The Secret Cardinal

69

Donoher’s driver parked the sedan in a small square north of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the Camerlengo led Yin and Velu through a side entry into the Apostolic Palace. The corridors along the way had been cleared of all but the Swiss Guards, and the anteroom of the Sistine Chapel stood empty upon their arrival.

‘Why have you brought me here?’ Yin asked, realizing where he was. ‘I am only a Bishop.’

‘In the heart of Pope Leo, you have been a cardinal for many years,’ Donoher replied. ‘It is true you cannot vote, but you still have a role to play.’

Donoher rapped on the door. Inside, the dean of the College of Cardinals ordered them opened.

Yin looked into the chapel and saw one hundred and seventeen men in scarlet choir dress gazing back. Even the cardinals who had been too ill to attend the voting sessions in person were now present.

Thy will be done, Yin prayed. He crossed the marble threshold.

Velu took his seat, and Donoher escorted Yin to the altar. The junior cardinal dean left the chapel to summon the secretary of the College of Cardinals and the master of papal liturgical celebrations. Donoher and Yin stood with their backs to the assembled cardinals, gazing up at Michelangelo’s Last Judgment.

‘Do you know why you are here?’ Donoher asked softly.

‘On the flight to Rome, we were told black smoke was seen three times today.’

‘There was only one ballot today, but we had to wait for your arrival. You’ve been through an unimaginable ordeal, only to face this. I want you to know that you do not have to accept election.’

‘Just as Christ did not have to accept his fate at Gethsemane,’ Yin replied. ‘But he did, and I too submit my will to God’s.’

‘The vote was unanimous,’ Donoher said warmly. ‘As sure a sign of His will as I’ve ever seen.’

The junior cardinal dean returned with the pair of Archbishops and led them to the side of the altar. Both men were curious about the presence of another Bishop in the chapel and assumed he was there in a spiritual capacity for the Camerlengo.

‘It is time,’ Donoher announced.

The two men turned to face the assembled cardinals, then Donoher stepped down from the altar, leaving Yin alone.

Cardinal Scheuermann, the dean, approached Yin.

‘Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?’ Scheuermann’s voice thundered inside the chapel.

Yin took a deep breath and looked out at the expectant cardinals. So many different faces, from so many different cultures and peoples. Yin remembered that moment in his cell when he first spoke with Nolan Kilkenny, and from his rescuer learned that the heir of Peter had sent him.

‘I do,’ Yin answered, his voice clear and strong.

‘By what name do you wish to be called?’

‘Gousheng, after Saint Peter Wu Gousheng, a martyr for the faith.’

‘This way, Your Holiness,’ Donoher said, shepherding Yin to a room off to the side of the altar. He stopped at the threshold. ‘This is the Room of Tears, for your predecessors have wept in both joy and sorrow at this moment. You enter alone. Inside you will find the white robes of your holy office.’

Donoher bowed and backed away. Yin opened the door and stepped inside. The room was small and red in color. On a table he found three sets of papal robes. Each was a different size, as the papal tailors could not fit the new Pope until after he was elected.

Yin disrobed and carefully laid the black cassock on the table. During most of his years as a Bishop, he wore prison pajamas, and now he was setting aside the uniform of that office forever. He tried on the smallest of the three sets of robes and found the fit acceptable. Next he tested the white zucchettos. Beside the robes lay a brilliant assortment of pectoral crosses — beautiful works of art crafted in gold and precious stones. The crosses set out for him were superior in every way to the one he wore when he entered the Room of Tears, except one.

He picked up the hand-carved wooden cross, kissed it, and looped the cord around his neck. Tears streamed down his face as he recalled Ke Li’s joy when she shared with him this most precious symbol of her faith, and tears of sorrow followed when he felt in his heart that she had died for that faith. Yin knew he would wear the martyred girl’s cross to his own grave.

Yin reentered the Sistine Chapel as Pope Gousheng. Donoher guided him to a stool placed before the altar, waited while he seated himself, and placed the fisherman’s ring on his finger. One by one, the princes of the Church paid homage to the new Pope. Outside, the crowd spilling out of Saint Peter’s Square exploded with cheers as a plume of white smoke rose from the chimney and the bells of Saint Peter’s tolled the news.

An hour later, Donoher stepped out onto the main balcony in the basilica’s facade overlooking Saint Peter’s Square. The crowd quieted, craning to hear the name of the new Pope.

‘I announce to you a great joy. We have a Pope,’ Donoher said in Latin. ‘The Most Reverend Yin Daoming, Bishop of Shanghai, who takes the name Gousheng.’

The crowd roared their approval at the announcement with shouts of Viva II Papa. Reporters covering the event suddenly found themselves at a loss for words as well as pictures, because a man few outside of China had ever heard of or seen was now the supreme pontiff of the universal Church.

Donoher stepped aside, and Pope Gousheng emerged from the shadows and into the light to impart the apostolic blessing Urbi et Orbi. For the City and the World.