The Parchment

by McLaughlin, Gerald T.

  There was a pause in the procession while the camerlengo consulted with the captain of the Swiss Guard about some remaining security issues before the cardinal electors entered the conclave.

  Cardinal Muñoz walked over to where Barbo stood in the line. “You look tired, Francesco. Are you ill?”

  “Thank you for your concern, Ignacio. I visited the Holy Father at Castel Gondolfo last night and returned later than I expected.”

  Muñoz shook his head. “Poor Benedict. I pray for him every day.”

  “So do I.”

  “This conclave will be very different from the one that elected Benedict. Eighteen years ago, there were sixty-one electors — today there are one hundred twenty-three — double Benedict's number. European cardinals, even if they voted as a bloc, could no longer muster the necessary two-thirds-plus-one majority. They'd still be five votes short.”

  “Yes, to receive the necessary eighty-three votes, a candidate will need wide geographical support.”

  “Let's be frank, Francesco.” Muñoz pulled Barbo aside. “Chavez and Diefenbacher will both have strong backing in the early ballots. But some of Diefenbacher's votes are soft. He will have to win quickly—probably on the first or second ballot. If not, his support will quickly erode.”

  Barbo did not respond. If Diefenbacher had indeed bought the parchment from Visconti, Cardinal Muñoz's conventional wisdom would be sorely tested. Releasing the manuscript might cause a sudden groundswell of support for Diefenbacher. Many cardinals might see the South African as the best candidate to deal with the issues of priestly celibacy and the status of women in the Church that the parchment raised.

  “Francesco, we Latin American cardinals will support Chavez, of course, but the loss of Obregon has been a terrible blow to Chavez. If he cannot attract the necessary votes, then we must look elsewhere. We will not support Diefenbacher. Fie's your typical Jesuit intellectual who thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Worse still, I don't think he knows how to cry. Many of my colleagues talk about you as our next Holy Father.”

  “Ignacio, you are being frank with me, so I'll be frank with you. Many of my views would not sit well with Opus Dei.”

  Muñoz smiled. “Opus Dei is not some diabolical force. It is a movement infused with Spanish mysticism — the mysticism of John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila. If we went through a list of issues, one by one, you might be surprised. We would probably see eye-to-eye on most of them.”

  “And on the others?”

  “We would agree to disagree. Members of Opus Dei do not believe that just because you disagree with us you also disagree with God. I understand that this was the attitude of the Order of the Temple, but it's not ours.”

  “I didn't know you were an expert on the Templars, Ignacio.”

  “Your dissertation became required reading for many of us.”

  “Think of what I have said, Francesco.” Muñoz returned to his place in the line.

  Out of one corner of his eye, Barbo saw Martin Fellows in animated conversation with a Swiss Guard. Somehow Fellows had gained entrance to the basilica, and the Swiss Guard was insisting that he leave immediately.

  Barbo hurried over to the door of the church. “Officer, it is all right. This man works in the Vatican Library. He can stay for a moment.”

  “Eminence, my orders are to allow no one into the church. You saw the woman with the placard earlier today.”

  “Please, Francesco, I must speak with you. I tried calling you on your cell phone but there was no answer.”

  “Cell phones are not allowed in the conclave. Why must you speak to me?”

  “It's about the parchment.”

  “The parchment? You told me that it was authentic.”

  “It is, but....”

  “But what?”

  “Please, Your Eminence, I have something to tell you.”

  “Officer, excuse us for a moment.”

  Barbo and Fellows walked over to the doors of the basilica. “The parchment's a forgery, Your Eminence—at least a forgery of sorts.”

  “What do you mean, Martin, ‘a forgery of sorts?’ You told me earlier today that carbon dating showed the manuscript to be from the time of Christ.”

  “It is from the time of Christ, Your Eminence, but that's not the point.”

  “Martin, stop the riddle right now. It either is or is not a forgery.”

  “Your Eminence, when I translated the document, I noticed one of the letters in the name Jesus looked different.”

  “Different?”

