Hebrew Union College, where I work three days a week, is located a block away from the Pontifical Biblical Institute here in Jerusalem. I've been going there for mass on Saturday nights because there is a pretty regular group of English-speaking Catholics who attend that mass. After a few weeks, I've gotten to know the house's guardian, an Indian Jesuit named Agnello.
This morning on my walk to work, I was almost at the HUC, when I bumped into Agnello, and he invited me to come to lunch at the PBI at 1 pm. Who am I to turn down a free meal?
When I got there, Agnello met me and introduced me to the five Jesuits who were joining us for lunch. The first was an older priest; Agnello said: "This is Cardinal Martini." In my mind, I did a double-take. Martini is a well-known Jesuit cardinal; in fact, after the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, there were some who hoped His Eminence might be elected as John Paul's successor. Although no official counts were released, it was reported that Martini received some votes during the conclave's first vote.
His attire at lunch was slightly less formal.
So there I was, sitting beside the one-time papabile Cardinal Martini during lunch. He was a friendly man and pleasant to speak with, even though he had just arrived the day before from Rome and was jetlagged. When Agnello introduced me, he told the Cardinal that I had attended a Jesuit school, and when I told him I had gone to Weston, he nodded approvingly.
Later Agnello told me that the Cardinal has lived at the PBI for the last few years, ever since his mandatory retirement at the age of 80.
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