The Fall of Peter

Malachy

1. In the next night, Abate breaks in Peter's office one more time, in an attempt to find any personal document. He fails, as Peter has no records in any place. After taking pictures of Peter's notes, Abate puts them back in the hidden compartment.
2. He confirms if there's nothing in the verse, but in the back of the third note he finds some faded words, which could still be read.
3. And it was written "Gospel of Simeon Armadi, the chosen one".
4. Abate takes a picture of it as well, locks the drawer, and leaves the office before he gets caught. As he leaves the resistance headquarters, he calls for a ride with his phone.

5. The car drops Abate by a giant library. It was pitch dark and closed, but somehow he had the keys and opened it.
6. Abate grabs some books and puts them on the table. He sits in the chair and calls a friend with his phone. He gives the name in the back of Peter's note to the person on the other side of the line. Abate, then, turns off his cellphone, puts it aside, and starts to search for something in the books.
7. His willingness is unstoppable, he furiosly flips through the pages, with maximum concentration. But, he starts to get discouraged, as he finds no answers.
8. After a couple of hours, Abate involuntarily falls aslep. He immediately wakes up, with no intention to lose his focus. But in a few seconds, someone appears in the dark closed library.

9. "Excuse me, sir, do you need help?"
The person says.

10. Abate is about to dismiss the man's help, but he suddenly reminds that no one besides him should be in that place. He looks up and sees a familiar face, in an outdated vesture.

11. "No way... Saint Malachy??"
Abate asks, suprised like he's just seeing a ghost, which was probably true.

12. "Yes, son. So, I will ask you again. Do you need some help?"
The Saint asks one more time.

13. "Okay... I'm probably dreaming. So, that means that if you give me any answers, it's because the answer is already in my mind, I just can't find it."
Abate smartly says.

14. "Or maybe our Holy God sent me here to ease your afflictions... In either way, you'll get your answer, son."
Saint Malachy assures him.

15. "Alright. Is the prophecy true? Is this 'Peter' supposed to be the ruin of our church?"
Abate calmly asks.

16. "Well..."
The saint sits in the chair in front of the cardinal and continues:
"Tell me, what did my prophecy say?"

17. "It said that after Pope Innocent II, there would be only 112 popes. And the last one would be Peter The Roman."
Abate answers.

18. "And in which pope are we now?"
Saint Malachy asks.

"The 112th."
Abate easily responded.

19. "And is he Peter The Roman?"
The saint asks one more time.

"No... it's Pope Francis. But what if his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, wouldn't have resigned? What if Peter had a chance to be in Pope Francis' place?"
Abate wonders in profound doubt.

20. "So, what can you tell me about this little mistake, considering the hypothesis that the prophecy is true?"
Saint Malachy asks again.

21. "Well, it was a vision from God, so He would've known about this resignation. So, maybe God predicted that the people would have fallen into a sinful disgrace, and maybe the Vatican would've even be a place of worshipping to other 'gods'.
22. And now, somehow, God saw that it didn't happen, making Pope Benedict XVI resign to prevent the fulfilling of His own prophecy."
Abate smartly rationalized.

23. "It seems very plausible to me..."
The saint answers, but Abate is not very satisfied with that answer, even if he was the one who thought about that possibility.

24. "Do you really want me to believe that our Lord made a mistake?"
Abate asked, disbelieved.

25. "Well, doesn't everybody make mistakes?"
Saint Malachy asks.

"Yeah, but not God... right?"
Abate affirms, but hesitating.

26. "Don't you think that God felt wrong when he created paradise for Adam and Eve, just so those two would act stubbornly stupid and eat from the forbidden tree?
The saint makes a good point.

27. "Maybe..."
The cardinal doesn't know the answer

28. "Remember when no one could believe when the prophet Samuel, by the words of God, told that the coward Saul would be the new king of the Israelites? And yet, he proved himself to be a good leader. But, later he sinned so much that God Himself was already preparing another heir?"
Saint Malachy asks.

29. "Yes I do. After Saul's death, the great David became the king, one of the best."
Abate answers.

30. "So, don't you think that, at some point, God changed his mind because of something that didn't happen according to His plan, just like with Saul?"
The saint makes another good point.

31. "Of course..."
Abate says, now with more certainty.

"The difference is that, back then, it was a bad happening. Now, it's a good one!"
The saint says with joy.

32. "So, God saved us... So, we can't let Peter brings us to ruin. That would just revert the Lord's mercy."
Abate realizes in this crazy epiphany. But he still wondered if this apparition was a vision a God indeed.

33. "You see, people pray to God and expect to get answers right away. But do you think that God will give you the answer, or He'll give you an opportunity to find the answer?"
Saint Malachy reflected.

34. "You're right... Also, even though your prophecy now is just a bunch of crap, I've heard that there was a cardinal who tried to take advantage with it."
Abate talks about it before the saint fades away.

35. "Oh, I know about that!"
The saint replies immediately.

"What?! How?"
Abate surprisedly asks.

36. "Well, I'm a saint... in heaven... with God... do the math..."
Saint Malachy replies with a surprising tone of condescension.

37. "That makes sense..."
Abate comments.

"Actually, I know exactly what happened with this cardinal... Do you wanna know?"
The saint asks Abate.

38. "Hold up! Is this some kind of 'some things are better left unsaid', so you're testing my temptations and curiosity?"
The cardinal doubts the saint.

39. "You can assume that. But, I know how cultural are your researches, I bet you wanna know about it anyway."
Saint Malachy says.

40. "You really are a holy creature... Please, tell me about him: the cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli."
Abate gives in to his curiosity. Little did he know that this would eventually cost his mental sanity.

41. "Alright! I'll make it look like you're there."
The saint affirms.

"Are you going to narrate it?"
Abate asks.

42. "Better than that, son."
Saint Malachy replies, as he touches the cardinal's forehead and gives him a point of view experience of what happened in the second conclave of 1590...