Keys of This Blood (119 page)

But after some ten minutes, Frankevic began to worry: How would or could all this be ended decorously, fittingly? He need not have worried.

Eventually, the silent posture of Pope and cardinals affected the onlookers behind the cordon of security guards. It was a group of German pilgrims who first broke into a softly sung version of the old Catholic hymn “Salve Regina,” the medieval world's universally known and loved canticle of praise and supplication to the Virgin Mary. As they sang, more and more voices joined in. But in the vast expanse of the Basilica, the chant remained a thin piping chorus of voices wafting up into the ample spaces of that huge nave, echoing in the spanning dome and dying away in gently receding waves of appeal and hope and painful expectation.

When the last few notes were still simmering in all ears, it was the old weeping Chilean who took the initiative. To everybody's surprise, and to the horror of the few very formal-minded cardinals present, Suva tapped Valeska lightly on the shoulder with a knobby, bony finger. The sequence of events that followed could have been conceived by an expert choreographer.

In the eyes of the onlookers, the actions and expressions of Pope and cardinal were so unusual and spontaneous that they passed in front of the pilgrims and visitors like a series of sharply defined segments in a filmed drama, a series of slow-motion images designed to convey a spiritual vision and message.

Silva tapping the Pontiffs shoulder … Valeska craning around, smiling, listening to the old man … Suva's bulging eyes and moving lips … Valeska shaking his head, still smiling … Suva nodding vigorously, his mouth open in protest, every line of his gaunt, parchment-like face wreathed in vehemence … Valeska rising slowly and turning around to face the cardinals … Suva trying to kneel down, but instead falling with a little cry, like a thrown bundle of scarlet robes, at Valeska's feet, his lips touching the instep of Valeska's right shoe, one hand fumbling desperately for Valeska's hand as the Pope stretched it down to help him … Suva seizing it and kissing the Fisherman's Ring on the fourth finger … some Vatican aides rushing with shocked faces to pick the old man up and carry him away between them….

After that, what happened etched itself even more graphically in onlookers' memories: Cardinals rising slowly to their feet. Some standing and looking around. Some moving forward immediately to kneel and kiss Valeska's instep and ring. Others, once on their feet, whispering and gesticulating with colleagues, shooting half-frightened glances in Valeska's
direction. Other cardinals standing by themselves, at a total loss. Many lining up in a rough queue in order to perform that double obeisance. Many others backing away as from a dangerous situation, in groups of fives and sevens, eventually piercing the security cordon and leaving the scene with stiffly closed mouths and hooded eyes. They wanted no truck with this act of theater, or with this Pope's real character, now plainly known to them. Now their attitude was a matter of public record too. Why not? All was clear and in the light of day, for their colleagues, for Valeska, for the people.

Throughout it all, Valeska stood mute, motionless, a look of deep tiredness veiling his face, apparently not seeing anyone or anything in particular, withdrawn into some invisible sanctum of his own, some holy of holies, not even reacting as each cardinal held his hand momentarily, kissed it, kissed his instep, and withdrew. Some few gave a quick upward glance at his face, then looked away and departed. Valeska was oblivious to all this, apparently. He did not know how many came forward, and how many turned their backs on him. But Frankevic was assiduously counting and identifying the recalcitrants—actually forty-six of them, and not one surprise among them.

Eventually, it came to an end. Only Valeska remained, his back to the balustrade, Frankevic and Vatican aides standing to one side. The Pope motioned to the officials standing by. He walked over to the marble staircase and disappeared slowly down into the crypt below, as the great bells of St. Peter's starting tolling out the noon Angelus in their inimitable ocean-deep tones. The security cordon drew near, surrounding the High Altar and the balustrade. Other security officers persuaded most of the onlookers to move on.

Frankevic stood apart, tears of joy and frustration blinding him. At least, he reasoned, all was clear now. Friend and foe were on notice. Even if His Holiness had failed to rally all his cardinals, as he had failed in the past to rally all his bishops; and even if his pontificate was reckoned a failure on the human scale; still, ambiguity had been dispelled. Frankevic remembered the sense, but not the exact words, of a desperate plea and prayer made by the Greek warrior Ajax, forced to fight superior odds on a darkened plain:

Father in Heaven,
Deliver us from this darkness.
And make our skies clear.
If we must die,
Let us die in the Light.

