[The Apostolic Palace, Rome. A televised Vatican address. The curtains part. The Young Pope appears, stern but glowing. Behind him, a man of deep convictionโFather Sebastian from Haitiโawaits his name.]
Pope Pius XIII (Lenny Belardo):
โThe hour is late, and the Church has wandered in the wilderness too long. We need fire, not incense. We need truth, not etiquette. And we need a pope from the people.
From the mountains of Haiti rises a priest of thunder, a shepherd of sorrow, a healer who walks barefoot where angels fear to tread.
I name Father Sebastian of Our Lady of Fatimaโฆ
Pope Gelasius the Second.
[Gasps from the College of Cardinals. A few faint. One clutches his rosary like a weapon.]
โAnd he comes not empty-handedโbut with the gold of Revelation 3:18.
Not the gold of bankers, but the gold of prophecy.
Not Wall Street’s gold. Godโs gold.
Iridiumโpure, untouchable, forged in heaven’s fire and buried in the Haitian earth like a covenant.
And unlike the merchants who hoard, Pope Gelasius II will tithe.
Ten percent of every gram, every ingot, every cosmic crumb of this gold shall go to the poor.
Or perhapsโhe will split it. Croatian style. Fifty-fifty. Half to Rome. Half to the streets. No offshore. No tricks. Just bread and medicine.
The time of white lies in white robes is over.
Itโs time for black truth in black cassocks.
The Church is no longer for sale.
The Church is back.
