I forgive you. Confession is like giving me back the tenspot, and on top of it, my deciding to forget you ever stole it in the first place. After Jesus appeared to the apostles in the upper room, he gave them the, quote, power to 'absolve sins.' It's in the Gospel of John. The word he used wasn't 'forgive.' Jesus used
the Hebrew word for 'absolve,' which means 'to settle accounts' or 'to restore to original state.' What we just did was the 'absolve part' of priestly orders. Mass is the death and resurrection part of priestly orders–the forgiveness part. Mass is the timeless supernatural re-living of Jesus' death and resurrection. Confession is the cleansing of your soul–the absolution. Your penance is paying back
the ten bucks in a spiritual action.

"So the sacrament has three parts: forgiveness, absolution, and penance. Penance is also known as reparation."

Chet had fallen into a slight tone of lecturing and caught himself.

"The long and the short of it is that God's grace affects your soul whether you feel it or not, based on your free choice to accept it. You've taken Joanie up on Pascal's Wager by
choice, but it may be a while before you start 'feeling' like a Catholic, if ever. Grace is a funny thing. It's like electricity–it's flowing through the wires, ready for you to plug into it, but invisible. When grace is working, you don't feel it, you just work right."

"You've got a way with words, Chetmeister," Nathan said with genuine admiration. "You should have told me this stuff earlier.
I bet you're surprised I'm going for all this." Nathan added.

"Hey, buddy, I tried to bring it up, but you weren't listening. And I'm not surprised you turned around. I had complete faith that you would come around eventually–really, I did. I always knew you were destined for greatness."

Nathan could tell that Chet wasn't kidding. Nathan put his arm around the shoulder of his best friend. Becky
and Joe were just coming back from the Grotto.

"Joe suggested that the two of you give me a tour of this place," Becky said cheerfully. "We've got some time before Joanie Wheat shows up." She saw Nathan's eyes brighten at the mention of Joanie Wheat.

"If Nathan doesn't mind a second go 'round, sure," Chet answered, looking to Nathan. Nathan gave a quick nod of agreement.

"Well then, let's start
at Howard Hall," Father Chet added equably, a smile coming to his eyes. "I'll show you where Jimbo Sullivan landed his fateful right hook on his brother, the erstwhile future priest, yours truly." Everyone laughed politely. They all knew about Jimbo's Right Hook.

"Then let's get some lunch," Joe suggested. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"You look like you've eaten several over the years,"
Becky chided. Joe reacted to the verbal jab with a smile.

The big lug is already letting Becky kid him,
Chet noted.
Good sign.

The foursome cut by Sorin Hall across the Bookstore basketball courts toward Howard Hall.

3

Monday Edition
9 October
The New York Times

Rome, Italy. Catholics around the world mourn the death of controversial Pope Patrick, who drowned in the Tiber River after a bizarre
car chase through the streets of Rome sometime after three o'clock on Sunday morning.

The reason for the chase is not known. The identities of the drivers of the mysterious black Citroen which pursued the pontiff's vehicle at high speeds are also unknown. The pontiff's car crashed through a barrier on
Lung Michelangelo.
The body of the pope has not been recovered. Police also report plans to dredge
the Tiber for Pope Patrick's body in the coming days. Authorities speculate the pontiff may have drowned after a desperate attempt to escape from the car, a Fiat, while it was submerged in the Tiber. Noting the unusually strong currents in the Tiber, which was ten feet above normal height due to a recent series of torrential downpours in the mountains surrounding Rome, and the advanced age of
the pontiff, authorities give little probability that he survived the violent crash. The crash also killed the driver of the pope's vehicle, Thomas Phillips, a seminarian from Massachusetts.

"Given the condition of Mr. Phillips's corpse, who died from the crash, not from drowning, it is likely that the elderly pope was also mortally injured. The currents were extremely treacherous. Our divers
had a very difficult time recovering Phillip's corpse. The dredging of the Tiber River and the recovery of the submerged vehicle will have to wait until the river subsides," according to the spokesman for
Polizia Romano,
Vitorio Graniconola. "We may never recover the body," Graniconola added, speculating that currents could drag the body into the Tyrrhenian Sea in a matter of hours. Hospital emergency
rooms within the surrounding area report no sign of Pope Patrick. According to Graniconola, Catholics throughout the world have little hope that "he escaped the submerged vehicle, and then survived probable serious injuries and the deadly currents of the Tiber."

Luigi Cardinal Casino of Milan said in a press conference held in the Vatican several hours after the tragedy that Pope Patrick, formerly
Angus Cardinal O'Hara of Dublin, was an exceptionally gifted leader during his eighteen month reign. Casino noted that the Vatican would cooperate in the international manhunt to find the pope's killers, and vowed to continue Pope Patrick's work to reunite the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Sources within the Vatican report that Cardinal Casino is the most likely replacement for
Pope Patrick, and is highly respected in both secular and religious circles.

Observers say the controversial "Byzantium Protocol," a formal agreement to reunite the two churches for the first time since 1054 A.D., was within months of completion. Casino, fighting back tears, had no comment when asked whether the Byzantium Protocol negotiations would continue on schedule. Pope Patrick won the Nobel
Peace Prize after reuniting Ireland two years before being elected pope. An unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on then Cardinal O'Hara by IRA terrorists during Ireland's reunification negotiations.