  “Yes, different. I can't describe it better than that. Call it a hunch, an intuition, call it what you like. But I looked at the manuscript under ultraviolet light. I could see that the name Jesus had been superimposed over another name.”

  “What name was under ‘Jesus’?”

  “It was the name ‘John’.”

  Barbo was puzzled. “Why would someone blot out ‘John’ and write ‘Jesus’ over it? It makes no sense.”

  “But it does.”

  “What do you mean? Why would a forger try to convince the world that Jesus was the father of these two children?”

  “Perhaps we're looking at this from the wrong angle. Remember Herod Antipas beheaded John the Baptizer. If I recall my New Testament correctly, John was preaching against Herod, condemning his adulterous marriage to his brother's wife. At a deeper level, however, John was challenging Herod's legitimacy to rule.”

  “True, but....”

  “If Herod Antipas knew that John had two children, he most likely would have tried to arrest and kill them. Substituting Jesus as their father in the Jewish census records would help keep them safe. You know that early on Jesus was a disciple of John. Wouldn't he have agreed to help protect his mentor's family?”

  “So it was John the Baptizer who married the Magdalene. After John was beheaded, she became a disciple of Jesus.”

  “Yes, that's what must have happened.”

  “God works in strange ways. I had long since given up hope, but now you've brought me the miracle I prayed for.”

  “There's one thing more, Eminence. Baldini doesn't know about my ultraviolet test of the manuscript. He was out of the room when I did it.”

  Barbo's eyes widened. “You mean Visconti doesn't know the manuscript is a forgery.”

  “That's right.”

  “Thank you, Martin. You have been a great help.”

  As the Swiss Guard led Fellows out of the basilica, Barbo saw the procession start up again. Putting one's trust in God may not bring instantaneous results, but they do come at the right time.

  When the last cardinal elector had entered the conclave area, the Prefect of the Papal Household stood at the door to the Apostolic Palace and formally intoned the words Extra Omnes—“Outside, Everyone.” With Cardinal Marini at his side, the prefect closed the heavy bronze door to the palace and locked it from the inside with a large key. No one could now enter or leave the conclave area until a new pope was elected.

  The next day at ten o'clock in the morning, the cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel for their first ballot. Each elector was provided with a chair and a small table covered in green velvet. The Apostolic Constitution governing the election of a new pope required that, on each day of the conclave, the cardinals take a total of four votes, two in the morning session and two in the afternoon session, until a new pope is chosen. After each session, the ballots from the two votes are burned in a metal stove standing next to the door of the Sistine Chapel. When the balloting finally elects a pope, the camerlengo pours a vial of chemicals over the paper ballots before burning them. The chemicals send white smoke up through the flue in the ceiling. When the voting fails to elect a pope, however, the ballots are burned without additives, producing black smoke. When white smoke appears, the waiting crowd in St. Peter's Square begins to cheer and chant “Viva il Papa!”

  In the Sistine Chapel, Barbo sat between Cardinal McDermott from New York and Cardinal Vaggio from Florence. Lik
e the others, when Barbo took his seat, he placed his scarlet biretta on the right-hand corner of his desk. The cardinal's red hat was a symbol of his authority in the Church and of his right to be present in the conclave.

  The first order of business was to select by lot three cardinals as scrutatores—those who would oversee the voting. The ritual to choose the scrutatores took only five minutes. When they had been chosen, Cardinal Chavez unexpectedly rose from his seat.

  “My brothers in Christ, as I'm sure you know, my name has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pope Benedict, Some have questioned whether my membership in Opus Dei disqualifies me from assuming that office. There have been innuendos and whispers. I wish to discuss my membership in Opus Dei openly and candidly. Some critics say that Opus Dei is too secretive an organization, as if secrecy were something evil in and of itself. Opus Dei is no less transparent than the Curia here in the Vatican. Others say lay members of our order take the vow of celibacy and practice acts of strict piety such as fasting and self-flagellation. Since when does piety exclude a person from becoming the head of the Catholic Church! If anything, the future of Catholicism lies in reigniting the spiritual practices of the faithful. Catholics from Europe and the United States criticize us for being out of step on important Church issues such as priestly celibacy and women in ministry. How can we be out of step for believing what the Magisterium of the Church teaches?

