“Admiral Hammond, it is good to meet you. I have had you in my prayers for a long time,” the Pope said quietly.
“Thank you, Your Holiness. Now that the unrest is over, I wanted to come and personally thank you for your help with the Russian Orthodox Church. In the end, it was faith that ended this war, not my doing. I have been working closely with President Andropov who explained all that happened in Russia. I have also met with Patriarch Gregory who shared his experiences. In reality, what you did eventually brought the war to a close,” Hammond said graciously.
“No, my son, I believe you did your part as well. God works through many people and who is to say what one thing will make a difference. Our continued prayers worked to all our advantage,” the Pope said. “Now tell me how things are working in Russia.”
Hammond talked to the Pope about all the things going on. There had been amazing progress. People were being fed and power was nearly all restored. Committees from the Duma were working on drafting a new constitution. This one would be based on something like the German model with three branches of government and real elections instead of just a show. The Pope listened intently and was pleased to know that freedom of religion would be a cornerstone of the new constitution. They talked for several minutes before the Pope motioned toward a large envelope that Rhodes was carrying and asked of its importance.
“This is the second reason we wanted to see Your Holiness. Captain Rhodes is the Commanding Officer of USS Iowa. As you may have heard, she had an encounter in the Black Sea,” said Hammond.
The Pope’s face lit up. “Ah, yes, and you rescued all those Russian sailors. I said a special prayer of thanks for that the next day. I applaud your efforts, Commander,” he said.
Rhodes nodded. “Thank you, Holiness, but there is a story there I feel you need to hear.” He opened the large folder and showed the Pope the contents. “This is the story of our chaplain, Father James Danner. Father Danner retired from his service in the navy many years ago, but always volunteered to come back to our ship to serve its crew. On the day we sank the Kirov, I asked him to take charge of the rescue of the Russian crew. Despite the huge numbers of men in the water, he sent the boats out to pick them up. As you will see by the testimony we have gathered, several crewmen saw him offering blessings to the men in the boats as he urged them to their task. During the air attack some time later, Father Danner was wounded, but he refused to seek shelter. Instead, he continued tending to his charges.” Rhodes began to get emotional and paused a moment to regain his composure. The Pope placed his hand on Rhodes arm to steady him. Rhodes nodded and continued. “During the second attack, he was giving last rights to one of my young crewmen when the bomb struck and killed both men.” He pulled out a photo that had been taken and showed it to the Pope. “Your Holiness, the bomb blast slammed them together at the last minute and the same cross of Holy Oil is on both men. The stole also ended up across them both. Our good Father had given the Last Rites to not only the young man but himself as well.”
Rhodes stopped as the Pope said a small prayer for Danner. “That is so touching,” the Pope said with a tear in his eye.
Rhodes continued. “That isn’t all. You see, the water temperature of the sea was only forty degrees. According to our doctor, all those Russian crewmen should have been dead in just a few minutes. Many stayed in the water over thirty before getting picked up. The ship we sank had a nuclear reactor aboard. Every dosimeter we checked showed that those men received a lethal dose of radiation. Yet, none showed any sign of hypothermia or radiation exposure. I firmly believe it was because Father Danner blessed the people before he died.”
“Then there was another incident. We were tasked to go into Sevastopol harbor to try and arrange a truce. No one wanted to harm the civilian population and the cause for the Russians was hopeless. Although we had hoped that the armor on the ship would protect us from harm if the Russians decided to fire on us, I asked the crew to ask Father Danner to look after us in their prayers the night before. In the files you will see where the Russians had intended to try and sink the ship, but despite fifteen or more separate efforts, none worked. Motors failed to start, ammunition failed, accidents happened and equipment malfunctioned. None of it worked. We later found out that after the surrender, suddenly the equipment worked fine. In that short amount of time, somehow we were protected.”
“Then more recently, crewmen aboard the Iowa have reported smelling roses. Most were experiencing some sort of difficult personal issue when they smelled it. Shortly afterward they began feeling better about themselves. Keep in mind, this is while the ship is at sea and out of sight of land. I didn’t think much of it until I got a copy of the report of the autopsy and interment for Father Danner,” Rhodes said. He handed a copy of the report to the Pope. “Then I saw this,” he said.
In the box for the physician’s comments the physician stated that the body was not decaying like the others. In particular, it had the fragrance of fresh cut roses.
The Pope closed his eyes. He held the paper to his chest for a moment. When he looked back at the men his eyes were full of tears.
“Now you see why, as a Catholic, I felt we needed to bring this to your attention,” said Rhodes as he handed over the thick set of files which included the Holy Oils and Danner’s purple stole.
The Pope nodded. “Thank you for bringing us this. I will discuss this with one of my Cardinals at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and tell him it has my special interest.” He reached out and took Rhodes’ hands in his own. “I envy you, Captain. Please let my secretary know how we may get hold of you. If this goes as I expect, I will want you here with us. God bless you for bringing this to our attention.” He turned to Hammond and took his hand. “And bless you, Admiral, for coming to see me today. You not only lifted my spirits, but gave me a revelation about one of my able priests. I will hold you both in my prayers.”
The men stood and the Pope escorted them to the doors before he went to his private chapel for extended prayers.
The conference room was filled with about thirty men and women. All were members of the House and Senate. No one was sure why the meeting had been called, but they had been told it was vitally important they be in attendance.
They all stood as the President entered with several men and made his way to his seat at the table. He noticed that the most senior of the representatives and senators had scarfed up the seats around the table, leaving the rest to find seating along the walls. They all appeared smug and self-confident.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please take a seat. I asked you all here today to lay before you something I consider the most heinous problem we currently have in our government. As you know, come next January, I will be gone, but there is one last thing I wish to accomplish before I leave and I need you to make sure it happens,” the President said. “For decades now our two parties have bickered and fought simply because one was the majority and the other party was doing their dead level best to discredit them and become the majority themselves. Rhetoric has flown both ways and as a result, nothing has gotten done unless we were in a dire emergency. The Congress hasn’t even passed a budget since I have been in office, even though they are submitted every year. My goal is to bring this to an end,” he said.
The Senate Minority Leader chuckled. “And what do you propose that will miraculously change the way we do things?” he asked.
The President looked at the man with disdain. “I want a constitutional amendment passed by the November election to limit terms to four in the House and two in the Senate.”