The Shoes of the Fisherman Page #8

as it is in heaven.

Piotr Ilych.

For a while, I did not

think you would come.

- Why not?

- I've no rights over you...

...and you have no reason to trust me.

I'm not sure I can help.

I'm willing to try.

You are changed.

I do not feel changed.

There was a pride in you once.

More, an arrogance...

...as if you carried truth

in a private purse...

...and no one could dispute it with you.

When I hated you, and I did,

it was because of that.

I have learned what I am.

A low man who sits too high for his gifts.

Let me warn you:

With Peng, we cannot be too low.

If we are, he will despise us.

If we are too high, he will

reject us out of hand.

He lives by face. He

dare not lose it, then.

Does Peng understand that we

are as much at risk as he is?

And I don't think we are.

We are the affluent ones.

He has 800 million people.

There is famine over three provinces...

...and it will soon spread

over the whole land.

God help us in what we do now.

If He's where He can

hear us, I hope He will.

Chairman Peng of the

People's Republic of China.

Welcome, comrade.

Chairman, His Holiness, Pope Kiril I.

Mr. Chairman.

Shall we be comfortable?

- Would you care...?

- No, thank you.

I have agreed to meet him.

I am not convinced that he

can do anything for us.

I have only a voice, but

it reaches many people.

I am prepared to raise it.

To what ends?

To feed the Chinese people

first, to prevent a war.

And the price?

On my part, none.

But the capitalists will exact a price.

Comrade Kamenev, who is already

half a capitalist, has a price too.

I cannot say what they will exact.

I can only say what you

should not be asked to pay.

I will tell you what we will not pay.

We will not destroy what the

revolution has accomplished.

We will not submit to military

threats or colonial exploitation.

But you should withdraw your

own military threats...

...to the nations of Southeast Asia.

Let Americans give us a chance to trade...

...with the rice bowl countries

as we've done for centuries.

Let Russia remove the threat of these

missiles aimed at our production centers.

Troops and tanks along a

thousand miles of border.

Let the Americans pull out of the military

colonies in Thailand and Vietnam.

No one can do all these things at once.

In stages, it's possible.

Important thing is that

we make a start together.

Russia is prepared to match every move

you make to reduce military tension...

...and give you what credits she

can to buy in other markets.

The markets we need are closed to us.

I am prepared to plead and

negotiate for them to be opened.

Words are cheap.

Mr. Chairman, what is

your revolution built on?

What is Russia's revolution built on?

One man, who spent most of his

life in the British Museum...

...who was buried in a

tiny cemetery in England.

Karl Marx never carried a gun, he

never fought on the barricades.

All he had was words.

Words and an idea, which in 60 years

has changed the face of the earth.

And you think you can do it again?

I want to try.

But I have no chance to succeed if you

throw my words back in my teeth...

...the moment they are spoken.

I need your cooperation in what I do.

So I give it.

You'll fail. What then?

We are back in the jungle!

I didn't mean that.

I mean this:

His Holiness, Kiril I goes back to Rome.

He makes a great speech.

Writes letters, sends out messages.

They are ignored. Very politely, of course.

Now, what has he lost? Nothing.

What has he gained? Much.

He is a noble man. A peacemaker...

...who unhappily failed to make peace.

Mr. Chairman, you came because you

thought I might be able to do something.

Now, what is it?

Pay some of the price that we have to pay.

What do you expect him to pay? How?

When I came here today, I put my

head on the executioner's block.

When I go back across that border,

it might well be chopped off.

That's my risk. What is yours?

Thank you for coming so late at night.

What can I do for you, Holiness?

I need your help.

I will do anything I can to be helpful.

Thank you.

Won't you sit down.

I...

I just want to think out loud.

I mean, first of all, I want to say how...

How sorry I am about...

...what I had to do.

Holiness, I accepted the

verdict of the commission...

...as an act of obedience.

Of course, I cannot abandon...

...my personal search for the

truth, for you or for anyone.

- I would be untrue to myself

- I understand.

But please know now...

...I accept your decision without reserve.

Without any resentment,

with a clear conscience...

...and with a humble heart.

Your Holiness should not

feel any burden from me.

I'm truly grateful.

That is a magnificent gift.

David...

...I'm feeling lost.

I'm troubled by the whole

idea of my coronation.

Why?

I am not prepared to be crowned

with the pomp of a prince...

...while hungry men live

in the shadow of death.

Because in the emotion of the moment...

...I may have done wrong

to accept the election.

You are Peter.

There is one consolation.

As pope, I cannot preach error...

no matter what folly I may commit.

The church will survive.

- David...

- Forgive me.

- David, what is it?

- Forgive me.

Gelasio!

Gelasio!

Gelasio!

Gelasio!

Eminence.

We had asked to be left alone.

I came to offer...

...my sympathy to Your Holiness

on the death of Father Telemond.

I feel guilty.

You have no cause to feel that.

I cannot dismiss it, Holiness.

I have a confession to make.

Then I suggest you make

it to your confessor.

I am so in distress, Holiness.

You are a priest.

You are right.

I was jealous of David Telemond.

I did what was right...

...but my intention was

not right when I did it.

Why were you jealous of him?

Because of you, Holiness.

Because I needed, but could

not have, what you gave him.

Intimacy. Trust.

Affection.

And because I am an old man that has

served the church a long time...

...and thought I deserved better.

I was wrong.

None of us deserves anything...

...but the promised wage for

the worker in the vineyard.

Eminence...

...I, too, have sinned.

I kept you at a distance...

...because I could not

tolerate your opposition.

And I was at fault with Father Telemond.

I...

I clung to him because...

I am glad you came.

Leone...

...how does a man ever know if his

actions are for himself or for God?

You don't know.

You have a duty to act.

But you have no right to expect approval...

...or even a successful outcome.

So in the end, my friend...

...we are alone?

Yes.

I have seen three men sit in this room.

You are the last I shall see.

Each of them, in his turn...

...came to where you stand now.

The moment of solitude.

I have to tell you there

is no remedy for it.

You are here until the day you die.

And the longer you live...

...the lonelier you will become.

You will use this man and that

for the work of the church.

But when the work is done...

...or the man has proved unequal to it

you will let him go and find another.

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