  “Before I sit down, let me ask each of my brothers a question. Would you exclude a member of the Jesuits or the Dominican Order from becoming pope?” Chavez glanced at Cardinal Diefenbacher who was sitting impassively at his table. “I suspect not. If you would not exclude them, then you should not exclude a member of Opus Dei. Our Church has canonized the founders of the Jesuit and the Dominican Orders and has canonized the founder of Opus Dei, Father Escriva, as well. In God's house there are many mansions — many ways to follow the word of the Lord.”

  There was silence in the chapel after Chavez resumed his seat.

  The Archbishop of Recife, Cardinal Ramera, raised his hand to speak. “Chavez speaks of Opus Dei. In my country, its members are rich and powerful. I do not speak on their behalf but on behalf of the anonymous ones—the poor who beg in the streets, the children who sell their bodies for food, the sick who line up for days, hoping to see a doctor. They have been robbed of hope. All they have left is Jesus. But we who lead his Church turn away from them and support their oppressors. We offer them joy in heaven in return for pain in this life. I ask only two things from our next pope—compassion for the poor and the courage to condemn their oppressors.

  When no other member of the Sacred College rose to speak, the camerlengo motioned the scrutatores to begin the first ballot. Each member of the Sacred College wrote the name of his choice on a white card, which he then folded in half. The cardinals, in order of ecclesiastical precedence, walked in a line to a large gold chalice that stood on a table in front of the altar of the Sistine Chapel. One by one, the cardinals placed their ballot in the bowl and returned to their seats. Barbo wrote on his ballot in bold letters the name Jean Cardinal Calvaux. Printing Calvaux's name in oversized letters was therapeutic for Barbo. He remembered Cardinal Galliardin's words in Gemelli Hospital: If you want the support of the Mafia, submit a blank ballot on the first vote. This was Barbo's way of telling the five cardinals beholden to the Mafia that he would not accept their support. The oversized lettering was also a sign of how strongly he supported Calvaux.

  Before tallying the names on the ballots, the scrutatores compared the number of votes submitted with the number of electors present in the Chapel. When the scrutatores announced that there was no discrepancy, Barbo glanced around the room to see if he could determine who the five cardinals were. No expressions or gestures revealed their identities.

  The scrutatores proceeded to count the votes according to the rules set down in the Apostolic Constitution. The first of the scrutatores removed each ballot from the bowl and read the name written on it. He passed the ballot to the second scrutator who also read the name aloud. The third and last of the three followed the same procedure, calling out the name inscribed on the ballot. The first four votes were for Chavez, and then in rapid succession came five votes for Diefenbacher. The remaining votes seesawed back and forth between Chavez and Diefenbacher, with sporadic votes for Barbo, Calvaux, and Cardinal McDermott of New York.

  The final tally was fifty-four votes for Diefenbacher, forty-five for Chavez, thirteen for McDermott, eight for Barbo, and three for Calvaux.

  Since no candidate received the necessary two-thirds-plus-one majority, the scrutatores called for another ballot. Just before the second round of balloting was to begin, however, Diefenbacher rose from his seat.

  “I commend Cardinal Chavez for his forthright defense of Opus Dei. His willingness to stand before you in this conclave and unburden his heart has given me the courage to do the same. Cardinal Ramera's eloquence put it best: The Vatican often supports the oppressors, not the oppressed. The Curia forbids priests to help the poor and the disadvantaged in their struggles to create a better life for themselves. And, despite the widespread disavowal of its position, Rome continues to remain intransigent on birth control.