Vatican watchers also noted that the pontiff had drawn fire from critics within the Catholic Church for his elevation of the doctrine of the Mother of God as Mediatrix of All Graces to "infallible"
status only three months into his pontificate. He was also criticized for his rigid stand against admitting women to the priesthood, his condemnation of artificial contraception, and his unyielding opposition to a woman's right to choose abortion. A source within the Rome Police Department says that the pope has many enemies in Ireland, Eastern Europe, and even within his own church because
of the "Mediatrix issue." Their investigation will have to "start from scratch."

The drowned man and apparent driver of Pope Patrick's car was Thomas Phillips, a seminarian member of the Legionaries of Christ. Phillips was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Authorities do not know how or why Mr. Phillips came to be driving the pope at such a strange hour.

An unidentified
Times
source within
the Vatican reports that Mr. Phillips was a relative of the pope and occasionally served at the pope's private masses. Phillips's parents and authorities from the Legionaries of Christ were not available for comment at the time this special report was filed.

A Vatican press agent said funeral services for Pope Patrick would be scheduled pending a final report from the Rome Police...

4

Wednesday
Afternoon
11 October
County Galway, Ireland

An Italian man appeared at the huge and ancient wooden doors of the Monastery of the Holy Blood. The Carmelite sister who greeted him didn't realize that he was Pope Patrick. The old man's face was pale, ashen, and there were deep circles under his eyes. It was unusual to have a tourist visit in this remote part of western Ireland.

Angus asked for the
prioress, Sister Mary Bernard, then collapsed but did not pass out.

Angus whispered instructions in Gaelic to Sister Mary Bernard when she was brought to him. Sister Mary Bernard ordered her three nuns to bring the ailing man to her office. There had once been over three dozen nuns in residence–now there were four.

"We thought you were dead, Your Holiness!" she exclaimed when they were alone,
after Angus had been revived by a nip of Jameson's Irish.

"Me too, Sister Mary, me too!" he croaked in a hoarse voice. His neck wound, healed years before, was giving him phantom pains. "Please, call me Father Angus."

She nodded and looked at him with concern. He made an effort to sit up in his chair.

"It's a long story," he continued in Gaelic, "and I'll tell you more when I get my strength back.
First, you must forbid your sisters, under obedience, to breathe a word about my resurrection." He chuckled darkly. Then winced. Every time he laughed the new bullet wound hurt.

"To do so would almost certainly mean all of our deaths. I took great care to come here unnoticed. I took a train from Italy to England using that new Channel Tunnel, sleeping most of the way. The ferry to Dublin was most
difficult. I didn't dare fly, as
they
must be watching the airports if they suspect I'm still alive. We can't be sure. As your friend and your pope, I beg you to guard our secret until I figure out what to do next."

"But what
are
we to do next, Holy Father? Look at that wound!"

"Yes, to be sure, I need medical attention, otherwise you're going to have the first pope to die on Irish soil do so
in your Carmel. Any suggestions?"

"Sister Elizabeth Thomas used to be a nurse. If we could get your blood type and find some blood, she could do transfusions. I know a doctor who will fill prescriptions if I tell him it's for one of mine," she suggested.

"My blood is B positive. We'll need a television to follow the news–"

"We keep one here unplugged in the closet, Father," she replied with a
smile. "For just such an occasion."

He tried to laugh then thought better of it. A long pause ensued.

The prioress, who was almost eighty years old, had been one of Angus's Prayer Warriors for almost forty years. She decided to ask a question. She had known him far too long to be timid. She thought of him as a son.

"Angus, what's going on?"

He looked her directly in the eyes. "It's the beginning
of the great trial foretold by Our Blessed Mother, Sister. The world is never going to be the same. We must have courage!

"It's a terrible pity," Angus continued. "We almost had the Byzantium Protocol completed, Sister! We were on the verge of doing for the Eastern Church what we did for the Six Counties! It was so far ahead of schedule; I was getting ready to take aim at the Moslems next. The
Easterns are afraid of being overwhelmed by the materialistic atheism of the west and a resurgent Russia in the east. The theological differences over the Holy Trinity are not the hindrance they were a thousand years ago," Angus was warming to his favorite subject, almost smiling. Then a dark look came over his face.
"They
just wouldn't allow it, I suppose. All I know is that I've got to get better
and get myself over to South..."

Before he could finish his sentence the pounding in his temple began to pound harder and harder until a final blow, as if by a real hammer, knocked him out cold.

The prioress was wondering who Angus meant by "they" when she saw the pope collapse onto the floor. She rushed to his side and felt for his pulse, urging herself to hold back her tears. His body was cold
and his palms and wrists were clammy.

Angus needs you! Don't lose control, Mary Bernard, he's alive! Dear Mother of God, help him live! Jesus Lord, save your servant!

She found a faint pulse. But his wrinkled forehead was icy to the touch.

She left him on the wooden floor as she rushed to find Sister Elizabeth Thomas, who was waiting right outside her door along with the two other sisters.

The
old nuns were horrified by his feather-like weight as they carried their pope to a bed.

Three hours later, an IV was attached to his arm–Sister Elizabeth had driven to a medical supply store in Galway to purchase the equipment. She had taken transfusions from herself and the one other sister with the pope's blood type. Two heavy blankets covered him. Sister Elizabeth tamped a hot towel on his
forehead. His temperature had finally begun to rise. A huge fire burned in an immense fireplace in the large room, which had been a nobleman's bedroom centuries before.