The Shroud Codex - Jerome R. Corsi [10]
Castle appreciated what Duncan was telling him, and he saw an opportunity in taking the case. He began to sense that analyzing Bartholomew would only end up confirming his suspicion that human beings typically created religious experience to control sexuality and compensate for a lack of meaning in their lives. Besides, his publisher was pushing him for another book and the thought crossed his mind that Father Bartholomew might provide just the inspiration he needed to get started writing. Nothing would be more interesting to his readers than debunking a psychologically disturbed priest who had begun to think of himself as Jesus Christ.
Then too, Archbishop Duncan was an important figure in New York and Castle himself was now at a top level of New York society. So it was better to have the archbishop as his friend than antagonize him by neglecting to help when asked directly by the pope to do so.
“You have to understand I’m close to Bartholomew,” Archbishop Duncan continued. “We go back many years. When Bartholomew was in grade school, he and his mother were parishioners at St. Margaret’s over in Morristown, the first church where I was a parish priest after the seminary. When his mother died, I counseled Bartholomew on his vocation and I’ve been his spiritual advisor ever since. Over the years, Bartholomew has become a personal friend, as well as a priest I supervise in the archdiocese.”
Castle listened carefully. Reading between the lines, he understood that Archbishop Duncan was telling him he was going to be protective of Father Bartholomew. Any attempt Castle might make to discredit the priest on psychological grounds would have to be well substantiated; otherwise Duncan would end up trying to discredit the psychiatrist in order to protect the Church and his friend Father Bartholomew.
“Truly, Bartholomew is a lot like you,” Duncan continued.
“How’s that?” Castle asked, surprised at the comment.
“Bartholomew also changed careers. He was a brilliant physicist at Princeton. You have to know he was brilliant, simply because he was one of the youngest Ph.D.’s ever to be accepted to the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Studies. He went through a personal crisis when his mother died. His mother was the only person he ever was really close to. When she died, he left physics and entered the seminary. I counseled him through the crisis. Now I’m calling you because I need your help on this one, just like I did when we first met.”
Castle figured he might as well stop protesting. “Okay, then tell me exactly what you want me to do.”
“Meet with Father Morelli and hear out the details of the case. Morelli will explain to you why the Vatican is so concerned.”
“Can’t you tell me why the Vatican is so involved in this case, after only one day of hearing about it?”
“Let Morelli explain it. He is the pope’s top advisor on miracles, anything paranormal that affects the Church—appearances of the Virgin Mary, miracles—all that type of thing. He has played the role of devil’s advocate in prosecuting the case against those being considered by the pope to be canonized as saints. Father Bartholomew manifested the stigmata yesterday when saying Mass. There were people in the church who filmed the event with their cell phones. The videos are already starting to show up on the Internet.”
“I see,” Castle commented, making a mental note to look up some of the videos and watch them for himself.
“All I’m asking you to do right now is to meet with Father Morelli. Then, if you decide to take the case, you can meet with Father Bartholomew. The Church would like you to take on Father Bartholomew as one of your psychiatric patients.”
“Okay, so you say Father Morelli is prepared to travel from Rome to meet me here in New York?”
“Yes.”
“How soon?”
“Today is Friday,” Duncan calculated. “If you agree to see Father