Chapter 10 Chapter 10 The Astronaut and the Pope

General O'Toole was so excited last night that he slept less than two hours in all.The extreme excitement, combined with jet lag, kept his mind racing throughout the night.Lying there, he has been admiring the idyllic murals on the wall opposite the bed, counting the animals painted on them time and time again.But it was no use, he was still staring, not sleepy. He took several deep breaths, trying to relax himself.He asked himself, "Why are you so nervous! Isn't he human just like everyone else on Earth?" O'Toole straightened up in his chair and smiled.It was ten o'clock in the morning, and he was sitting in a small hall in the Vatican, awaiting an unofficial summons from Pope John Paul V.

As a child, Michael O'Toole often dreamed of one day becoming the first bishop of North America. "Bishop Michael," he called himself after long, solitary Sunday afternoons studying Catholic doctrine.He read the doctrinal booklet over and over, trying to get the words in his head.He imagined that maybe fifty years later, he would put on the priest's robe and the bishop's ring, stand in the largest church and square in the world, and receive the cheers of thousands of people; People plagued by poverty, disappointment and abuse, lead them to create a new life. Junior O'Toole enjoyed all of his subjects, but three fascinated him the most: theology, history, and physics, which he could never get enough of.Somehow, his flexible mind can easily jump back and forth between different concepts; the diametrically opposed ways of knowing in religion and physics have never confused him, and he knows how to distinguish which are the answers to life, What is scientific knowledge.

The three courses he loves happened to be used by him to weave creation meditation.He believes that theology, history, and physics can explain the origin of everything in the final analysis.He often asked, how did the moment when the world was opened up happen?18 billion years ago, did God act as the referee and start a cosmic contest?He cast spells, sowed clouds and rain, and caused upheavals known as "the Big Bang of Cosmic Creation."From then on, countless hydrogen atoms, booming, gathered gas to form clouds, and then collapsed and rotated under the action of gravity, forming billions of magical planets. In this way, flowers, plants, birds, insects, and all living things can be created under the action of chemical rules. , multiply.

"Oh yes, I've never lost my interest and enthusiasm for the question of 'creation,'" O'Toole thought as he waited for an audience with the Pope. What special causal relationship?" I remember when I was a teenager, I once asked the pastor, "Maybe, I shouldn't decide to become a pastor, because it limits my freedom to pursue scientific truth. Obviously, the church is very concerned about my conflict between God and God. Einstein has never been happier swinging between." Yesterday afternoon, when O'Toole returned from a trip, an American priest from the Vatican was waiting for him in his hotel in Rome.The pastor introduced himself and apologized for not replying to O'Toole's letter.He also explained that if O'Toole had indicated in the letter that he was "General O'Toole who participated in Operation Newton," the misunderstanding would not have occurred.In any case, he said, the meeting had been arranged, and the pope was very happy to meet with O'Toole.

The door leading to the Pope's office opened slowly, and the American general stood up subconsciously.The pastor who met yesterday walked in and shook O'Toole's hand nervously.The two of them looked towards the porch, where the Pope entered the drawing room, talking with a deacon.With a happy smile on his face, the Pope held out his hand.O'Toole respectfully kissed the pope's ring. O'Toole said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for taking the time to see me. It is the greatest honor of my life." His heart was pounding with excitement. "It is a pleasure to meet you too, my child. I have been following with great interest everything you and your colleagues do," the pope said in slightly accented English.He waved to O'Toole, who followed him into the tall, wide office.A life-size portrait of Paul IV hangs on the wall above a large dark wood desk on one side of the room.During the 20 years of great turmoil, as a spiritual leader, Paul IV guided the world and the church, giving them inspiration and strength.Originally from Venezuela, he is both a poet and a historian. Between 2139 and 2158, when every institution in the world was nearly dismantled and unable to rescue the bewildered mortals, he showed the world how positive a well-organized church could be.

The pope sat down on a pew and motioned for O'Toole to sit beside him.The American pastor left the room. In front of O'Toole and the Pope, a huge floor-to-ceiling window opened onto a colonnaded balcony; 20 feet below, the beautiful gardens of the Vatican.In the distance are the Vatican Museums, where O'Toole was yesterday afternoon. "You said in your letter," the pope said straight to the point, "that you wanted to discuss some 'theoretical issues' with me. I think this must be related to your operation!" O'Toole looked at this seventy-year-old man with respect, the spiritual leader of one billion Catholics. He had olive skin, sharp facial features, black hair that was almost white, and kind eyes.O'Toole quickly replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. As you know, this operation is of great importance and attracts worldwide attention. As a Catholic, I take the liberty to ask for an interview, hoping to use your wisdom to obtain your help."

The Pope nodded, waiting for him to continue.O'Toole took a deep breath and said, "The issue of atonement has always been on my mind. I even suspect that it's part of a larger problem. I believe the Rama people believe in the same beliefs as we do." The pope frowned slightly.O'Toole felt that he had not conveyed his meaning accurately, so he added: "In any case, if the Rama people are regarded as God's creation, then it is easy to understand. However, are the Rama people Do they have the same spiritual evolution pattern as us earthlings and thus need to be saved? If so, will God also send them a Jesus who may look like the Rama people in order to save from their sins Their souls? Is our evolutionary pattern universally applicable and recurring throughout the universe?"

