The old stone floor with its centuries of wear was every bit as cold as it seemed to be. A beautiful antique sideboard of mellowed wood ran along the wall opposite the windows.
Just above it, an aging, colorful, tapestry of princes and paupers blanketed the wall. At the far end of the room a giant oil painting in a gold encrusted frame depicted Christ’s miracle of the loaves and fishes. I correctly assumed it was another Titian.
A huge black iron cauldron hung in front of walk-in fireplace cut into the ancient stone exactly as it was on the day it had been forced into retirement by the stove that stood in the kitchen off to one side.
In the center of the room was a carpet of extraordinary value. On it stood four richly carved chairs which clashed with the table they surrounded—one of those cheap enameled tables of the forties. Four chairs that would easily draw five thousand dollars each at auction, hemmed in a table that would go for five dollars in a yard sale.
“One of his first visitors from Rome was Bishop Caprio. When he came into the dining room and he saw the table was gone he thrust his arms into the air like a man out of his mind. He ordered Piccolo to stop this madness, ‘Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor.’”
“He built the orphanage I passed with money he got for a table?”
“No,” he corrected me. “He built that one with money intended to build a church. The day he took up residence here he received a letter from a terminally ill man. Lacking heirs, the man offered to leave his fortune to build a church dedicated to Christ the Savior.
“Piccolo went to visit the man the next day and asked him to leave the money to build an orphanage instead of a church. The man held his ground and demanded the great church be built.
“Having exhausted every possible alternative, Piccolo reached into his hip pocket and played his trump card, one he often used to get his way. “When I was a teenager, my father made me promise I would live my life in imitation of Christ. I have kept that solemn promise. Each time the fork in the road has come up, often only minutes apart, I have asked myself, ‘Now, what would Jesus have done in this case?’ He then asked the man, “Now, what do you think Jesus would do in this case?
“A week later, the man took a shovel and broke ground for the orphanage, one designed for infants who otherwise would have been aborted. He was buried a month later in a nearby cemetery. A granite marker was placed on his grave by the grateful bishop of Vittorio Veneto, “Each day he breathes new life into the world.”
“As long as a child lacks a roof over his or her head and has not enough to eat, not a block of stone will be laid to build a church. Not a stone has been laid to build a church in the diocese since he came here. Likewise, should he rise to the papacy, not a single stone will be laid to the honor and glorification of God in the Catholic world until every child has a roof over his and her head and enough to eat.
“Before he came here it was commonplace on Sunday to see a hundred orphans gathering in the street in front of the church; most of them out-of-wedlock, others emotionally or physically impaired, retarded, missing limbs, deaf or blind and of other deformities.
“Their only possessions were the tattered and torn rags they wore, mostly covered with mud in the spring and fall and frozen with flakes of snow in the wintertime. Then there were the tin cups they held in their hands. Most of the parishioners would sneak around to the rear entrance of the church in order to avoid them.
“When Piccolo celebrated his first Mass here, an overflowing crowd came from miles around. When they showed up at the church on January 11, 1959, much to their surprise there wasn’t an orphan to be seen. Some remarked ‘It is about time someone cleaned up this mess.’ For the first time in years, they were able to ascend the steps and enter through the main entrance of the church. Yet, when they entered the church they got the biggest surprise of all.
“There on the end of the first pews hung a small sign, ‘Riservato ai bambini speciali di Dio’ ‘Reserved for God’s special children.’ Lined up, row after row, were orphans gazing at the magnificent altarpiece. His first words to his new congregation were, ‘Christ picked me up from the Mud in the Street and gave me to you.’
“‘Mud in the Street’ was an expression used by church goers in referring to street orphans. That he had come from the ‘mud in the street,’ fired rumors he had been born out of wedlock. Since bastards cannot be ordained, his enemies demanded he be defrocked.
“When the situation started to get out of hand, the Archbishop of Venice published a marriage certificate proving Giovanni Paulo Luciani and Bartolomea Tancon, had wed a year before his birth.1
“Nevertheless, this good man has picked up thousands out of the ‘mud in the street’ since and given them their rightful place in society; thus his leading role in the priest-worker movement.
“Piccolo has performed a miracle here in the Veneto country. When he got here, the congregation thought all they had to do was go to church to be saved. Now they think much differently. Piccolo has created an army of people who are trying to help each other.
Capitalism and Charity vs. Communism
“When a child reaches his or her sixth birthday, the child gets a big party and everyone brings them gifts. This teaches the child from the start; gimme. How wonderful it is to get. Conditioning the child with greed—Moses’ teachings in the Old Testament.
“Not here in Piccolo’s world. In the days leading up to one’s sixth birthday, the child is busy making small craft items. When the day arrives, everyone except the child gets a gift. Conditioning the child how wonderful it is to give—Christ’s teachings in the Gospels.
“Each time the fork in the road would come up for each of them in the past, they would ask themselves, ‘Now what is in this for me?’ Now they ask themselves, ‘Now what is in this for others?’”
I shot him a dreadful look. “But, you are talking Marxism. We know that doesn’t work. Society can only be driven by greed.”
