The Shoes of the Fisherman Page #7

I would at least have tried

to persuade you that...

...I was definitely calling

it off with Chiara.

It'll be all right.

I mean, not just about us.

I know it will.

I'll give your regards to Paris.

With this message...

...Kamenev sent me this.

It is full of Russian

earth and sunower seeds.

But it has a meaning.

If we cannot find a way to make

peace among the peoples...

...then the earth will be blackened.

And there will be no owers

anymore, for any of us.

How would you answer Kamenev, if you

stood in the shoes of the fisherman?

I would wait, Holiness.

We've had no time to study the

consequences of such a meeting.

- We have had no time.

- Because there is no time.

Very well, my friends.

You tell me what to do.

Delay, Holiness.

Delay only long enough to

consider what you gamble.

And turn my back and wash my

hands, like Pontius Pilate?

I cannot wash my hands of the

world, and neither can you.

My brothers, if this is the last

sound made by the last living man...

...it must be shouted loud and clear.

Life...

is a gift of God.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God?

Oh, yes.

That he died and rose from the dead?

Yes.

To what end? For what purpose?

In the old days we used to say,

"He came to redeem and save us."

Or, as the good nuns put it, "to

buy us back from the devil...

...and get us into heaven."

But you don't put it that way.

I'm afraid I don't believe it that way.

How do you believe it, Father?

I believe that man is born in bondage.

To what, Father?

To his own history.

And Christ, the Savior?

How does he buy man out of this bondage?

The death of Christ was the act...

...by which man was redeemed.

I'm concerned now...

...how does the act of

redemption continues for us...

...in this very troubled century?

How do you see that, Father?

This is crucial.

I know.

Let me try to explain...

carefully.

I have no son. But if I had

what could I offer him?

Only tomorrow.

I will die soon, perhaps.

What is offered to me?

Unless I know the answer

to that question...

I'm left without hope.

Christ died, he rose from the dead...

...he went into heaven, out of this world.

But if he's not still here...

...with us in this world...

...we are truly lost.

So...

...now we come to the classic question.

What think you...

of Christ?

Excuse me, Eminence, could

you ask the question again?

What think you of Christ, Father?

Who is he?

He is the point to which all

of evolution is tending.

He is the point at which the

whole universe must arrive...

...as the spokes of a wheel

arrive at the center.

He is the universe, summed up.

He is the Cosmic Christ.

Father Telemond...

...it is written in the scripture:

"Jesus Christ. Yesterday.

today and the same forever."

Are you not creating another

Christ of your own?

I am not creating Him.

I'm revealing a face of

Him we have not yet seen.

Do you have a private revelation, Father?

Perhaps I have, Eminence.

If I have, it is no merit of mine.

Indeed, it is a torment for me.

I cannot renounce this Christ whom I see...

...any more than I can renounce

Him who hangs on the cross.

You put us in great trouble.

Much that you have said and written...

...is of extraordinary depth and beauty.

Much of it is still unclear.

And, as you have seen, puzzling to us.

It would help if you gave

us one clear statement...

of what you believe.

I believe in a personal God.

I believe in Christ. I

believe in the Spirit.

But if by some perilous,

internal revolution...

I lost my faith in God...

...in Christ and in the Spirit...

...I think I still would

believe in the world.

Yes, I do believe in the world.

In the goodness of the world.

In the values of the world.

That, in the final analysis, is the first

and the last thing in which I believe.

This faith I live by.

And it is to this faith that

at the moment of death...

...mastering all doubts...

I shall surrender myself.

It is the opinion of the

commissioners, therefore...

...that the works of Father Telemond present

ambiguities and even grave errors...

in philosophical and theological matters

which offend Catholic doctrine.

They recommend that Reverend Father

Telemond should be prohibited...

...from teaching or publishing the

dubious opinions above mentioned...

until a full and formal examination...

...has been made.

Didn't the Second Vatican Council

affirm in the clearest terms...

the liberty of man's

conscience and the right...

of free research?

Well, yes, Holiness.

But with great respect...

...I submit that what a philosopher

may publish without harm...

...bears a different color when

it is written by a papal adviser.

Eminence...

...you have our thanks.

How is this news to be

conveyed to Father Telemond?

We shall tell him ourselves.

You have our leave to go.

This is a grief for Your

Holiness, I know it.

- I wish I could share...

- Our grief is private to ourselves.

Now, we would like to be alone.

David.

It's worse than I thought.

- David, perhaps in time...

- There's no time, Holiness.

At night, I hear the knocking on the gate.

All of a sudden the work is undone.

This is the moment...

you've always been afraid of.

But I am with you.

I am your friend. I am your brother...

But I'm condemned to

absolute silence, Holiness!

This was delivered in your name.

Please tell me what I must do.

I will give you an order.

You will rest.

You will submit to medical care...

...and you will be silent.

David...

it is the terror of life.

No one can carry another man's burden.

It is the terror of the church too.

I hate her!

And still I can't leave her.

I love her.

And still I can't live in her in peace.

By your leave, Holiness.

My friends.

Thank you for coming, Eminence.

Your Eminence. How are you?

I don't have much time.

But please council me and question

me without fear or reserve.

May I ask the reason for Your

Holiness' somewhat unusual dress?

It's easier to feel alike if we look alike.

Will Holiness make a statement

at or after the meeting?

I will make no statement

other than courtesies...

...until I have returned to Rome

and have consulted with you all.

Has the president of the United

States been informed of your visit?

Yes. So have all the European

and Asian heads of state.

Not all approve, but all,

I believe, wish us well.

What, in fact, does Your

Holiness hope to gain...

...from a private meeting

with two Marxist leaders?

The understanding of things which are

driving them and the world into war.

Their confidence in me as an honest

spokesman in this time of crisis.

Any more questions?

Thank you, Gelasio?

You will be the guardians of

the church while I am gone.

I'm suddenly very alone.

- We are with you, Holiness.

- Thank you.

We do not all agree, but

we are all with Peter.

And we offer you our

prayer for your journey.

Our Father who art in heaven...

...hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth

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