The Pope smiled and said: "Very well, General," he said humorously, "you have a quick and quick mind. You must understand that I cannot give an immediate answer to such a deep question. Scholars of the Church have since Since Rama appeared seventy years ago, we have been paying attention to and studying this issue. Of course, after the second Rama spaceship arrived recently, we will strengthen our exploration of this issue.” "But, Your Majesty, what is your personal opinion?" O'Toole asked stubbornly. "Are the beings who built two sophisticated spaceships also guilty of original sin and sometimes needed a savior? Is the legend of Jesus unique to Earth? Or is the story of Jesus just one chapter in an infinitely long book?" Chapter, all intelligent creatures need atonement in exchange for rebirth?"

"I'm not sure." After a while the Pope replied, "Sometimes I feel that it is very difficult to fully understand that there are intelligent beings in other parts of the universe, far away. Then when I understand, After it was true that they would not look the same as us, I tried hard to get rid of the images of theological thinking, which are exactly the questions you raised this morning." He paused, thinking, "However, many times , I imagine the Rama people also had many things to learn in the beginning, God created them, and they were not perfect, and as they developed, He also sent Jesus to them..."

The pope cut off his words and looked at General O'Toole. "Yes," he said softly, "there will be Jesus too, which is exactly what you asked me. It is my personal belief. I believe that Jesus is both the Savior and the only Son of God. It will only be him, God would have sent him among the Ramas, just in a different way." At the end of the Pope's speech, General O'Toole's face lit up. "I agree with you, Your Majesty," he said enthusiastically, "so that the spiritual experience of all intelligent beings is the same everywhere in the universe. Very, very realistically, if the Ramas and other species If we were saved, then we are all brothers and sisters. In short, we are products of the same basic chemical process. This means that heaven is not just a place for human beings, but will include all intelligences everywhere creatures, as long as they accept the teachings of God."

"I've seen the conclusions you might have drawn," John Paul replied, "but it's certainly not a universally held view. Even in the Church, the Rama people are not viewed the same way." "You mean some denominations quote the words of Saint Michael to prove certain points?" The Pope nodded. "From my own point of view," said General O'Toole, "I find their interpretation of the Rama people in terms of the teachings of Saint Michael too narrow to believable. They say that the arrival of alien spaceships may Is a herald, like Elijah and Isaiah, to foretell the second coming of Christ. Michael does not explicitly say The Ramas play only a special role in our history and have no other function or existence. He is simply explaining the profound impact of this event on the human spiritual world." The Pope smiled again: "I can see that you have spent a lot of time and energy thinking about this question. What I knew about you was only partially correct. Your file mentions that you are dedicated to God, to the Church and to your family, but very little mention of your passion for theological studies." "I consider this operation to be the most important task of my life. I want to affirm that my actions are right for God and for man. I want to do everything possible to prepare myself in every way, including understanding and discovering the The spiritual world of the Mar people. This is related to the success or failure of our actions." After a short pause, O'Toole said again: "By the way, Your Majesty. According to the analysis of the previous contact with Rama, has the church found any clues to understand the spiritual world of the Rama people?" Pope Paul V shook his head and said: "There is nothing really reliable. It is just that I have a pious bishop whose religious enthusiasm often blinds the eyes of logic. After painstaking research, he insisted that in Rama inside, repeated symmetric structures characterized by three, suggest that Rama itself was a kind of temple architecture. He may be right, but we cannot say for sure. We have not found any other evidence for the construction of the first spaceship Whether the living beings are religious." "Interesting, I've never thought of that before," said General O'Toole excitedly. "It would surprise David Brown to imagine that it's really a kind of temple." O'Toole laughed and explained Said, "Dr. Brown insists that since Rama's engineering is far beyond human comprehension, we poor humans have no chance of ascertaining the purpose of the craft, and we cannot understand anything about it. Of course, there is no such thing as Rama's religion. He believes that since they can build such incredible interstellar spaceships, then they have left those inexplicable religious things far behind in countless centuries of history gone." "Dr. Brown is an atheist, isn't he?" asked the pope. O'Toole nodded. "He's an outspoken guy. He thinks any religious thought just messes with the brain. He thinks anyone who disagrees with him is an idiot." "What about the rest of the team? Are they as stubborn as Brown on this issue?" "He's an outspoken atheist, although I think Walkefir, Taburi, and Tugyeva share his attitude. The strangest thing is, my gut tells me that Commander Posov The officer was also skeptical about religion, as is the case with people who have been through the turmoil, but he seemed to enjoy asking me questions about my beliefs." He paused, thought about it, and weighed the belief status of all the team members on the Newton, and then said: "The two European women, De Jardin and Sabatini, are standard Catholics. It’s hard to imagine how devout they would be. Admiral Hellman is a Lutheran, Takagishi is Zen, and I don’t know about the other two.” The Pope stood up and walked to the window: "That strange and wonderful spaceship was created by some kind of species on another planet. It flew towards us from the depths of the vast universe; and we sent 12 Astronauts to make contact with it." He turned to General O'Toole, "The craft may be a messenger from God, and if that is the case, only you can discern that." O'Toole didn't answer. The Pope looked out of the window again and stood there silently for a full minute.Finally, he said softly, part to himself, part to O'Toole: "No, my boy, I have no answers to your questions, only God. If you need them, you Just pray and He will answer you." He turned to O'Toole and said, "I have to tell you, I'm so glad you care about these issues. I'm confident that God chose you for this operation on purpose." General O'Toole understood that the scheduled time for the interview had passed, so he stood up and said, "Your Majesty the Pope, thank you again for receiving me. I feel extremely honored." John Paul V smiled, walked toward his guest, bid him farewell with a European hug, and escorted O'Toole out of the office himself.