Healthy Realism

As on a number of previous occasions, the Bishop of Rome has found it necessary to correct an error of the Saviour's. On a visit to L'Aquila, where God played one of His little pranks thirteen years ago, the Pope praised the humility of his thirteenth-century predecessor Celestine V, a masochistic anchorite who was elected in desperation following two years of argumentative deadlock. Having made much of his reluctance to accept the office, Celestine resigned after five months, and his humility so impressed his successor that he threw Celestine into the clink for the rest of his life. The idea that Celestine showed humility in relinquishing power rather than in wielding it may come as a surprise to those acquainted with the Saviour's dictum that the greatest of all should be the servant of all; but it seems the Messiah's grasp of Catholic doctrine had its shaky points even beyond His notorious prejudice against worldly wealth.