  “There is one problem that faces the Church, however, and it surpasses all of the others. In the business world, it would be called an employment crisis. Our churches are full, but our seminaries are empty. If we are to survive as a religion, we must increase vocations to the priesthood. When the existence of the Church was threatened during the Reformation, new orders of religious were formed to challenge those who were bent on destroying us. Today we must take equally bold measures to survive. What stands in our way is the Church's attitude toward sex. Somehow it is deemed unworthy of a priest. But the Church is wrong. God's most precious gift should not be denied those who have chosen to serve Him.”

  Several cardinals twisted in their seats.

  Diefenbacher continued. “In my view, priestly celibacy must become voluntary, except for members of the episcopacy. The Church should also take immediate steps to reinstate those who have left the priesthood to marry and raise a family. If a former priest wishes to return to the Church, we should receive him back with open arms. Finally there is the issue of the status of women. God calls all to the priesthood regardless of sex. We are all members of His one Mystical Body.”

  Cardinal Muñoz pounded his hand on his desk. “Cardinal Diefenbacher, Jesus himself was celibate and those who carry out his ministry must remain celibate as well.”

  Barbo stared at Diefenbacher. The secretary of state sensed what was coming.

  “Suppose Jesus was not celibate, Cardinal Muñoz? Would that make you rethink your position on celibacy?”

  Muñoz smiled. “What do you think, Diefenbacher? Rome is the center of the Church because Peter and Paul were martyred here. If we learned that they were martyred somewhere else, I would vote to move the papacy there.”

  “And the Curia too, Muñoz?” A ripple of laughter greeted Cardinal Marini's moment of humor.

  Diefenbacher paused for a moment. He opened the drawer of his desk and took out a parchment scroll. “Three days ago I came into possession of this document. It is an old Jewish census record. There is little doubt about its authenticity. Carbon dating confirms that it is from the first century A.D. Cardinal Muñoz, let me read a passage from the manuscript. ‘In the year 3791, Yeshua from the town of Nazareth married Mary from the town of Magdala according to Jewish law. A child named David was born to them in the year 3792 and a second child, Tamar, in 3793.”’

  As Diefenbacher lifted the piece of parchment for everyone to see, the conclave dissolved into uproar and name-calling. A redfaced Cardinal Muñoz struggled to his feet, all the while pointing his finger at Diefenbacher. “Have you no shame! Take this manuscript out of the Sistine Chapel. You have polluted this holy place.”

  An enraged Cardinal Muramba of Uganda, at a loss for what to do or say, knocked Diefenbacher's
cardinal's biretta off his table. “If you believe what this document says, Diefenbacher, you do not deserve to vote in this conclave.” Many applauded Muramba's action.

  Despite the uproar, Diefenbacher calmly picked up his biretta and waited until the camerlengo restored order. He then walked slowly to where Cardinal Barbo was seated. “My Lord Cardinal Barbo, you can read Hebrew. Tell Cardinal Muñoz and the rest of this conclave whether my translation is accurate.”

  Barbo looked at the manuscript. “Cardinal Muñoz, I see nothing that would contradict Diefenbacher's translation.” Barbo chose his words carefully.

  Diefenbacher had the satisfied look of someone who has trapped his opponent. “Well then, Cardinal Muñoz, you must reconsider your position on priestly celibacy. In fact, all those who support celibacy should rethink their positions. Jesus was both God and man. To be fully human, Jesus could not remain celibate. Here is the proof.”

  The tension in the chapel was electric. Diefenbacher walked to the steps of the altar and stood beneath Michelangelo's Last Judgment. “Jesus has given us authority over his Church. But we have failed in our responsibility to him. Unless we elect a leader who is capable of adapting to new structures and new ideas, his Church will wither and die. Look above me at Michelangelo's fresco! Where will Jesus put us on Judgment Day—with the elect or with the damned?”

  When Diefenbacher walked back to his seat, an angry Cardinal Chavez demanded to speak. “Perhaps Cardinal Diefenbacher has forgotten—we are in conclave. There are no experts here. We cannot authenticate this manuscript. I, for one, will not take Diefenbacher's word on a question of such importance. Like all Jesuits, he's a master of legerdemain.”