He decided not to challenge me. “We shall see. We shall see.”
He tipped forward one of the chairs. “The chair you are about to occupy has held many others. On its back were aging brass plates.
Leo XIII 11 November 1879 Paul VI 23 December 1963
Pius X 2 January 1904 Paul VI 23 March 1964
Benedict XV 24 June 1904 Paul VI 22 July 1964
Pius X 23 September 1906 Paul VI 16 March 1966
Pius XI 22 September 1923 Paul VI 16 October 1966
Pius XII 2 February 1943 Paul VI 2 March 1967
John XXIII 22 January 1959 Paul VI 24 December 1967
John XXIII 14 July 1961 Paul VI 22 July 1968
Puzzled, I asked, “Why has Paul been here so often?”
Jack replied, “Here in the remote foothills of the Alps, is the only place Paul can get away from it all. Even at Castel Gandolfo, he is in the public eye. He holds his summits here—summits on poverty.
“He wants to rid the world of poverty. The only way to do that is Marxism—a redistribution of welfare society—an evil word in the west. Meetings must be kept secret—here is the perfect place.
“Almost every cardinal of the world’s pockets of poverty has been here—Africa, India, Latin, Central America, you name it…
“There are two possible solutions to poverty.
“The combination of capitalism and charity—the wealth a few can accumulate is unlimited. The poor are dependent on compassion.
“Paul and Piccolo are convinced the combination of capitalism and charity cannot work. After centuries of trying it hasn’t worked. Fifty thousand children literally starve to death each day.
“Even Christ knew voluntary charity would never work, ‘You will always have the poor, and you can help them whenever you want to…But, you will not always have me.’ 2
“But, Paul and Piccolo know what will work—a society that affords each child an equal opportunity at education to enable each of them to make their maximum contribution back to society.
“In
their world, charity would no longer be a voluntary function of the individual. It will be an involuntary function of society. The rich will be taxed to help the poor. Unlike the Soviet Union, their vision is for a democratic-Marxist society—the will of the people.”
I winked a wink of doubt.
He looked me square in the eyes, “They will change the will of the people when they are six years old.”
1 Veneto Nostro 7 Feb 59
2 Mark 14 Mark who wrote the 1st Gospel spoke of Christ as a man and not as a God. Thus, we have ‘You will not always have me.’ In Mark, three times, Christ denies he is God. One always has God.
Chapter 22
The Winning Card
“Religion is a business in which entrepreneurs capitalize on man’s tendency to believe in ghosts to accomplish political convictions.”1
Albino Luciani
Footsteps coming down the stairs interrupted our thoughts.
As if not a moment to lose, the bishop sat down and rather than saying grace, picked up his wine glass and offered a toast to Christ. He had barely finished when he reached across for the rolls. Jack quickly followed with the meats and vegetables. We were off.
Jack offered, “Lucien wants to be certain he’s playing with a winning ticket.”
Piccolo looked across at me, “I have a winning ticket for you, the winning card. Guaranteed, guaranteed to win. No doubt about it.”
Reaching for the truth, “Who is it? Is it Christ? Is it Allah? Is it Buddha? Is it Brahma?”
Much to my surprise, “None of them.” Pointing to his temple, “It’s here. All you have to do is do what it tells you to do. Always do what is right. Always do what this,” again pointing to his temple, “tells you to do. You do that, and that alone, and you’re going to be in the winner’s circle. Let there be no doubt about it.”
“But, how can you tell which religion is right?” I persisted.
“If you are strong enough to do what I just told you to do without any outside help, then that should be enough for you. In that case you would be dealing directly with your maker. But if you need a go-between—more cards—you need religion—the business Jack and I are in. Yet, the winning card is not which religion is the true one. It is what I have just given you. The only purpose of religion is to help you play,” again pointing to his temple, “the winning card.”
“Yet, you raised the question: How does one prove Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islamism, Buddhism, Hinduism or Taoism is the true religion? The answer is simple, one doesn’t. It can’t be done. It can’t be proved. Yet, what one can do is prove a particular religion is not the true one. Let me give you an example of how this works, one cannot prove the true religion, yet, one can prove a particular religion is not the true religion.”
The ‘expert’ said so—it must be true
“In Paris, where Modigliani had worked, a sculptured head was recovered by divers from the canal that ran behind the artist’s house. On the assumption the work may have been executed by the master, it was brought to the attention of a local curator who believed it could be an original work. It was subsequently examined by experts recognized as the world’s foremost authorities on Modigliani and it was found that it had, indeed, been executed by the great artist.
“A local hippie challenged the find. Although the hippie had no credentials for making his claim, the experts saw it as an opportunity to gain publicity for the find. They arranged a live debate between them and the hippie on television. The debate was widely publicized and the press made the hippie out to be a kind of fool.
“The hour long debate allowed for a ten minute summary at its end for each of the parties. Although the hippie had disclosed serious flaws in the experts’ analyses, their immense credibility in the field of art enabled them to seal their claim as being sound. It was clear to all viewers the hippie really didn’t know what he was talking about.
