The Trial of Pope Pius

“The prisoner will state his name.”
“The prisoner will state his name!”
At this emphatic refrain
One short look informs
This saintly crowd of Monsignors
This tonsured flock in pinafores
A simple explanation for
The silence of the prisoner.
His hair is matted on his head
His eyes are closed within his head
His skin like parchment, cracked and red
His mouth a rictus tightly spread
His limbs contort in rigor’s stead
No movement stirs from foot to head
Throughout which maggots thickly spread.
In short, the man is clearly dead.

“Bailiff! Did the prisoner manifest
Or, as well as you can express
Demonstrate a tendency
To recalcitrancy
When you brought him up from
The Catacombs?”
The Chief Inquisitor intones.
“Recalcitrancy, your honor?
He’s dead, I’ll swear.”
“Yes, yes,”
The judge acquiesces
“But remember, my good man
This is no ordinary criminal
He is a part of the Divine Plan
And not subject to mere temporal
Limitations.
His Pontifical station
Brings him divine inspiration
Should he decline our invitation
To refute recriminations
To participate in discussion
Of his crimes, their repercussions
That’s entirely his decision.”

The Chambers were resplendent
In their early morning glow
A giant crucifix transcendent
Gold and saffron all below
The Cardinals in vermillion
Did their riveted interest show
As they focused their attention
On the prisoner they all know.

The charges against the prisoner”
states the sainted Grand Inquisitor
“Instigated by his Holiness
The current Pope Sylvester
State that Pius
Who we all know as his immediate predecessor
Had engaged in acts
Of a character most sinister.
Lechery, debauchery,
Sodomy and simony
Embezzling the treasury
Comforting the enemy.
In short, he must have punishment
For ordering Sylvester’s banishment.”

“If I may be so bold, Sir”
squeaks the Junior Inquisitor
“The prisoner has ceased to be.
What possible functionality
Can lie
In attempting to try
Him for a crime?”

“My dear, dear colleague
You are charmingly naïve.
The function of our law, you see
Is not to protect society
But to give credibility
To our rich and powerful clergy!
Now Pius, to his everlasting shame
Was actually true to his name
He sought to promote God and truth
Not simply to accumulate wealth
He seemed to see his function
As fighting against corruption.
We must discredit this intention.”

And so, most expeditiously
Though not, in fact, judiciously
Pope Pius’ corpse was summarily
Put through some legal mummery.
When all the facts were clear
As least for the purposes of the Grand Inquisitor
His dead bones were drawn and quartered
And thrown into the Tiber.
Does this make him a martyr?

© Copyright Jerome Raymond Kraus 2005