CHAPTER 13
THE SISTINE CHAPEL BELLS RINGS
All the Cardinals are beginning to assemble in the Sistine Chapel for the new session that is to start. As they mingle congratulating the new members, Pope John XXIV enters the chapel and joins in mingling with the new Cardinals. With members from all around the world speaking in various tongues, it seems to sound very much like a meeting of the United Nations Assembly. Thankfully a new translation system has been installed, to make sure everyone understands the presentations.
Finally the Dean of the College of Cardinals calls for all to take their assigned seats followed by prayers of thanksgiving, and instructs them to open and peruse the packets in front of them of the itinerary of topics to be discussed.
Pope John XXIV stands to address the assembly.
“My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, today we embark on the discernment of the Universal Catholic Church as Christ and God has asked us. This would not have been possible without your willingness to participate and take us all on a new path to unification. Many of your concerns and recommendations have been carefully reviewed and thoroughly considered and hopefully will have been expressed appropriately in the doctrines and church laws that now appear in the documents prepared for your consideration. Please pray and reflect upon them, consulting your colleagues, etc., before we start deliberating tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. There are many items, some of which will be more profound in nature for you than others, but we will take them up in the order they were presented on the itinerary. We will only consider two items at most on any given day, taking appropriate time with each even if it requires more than one day of deliberating, and voting on that particular item before going onto the next. Please be thoroughly prepared for each item, as this will be the only time we will discern that subject during our sessions. At the conclusion of our sessions, all items voted in the affirmative will be printed and sent to you, so that you may present them to your various church governing bodies for their consideration, and in consultations with the Holy See if required. For all of you representing your church organization, once all the doctrines and governing laws meet with their approval, and they wish to be become part of the Universal Catholic Church, please have them approve and sign the Unification Acceptance Doctrine for submittal to the Holy See. There is no deadline for submittal other than your own. Proper deliberation, full acceptance, and compliance are required for total union with the Holy See.
Peace be with you and may the Lord God bless you and keep you in the palm of his hands in the name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.”
The First American Pope Page 13
