The camera lingers on Lenny Belardo, Pope Pius XIII, as he steps onto the balcony of the Apostolic Palace. His voice, low yet sharp, carries across the silence.
Pope Pius XIII:
*”Mystic River… a film that unveiled the terrible wound of innocence stolen, a river darkened by the sins of men. And yet, even darker is the hidden truth: the symbols the predators wear, the rings they twist upon their fingers like tokens of secret brotherhood. Rings that flip, rings that bind them in their silent oath of corruption.
Look upon this—* (he gestures to a screen, where a YouTube clip of masonic flip rings is shown) —a tool, a disguise, a mark of the men who whisper their numbers, six six six, as if eternity were theirs to seize.”
He pauses, his face hardening into divine judgment.
Pope Pius XIII:
*”But I tell you, children of Cain, you masons of the shadow lodges, you shall not inherit eternal life. The resurrection you dream of—your cloning in the year 2033, your blasphemous parody of Psalm 133—will be swallowed. Not by light. Not by grace. But by fire.
Your bones, your ashes, your unrepentant pride will be cast into Mount Etna, that ancient furnace of God’s anger. And there you shall remain. Forever.
For life eternal is not a trick of science. It is not stolen flesh, nor counterfeit rebirth. It is gift. It is Christ. And only the humble shall receive it.”*
The screen fades to black. The sound of distant volcanic rumbling is heard, as if Etna itself answers the Pope’s words.