JP2 was dead and they were electing a new pope. I was watching some of the coverage on TV with Melvin. We were both working in a methadone clinic and the TV was on in the dispensing area.
Since it was daytime TV (or maybe because it was CNN) the TV guys were going on and on and on over the littlest detail. As the camera panned the crowd in St. Peter’s Square the commentators were yakking about what name the new pope might choose.
Melvin grew up in an African-American Southern Baptist tradition. “Bob, just what is the significance of the name?” he asked.
Let me put it this way, Melvin. If he calls himself John XXIV, I’m definitely going back to mass. If he calls himself John-Paul III, I’m definitely not.
I was much too optimistic to foresee the result. Joseph Ratzinger, the Grand Inquisitor himself, was elected.
I became a Buddhist.
4 comments:
Wow i was in that same scenario at the time! only me = Melvin, my friend Robert = you
Catholics crazy y'all.
The Pope wears Prada; God save the "queen".
I can still recall that moment he appeared on the balcony for the first time - I gasped!... He looked scary.
I would later find out that I wasn't the only one who reacted that way.
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