There will be a new Pope.

He will put on thered leather fisherman’s shoes made just for him by Stefanelli. He will be taken to a room called the Room of Tears, where he will take off his red vestments and put on the white vestments of the Holy Father.

This will be the fifth time in my life when this has happened. I have no illusions as to what the Church is, but I have always had respect for the Holy Father. And we have had some really magnificent ones; Julius II who lasted only ten years was a serious warrior,if you’ve ever seen “The Agony and the Ecstacy” he’s played brilliantly by Rex Harrison, imagine the Pope in armor climbing down, bloodied, off a horse, to approve Michaelangelo’s sketches for the Sistene Chapel.

Lord, give us another Julius II. We need one so badly.