Abalkin, Leonid, 387, 642

Abatov, Georgi A., 397

abortion, 262, 263, 11, 340, 361, 364, 623, 632, 673–74

Abraham, 133, 139, 670

Acheson, Dean, 334

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), 188, 330, 379

Act of Krakow (1433), 506

Act of Union (1413), 505, 514, 531

Acton, John Emerich Edward

Dalberg-Acton, Baron, 112, 178

Acts, 686

Adalbert, Saint, 102

Adolphus Gustavus II, King of Sweden, 524, 525

Advent Christian Church, 286

Adventists, 285, 286

Adzhubei, Aleksei, 144, 434, 583

Adzhubei, Rada Nikitichna, 421

Afanasyev, Yuri N., 469

Afghanistan, 184, 443, 467, 471–72, 478

Soviet aid to, 392

Soviet withdrawal from, 369, 648

Africa:

aid and loans to, 165–66

AIDS in, 188

decolonization of, 153

famine in, 160, 167–68

John Paul II's visit to, 475–76

nationalism in, 267

World Bank report on, 167–68

African National Congress (ANC), 67, 649

aggiornamento
, 143, 145, 264

Ahlstrom, Krister, 268

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), 188, 330, 379

Albania, 186, 233, 252, 449, 498

Alchemist Society of Nuremberg, 525

alchemy, 520, 527

Alexander I, Czar of Russia, 533

Alexandra, Czarina of Russia, 211

Ali Agca, Mehmet, 46, 47, 49, 439, 625, 634, 638

Alliluyeva, Nadezhda, 228

All-Russian Extraordinary

Commission to Counteract

Counter-Revolution and Sabotage,
see
CHEKA

American Economic Association, 171

American Trade Consortium, 389

ANC (African National Congress), 67, 649

Andrews, Dwayne, 388

Andriessen, Frans, 642

Andropov, Yuri, 377, 387

death of, 242

as General Secretary, 197, 253

Gorbachev's career aided by, 27, 383, 390, 393, 418, 624

Angelists, 284–85, 287, 643

Angell, Wayne, 643

Anglican community, 141, 288

Angola, 161, 166, 184, 392

animists, 259, 289

Antonios of Florence, 505

Antunez, Jaime, 274

apartheid, 290

APO (Asian-Pacific Organization), 324

Apostles, 132, 133, 135, 140, 661, 676

Aquinas, Saint Thomas, 42, 79, 505

Aquino Corazon, 154

Arab League, 185

Arab nations, 161

Arafat, Yasir, 649

Aral Sea, 400

Araskog, Rand, 643

Archer-Daniels-Midland, 389

ARE (Assembly of Regions of Europe), 324

Argentina, 69, 166

Armenia, 110, 544

Bolshevik domination of, 231

Church of, 141

earthquake in, 414, 419

nationalist movement in, 30, 272, 442, 648

Turkish atrocities in, 163

arms race, 179, 180

Arns, Paulo Evaristo Cardinal, 612, 615, 683

ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations), 324

Asia:

aid and loans to, 165–66

decolonization of, 153

Tiger nations of, 161, 289, 324, 648

Asian-Pacific Organization (APO), 324

Aspin, Les, 427

Assad, Hafez, 37

Assembly of Regions of Europe (ARE), 324

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), 324

atomic bomb, 240, 335

Augustine, Saint, 79

Augustus III, King of Poland, 528

Ausable Club, 336

Auschwitz, 105

Australia, 329

Austria, 438, 529, 530, 538

auto industry, 320, 328

Autumn of the Patriarch, The
(García Márquez), 107

Axelrod, P. B.,195

Azerbaijan, 30, 231, 272, 442, 544

Babonikov, Ratmir S., 155

Bacci, Cardinal, 680

Bacon, Francis, 519–20

Baha'i, 139, 300

Baha'U'llah, 300–301, 306, 307

Baker, James, III, 34, 5, 457, 467, 471–72, 649

balance, principle of, 175–76, 178, 179, 180, 181, 183, 188, 198, 199

Ball, George, 393

Baltic States, 176, 182, 272, 442, 453, 466, 645, 648 see also Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania

