And so today I address you with a sad he...

And so today I address you with a sad heart and a new message, a message of hope for the salvation of all who will hear it. A sad heart because today, before you, the Catholic faithful, whom I have served with all the dedication of which I am capable, I must announce my resignation from the papacy. (crowd objects; he quiets them) Forgive me, but my decision is final – and decreed by heaven. (same business) No, no, I have already called for a conclave of the College of Cardinals to elect a new pope, and, God willing, I will serve until their task is accomplished. Now, let me turn to my reason for doing so. I can no longer devote my life to much of the fundamental dogma of the Church. (uproar; attempts to quell it) Hear me out! I beg of you, hear me! Christ and the other members of the Holy Trinity have commanded that I go among you and teach a new Gospel – a Gospel that is much different than the one you know, but the good news – for, as you may know, "good news" is what the word "Gospel" means – that I will communicate to you has been instilled in me by Christ himself. (holds up hands) The proof is present before you. These wounds, with which heaven has seen fit to bless me, are to serve as a sign that I speak, not for myself, but for Christ himself, our Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Mother. All have appeared to me in person and told me what I must do. The good news of Christ's new Gospel is a message that is right for these treacherous yet hopeful times, so fraught with danger, yet graced with promise – a new Gospel that, heaven hopes, will be sufficient to save us from ourselves, as our ancient beliefs have not. From this day forth, I will come among you and preach, not the doctrine of Original Sin, but of Original Blessing … (uproar; quells it) … that we humans evolved on the earth as a great blessing from God, a demonstration, not of his displeasure with us, but of his benevolence toward us; that our purpose is not to dismiss this life as inadequate to our hopes, but to devote ourselves to it as a blessing – yea, a very miracle among and within us! – from the hands of God; and that to earn another life we must not retreat for this one, but do our very best with it – so that each of us may strive to fulfill his or her finest God-given potential, which includes the appreciation and care of, not only our own lives, but the lives of all the other members of the family of humanity and, in fact, all the other forms of life that God has so generously prepared the groundwork for the evolution of. Yea, I say unto you that your greatest sanctity is not to be found in preparing for death but in living in ways that are worthy of God's miraculous gift of life, by striving to fulfill the finest potential of your own life – of your mind, your body, and your spirit, by which I mean the life energy that sustains you, your personal share of the energy with which God has suffused the universe. Now, I will even come among you to preach, not that death is an occasion for mourning, but for the celebration of the life that has been so generously granted, be it long or ever so brief; and to recognize that, once you have lived, you do not die. All of your acts and achievements become part of the eternal tapestry of human fulfillment, and, as such, they will live forever. Because, as Christ Jesus explained to me, once something has happened, it has happened forever. It becomes an eternal part of the great unfolding of the universe. So I say unto you that if you live, you will not die. Yes, your life will, in time, complete its span. But, if you will but appreciate what a blessing it has been, you can be satisfied – grateful you were born and able to experience the miracle of life! Satisfied even if this life were, in God's wisdom, the only table He has set for us. For part of life was, is, and always will be a mystery, whose ultimate answers lie, not within our ken, but within the mind of all that is divine. But now I have said enough. Soon, I will come among you and reveal more of what heaven has willed me to tell you. But now I conclude with my final papal blessing. Bless you, dear living body of the Holy Catholic Church, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Benedictus

For licensing inquiries, please contact tattea@gmail.com