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eautiful too. But he believes that it belongs in a heathen temple, not in the Vatican.”
“The Pope is so holy that he does not know the ways of men,” she said. “Things of
beauty remind me of God. That is how I think of this exquisite ivory cup.”
“I agree,” he said.
“Are you really going to throw the cup away?” she asked.
“No,” he replied, “but I will send it to Lagos in Portugal, to the men of Prince
Henry the Navigator who brought the object home. There is a small paper label, which
says that it is from Lagos, in the Slave Coast.”
“Will the Pope find out if you did not send it to Portugal?” she asked.
“No, he does not care. He just wants it out of the Vatican.”
“But suppose a Pope in the future wanted the object, my father?” she asked him.
“Suppose you, as a Pope, in the future, wanted the object, and the present Pope has
thrown it away? How would that make you feel, father?”
“It would not matter,” he said.
“But if you would like to keep it, father, “ she said, “you have the moral obligation
to do so. For the sake of posterity. So you could restore it to the treasures of the Vatican
when you become the Pope.”
“You are right, my dear,” Cardinal Borgia said.
“If you want, I can keep it for you, father,” she said. “At my place, it will be safe.
And whenever you visit, you can use it to drink your wine.” He smiled. He thought
it was a great idea. When she left the Vatican seminary that evening, she left with the
box, wrapped in the tablecloth. About a month later, the Pope Innocent did ask whether
Cardinal Borgia had disposed of the object. It was in the Pope’s private throne. It caught
the Cardinal by surprise, but he did not show the shock.