Free The Secret Cardinal by Tom Grace

cardinal camerlengo would ascertain the death of the pope by tapping him on the forehead three times with a silver hammer. After each blow, the camerlengo would call out the pope’s given name and ask if he was dead. Universi Dominici Gregis makes no mention of this ancient ritual, and I see no need to further insult the body of this great man. I therefore declare that Pope Leo XIV is truly dead.”
    With the greatest respect, Donoher gently lifted the pope’s right hand and removed the gold fisherman’s ring. As he did so, he recalled the letter the pope had given him the previous day—likely the last official document sealed with this signet. Donoher placed the ring in the pouch with the seals. In his first meeting with those cardinals present at the Vatican, he would break both symbols of the holy office.
    Donoher turned to the chancellor of the Apostolic Camera. “Do you have the death certificate?”
    â€œI do, Your Eminence.”

    Donoher accepted the leatherbound folio and motioned for the physician to accompany him into the pope’s study. Inside the folio was a sheet of pure white vellum inscribed in fluid Latin script with the official pronouncement of the pope’s death. Donoher and the physician affixed their signatures, completing the ritual.
    As he looped the “r” at the end of his name, Donoher suddenly felt the immense weight of his new office. At this moment, he was entrusted with a sacred duty to safeguard and administer all the goods and temporal rights of the Holy See. Until the election of the next pope, the cardinal camerlengo was the most powerful man in the Roman Catholic Church.
    â€œThey are ready to prepare the pope’s body,” Sikora announced.
    â€œDoctor, is there any need for further examination?” Donoher asked.
    A minor controversy had erupted following the death of the previous pope, whose reign had lasted a mere thirty-three days. Those sowing rumors that the pope might have been murdered cited the quickness with which the late pontiff was embalmed as a sign of a Vatican coverup. Had the truth of the late pope’s poor health been more widely known among the College of Cardinals, he never would have been elected.
    â€œThe cause of the pope’s death is clear,” the doctor avowed.
    â€œThen I release the pope’s body for preparation to lie in state.”
    After removal of the body from the apartments, Donoher cleared everyone from the papal bedroom and study and sealed the rooms. Those members of the late pope’s personal staff who resided in the papal apartments would be permitted to remain until the burial. After the funeral, the entire apartment would be sealed until the new pope was elected.
    Donoher moved purposefully as he left the papal apartments. The next few weeks would likely be among the busiest of his entire life; the list of his duties and responsibilities as camerlengo was immense.
    He flipped open his cell phone and dialed the number for the cardinal vicar of Rome. Upon receiving Donoher’s official notification, it would be that man’s unhappy duty to make the special announcement to the people of Rome later this evening. Crews representing news
agencies from around the world were already setting up just outside the Vatican walls as rumor of the pope’s death spread.
    By the time he reached his office, Donoher completed his second call—this one to the cardinal archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, setting in motion the preparations for a papal funeral. He pulled out a file received from the previous camerlengo and ran down the list of tasks requiring his immediate attention. Throughout his life, Donoher had never owned real estate of any kind. Within the next few hours, he would formally take possession of the Apostolic Palace and the palaces of the Lateran and Castel Gandolfo.
    And then, Donoher thought, there was the matter of Yin Daoming.

9
    October 15
    The news had spread