“The hippie got his ten minutes. He said something the art world has never forgotten, ‘No one, not all the experts on this stage or all the experts in Europe or, for that matter, all the experts in the world can prove any work of art is an original executed by a particular artist. Yet, one can prove, a work is not authentic.’
“To the astonishment of all, he ran a film of himself sculpting the head. He closed with, The only way one can tell one is truly in possession of an original work of art is to watch the artist create it, watch him complete it, have him sign it and take the work and place it in a safe to which only one knows the combination.’
“Religions are like works of art. When you believe one is the true one, you are relying entirely on the expert, the credibility of the preacher who really doesn’t know anymore about it than you do. To put it bluntly, you are relying on your own gullibility.
“The only way you can know a particular religion is the true one is to have been there. In the case of the Christian, this means to have been there in the Sinai Desert when the Burning Bush—God—spoke to Moses. In the case of the Muslim, it means to have been there upon the winged horse when the Angel Gabriel took Mohammed to meet this same God in the heavens. In the case of the Mormon, it means to have been there at the edge of the pond when two Gods—God the Father and Jesus—appeared together to Joseph Smith.
“Otherwise you are relying entirely on what someone said to someone else, who in turn passed it on to someone else, for all time. As my father told me, in those days, as in these days, men had great motive to lie in these things for if they convinced their fellowman they had talked directly with God, it would make one a great and wealthy man. Most of all, it would give one unyielding power over the minds of men. After all, one’s words come directly from God.
“This includes Moses, Constantine, Mohammed and Smith and all the others who claimed to have talked to God. It also includes present day preachers who earn their livelihood this way, a few of which are trying to make this a better world to live in, but most of which get their kicks out of wielding power over the minds of men. So weakened is man by his mortality he blindly pays the preacher for his salvation, despite the fact the preacher knows no more about the possibility of an afterlife than he does. He’s never been there.”
Other hippies run their films
“Yet, as with art, it is possible to tell a certain religion is not the true one. We see this happen every day. As more and more scientific facts become available, more and more do we question the prophet and more and more is his credibility eroded.
“Today, no one doubts the hippie’s testimony, because we now have the facts. Yet, when he made his claim, no one believed him, not a soul. The credibility regarding the Modigliani sculpture was entirely with the so-called expert.
“Likewise, when Darwin and Einstein first made their claims, no one believed them, for the credibility was entirely with the so-called expert—the preacher. Many thought Darwin and Einstein insane.
“Darwin had proposed we had evolved as apes before the time of the first excavations of prehistoric fossils and the development of modern genetics which later proved his hypothesis.2
“Whereas, Darwin spoke of things that could readily be seen—the resemblance of man to his fellow higher primates, Einstein spoke of things one could not see. He claimed everything from the air one breathes, to the hardest substance known—diamond—is made of moving particles—infinitesimal specs of energy which he claimed were the most powerful forces in nature and from them had grown all living creatures and the world they lived in.
“The marble floor beneath us is bits of empty space—atoms—which are traveling at placements which give the illusion of solidity. Our bodies are made up of identical atoms which are traveling at different placements which give the illusion of more porous objects. What’s more, he claimed infractions of space hold them together—everything, not only the planet earth, has a center of gravity. 3
“When Darwin and Einstein proposed their theories as to how we all came about, very few believed them. They obviously didn’t know w
hat they were talking about. What they claimed contradicted what the experts were saying: God created Adam and Eve as adults.
“Like the hippie in the case of his make-believe Modigliani, both these men have now had the opportunity to have run their films.
“In the case of Darwin, archeology and more importantly genetics have proved his theory beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“In Einstein’s case, photographs of an eclipse of the sun proved his theory to his fellow scientists.3 For the common man, today’s microscopes are able to magnify millions of times—one can see this tiny bit of energy he spoke of—the atom—the most powerful force in nature. For those having no access to powerful microscopes, the splitting of a single atom at Hiroshima should have done the trick.
“So now, Darwin and Einstein, too, have had their time before the cameras. What they proposed as theory is now very much fact.
“Einstein’s theory, as to the origin of man, is more devastating to Christianity’s fundamental unit of creation—Adam and Eve—than is Darwin’s theory of evolution. Einstein proved the egg came first; God did not create man and woman as adults. Einstein proved the fundamental unit of creation was an infinitesimal speck—the atom—which gave birth to all living things and the world they live in.”
I agreed, “You’re right. Darwin’s theory of evolution is not quite as devastating as the preacher has the loophole of claiming God created Adam and Eve as caveman and cavewoman.”
“Not so,” he corrected me. “The Old Testament is an unbroken genealogy from Adam directly to Christ: ‘Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judas, Phares, Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, Naasson, Sakmon, Booz, Obed, Jesse, King Solomon, King David, Roboam, Abia, Josaphat, Joram, Ozias, Joatham, Achaz, Mahasses, Amon, Josias, Jechonias, Salathiel, Zorobable, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Sadoc, Achim, Eliud, Mattham, Jacob, Joseph, the father of Christ.’
Murder in the Vatican Page 24