Bangladesh, 407

Bankers Trust, 386

banking industry, 328, 643

Bank of America, 386

Baptists, 285

Baraniak, Bishop Anton, 549

Barrett, J. Patrick, 314

Barth, Karl, 362

Base Communities, 261, 263

Basque, 498

Bay of Pigs invasion, 130

Baziak, Archbishop Eugeniusz, 546

Bea, Augustin Cardinal, 258

Beagle Channel, 69

Bechtel Group, 314

Beecham Group P.K.C., 328–29

Beethoven, Ludwig van, 72

Belken, Victor, 387

Belknapp
, U.S.S., 445

Belloc, Hilaire, 500, 652

Benedict XIV, Pope, 136

Benelli, Giovanni Cardinal, 612, 613, 615

Benin, 126, 161

Beran, Archbishop Josef, 583

Berdyayev, Nikolay, 365

Beregsten, C. Fred, 323

Berghoffer, Wolfgang, 646

Berkov, Aleksandr, 439–40

Berlin Wall, 430–31, 440, 490, 645

Berlocco, Hiacintho, 375

Bernardin, Joseph, 683

Bettelheim, Bruno, 291

Bible, 356, 519

Bierut, Boleslaw, 552, 554, 555, 556, 557, 566, 567, 568, 570, 573, 577

Bild
, 397

Birkenau, 105

birth control, 144, 262, 263, 311, 339, 340, 345, 361, 364, 623, 632, 673–74

Bishop, D. H., 299

Black, Eugene, 336

Black Monday, 318

Blair & Company, 334

blame, industry of, 187–88

Blanshard, Paul, 376

Bogin, Bogdan, 101

Bogomolov, Oleg, 642

Bohlen, Charles “Chip,” 334

Boleslaw the Bold, King of Poland, 93

Boleslaw the Pious, King of Poland, 504

Bolivia, 166

Bolshevik party, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 227, 231, 236, 245

Bolweg, Jesus, 154

Bonifacja, Elzbieta, 504

Bonner, Yelena, 413

Book of Charges
, 521

Bora, Katherine von, 135

Borodin, Mikhail Markovich, 232, 246

Borovy (Metropolitan Prelate), 583

Bosch, Juan, 130

Boyer, Ernest L., 330

Brady, Nicholas F., 170

Brady Plan, 170

Brazanskas, Algirdas, 469

Brazil, 130, 154, 166

Bretton Woods Agreements, 318

Brezhnev, Leonid, 197, 253, 259, 268, 270, 383, 420, 426, 621, 624

détente and, 26, 255–56

doctrine of, 180, 183, 255

on John Paul II's visit to Poland, 95, 109

military buildup under, 28

Poland and, 271

Brezhnev, Viktoria, 421

British Petroleum, 328

Brittan, Sir Leon, 642

Bronstein, Lev, 212

Brundtland, Gro Harlem, 323

Bryen, Stephen D., 392

Buchenwald, 549

Buck, Pearl, 298

Buddhism, 139, 259, 289, 297, 302, 304, 331, 670

Bukharin, Nikolai, 407, 408

Bulgaria, 110, 191, 440, 468, 555

Burkina Faso, 159, 189, 475, 476

Burma, 37

Bush, George, 369, 375, 424, 431, 441, 457, 648

China and, 357, 404

geopolitical framework of, 34

Gorbachev and, 427–30, 432, 443, 445, 449–50, 465–66, 650

Hungary visited by, 366

at Malta Summit, 443, 445, 449–450, 465–66, 650

Byelorussia, 231, 436, 442, 453

Byzantine empire, 501

Caamaño Deñó, Francisco, 130, 131

cabalists, 520, 526, 527

CACM (Central American Common Market), 323

Caesar, Gaius Julius, 83

caesaropapi, 25

Calfa, Marian, 644

Calvin, John, 362

Calvinism, 507, 509

Cambodia, 180, 421, 648

Campaoré, Blaise, 159

Canada, 320, 321, 323, 324

canon law, 680

Cape Verde, 475, 476

Carberry, John Cardinal, 616

Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), 323

Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM), 323

Carnegie Endowment Fund, 332

Carnegie Foundation for

Advancement of Teaching, 330

Carter, Jimmy, 71

Casaroli, Agostino Cardinal, 435, 447, 451, 457

Cassidy, Archbishop Edward, 375, 451, 462–63

Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 531

Castro, Fidel, 441–42, 449, 457, 645

Cathedral of Kazan, 461

Catherine of Polish Star, 529

Catherine of Siena, 134–35, 137, 518

Caucasian race, 497–98, 499, 502

CBI (Caribbean Basin Initiative), 323

Ceauşescu, Elena, 440

Ceauşescu, Nicolae, 186, 381, 440, 468

Center for Defense Information, 388

Central American Common Market (CACM), 323

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 314, 570

CFR (Council on Foreign Relations), 334, 335, 337

Chad, 159, 475, 476

Chanturya, Georgi, 411

Chapin, Schuyler G., 357

Chase Manhattan Bank, 335, 336, 386

CHEKA (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to Counteract Counter-Revolution and Sabotage), 217–22, 231, 236, 250