Luis Rocha - Papal decree

‘I know you gave some to the church and other institutions. You sold others.’ Sarah was not convinced.

‘Because they had less importance.’ Ben Isaac’s words came out irritated. There was something else there.

‘It seems strange the church didn’t insist, since one of them is the Gospel of Jesus.’ Sarah wanted to show him that she knew what they were talking about.

‘The Gospel… the what?’ Myriam couldn’t believe it. ‘It can’t be.’

Ben looked like a mischievous boy whose pranks had been discovered. Head lowered, fearful expression, absorbed.

‘Was it written by Jesus Himself?’ Myriam wanted to know.

Ben agreed silently.

‘And the other document?’ Sarah reminded him.

Ben hesitated.

‘There’s more?’ Myriam was at the same time intimidated and intrigued.

Once more, Ben nodded silently. He took his time answering. When he did, his voice sounded hoarse. ‘The other places Yeshua ben Joseph in Rome in the era of Claudius.’

Sarah and Myriam didn’t know why this would be so strange, but neither was an expert in history.

‘And what’s the problem? Who’s Yeshua ben Joseph?’ Myriam asked.

‘Jesus, the son of Joseph,’ the Israeli explained.

‘Okay, Jesus was in Rome. What’s the problem?’ Myriam still didn’t see.

‘Jesus was in Rome in the fourth year of Claudius.’ Ben Isaac’s voice was firmer.

The women still didn’t see what was wrong with that. What was so bad about Jesus being in Rome at that time?

Ben Isaac sighed. They still didn’t understand. ‘The fourth year of Claudius’s reign is the year 45 A.D.’

The two women looked at each other. This certainly was a surprising revelation. Jesus in Rome in the year 45. That was incredible.

‘What about the Crucifixion, then?’ Sarah asked, her heart beating fast. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

Ben looked at her this time. ‘It never happened,’ he said, as if throwing a bomb.

Sarah never realized she’d made the sign of the cross when Ben Isaac said that. ‘What?’

He looked at the journalist piously, as if he wanted to ask forgiveness.

Sarah wasn’t able to say anything else. It was incredible.

‘That is very serious,’ Myriam said finally. ‘Extremely serious.’

‘I know. I didn’t want anyone to know in any way. We guarded this secret for fifty years and wanted to continue doing so,’ Ben Isaac said ashamed.

‘And this is why they kidnapped my Ben?’

Ben nodded.

‘Who are these people?’ she asked angrily.

‘I don’t know, Myr. I have no idea.’ He looked at Sarah, who still seemed half stupefied. ‘Do you know how to contact this JC?’

Sarah had never contacted him. From the beginning it was a one-sided relationship. He contacted her. She suspected that her position at the paper was through his influence, but she also thought it could have been Rafael. In those moments of success, which during the time she’d worked there had been considerable, she liked to think it was purely her merit. And, ultimately, it was. From time to time she received a file in the mailbox about something that deserved attention. Normally these were overrated scandals, not all about the Vatican, for which the journalistic community called her the pope’s lover. She knew JC watched over her, she preferred to think only to a certain extent, and was always alert. She was sure this would call his attention. More than sure.

‘I do.’ Was this a half lie or completely false? In any case she was sure she’d succeed in doing so.

‘What was it the kidnappers said?’ Myriam asked, remembering the phone call Ben Isaac received at the Fiumicino airport.

The plane began its descent. The flight attendant approached them.

‘We’re landing at Gatwick, Doctor. I’d appreciate it if you’d fasten your seat belts.’

Ben Isaac grabbed the belt quickly, while Myriam continued to stare at him, awaiting a reply.

‘They said to wait at home.’

‘Cough it all up from now on,’ Gavache ordered. ‘We’ll begin with the recently converted historian. Who is Ben Isaac?’

‘He’s a legend, a myth,’ Jacopo answered, amazed.

The rain outside was falling harder. A flood that inundated the City of Lights, freeing it from evil, amen.

‘He seems alive enough,’ Gavache contradicted him. ‘I’ll have his record shortly. Continue, Mr. Jacopo.’

‘According to what is known, in very restricted circles, he was behind the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those the Holy See declares apocryphal gospels.’

‘What are they?’

‘Non-canonical gospels, not approved as belonging to the sacred Scriptures, in other words, writings not considered inspired by God.’

‘Why? Are the others considered inspired?’

‘According to the church, yes,’ Jacopo confirmed.

‘And how do they know what was inspired or not?’ Gavache questioned. What a hell of an idea.

‘They don’t know. It was a question of politics.’

‘Absurd,’ Gunter protested. ‘Of course they knew.’

Gavache turned to Gunter menacingly. ‘Quit protecting your own interests, Mr. Priest. It doesn’t suit you well.’ He indicated for Jacopo to continue his explanation.

‘The theologians of the church had to decide what to include in the sacred book and what to leave out. There are five Bibles — the Judaic, the Hebrew, Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox. The most important are the Judaic and Catholic, the latter because it has the largest number of faithful, the former, for historical reasons. As you ought to know, the Jews and Catholics share some books of the Bible. Those they call the Old Testament, but the Jews don’t recognize them as old because they don’t accept the new, since for them Jesus is not the Messiah. Both are called religions of the Book. Muslims are, too, because they base their faith on another book, the Koran, of course.

‘The Judaic Bible is composed of twenty-four books. It was what Jesus read and quoted regularly. The Catholic Bible has seventy-three, seven of which are considered apocryphal by the Jews. Don’t forget, the New Testament is not included in the Judaic Bible, nothing of the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospels, Letters, or the Apocalypse. And, obviously, the New Testament comes long after Jesus Christ. He never read it.’

‘So you’re telling me the Holy Scriptures have very little holiness.’

‘That’s your opinion,’ Jacopo defended himself. ‘To each his own. But I agree with you. Besides, it’s said the Septuagint and, later, the Vulgate left a lot out.’

‘The Septuagint?’

‘Yes. The Bible was translated from Hebrew into Greek for the Jews living outside of Palestine who no longer spoke those languages. Greek became the second language of Palestine. Even Jesus spoke it, according to the evangelists. The Septuagint was translated by seventy erudite Jews from Alexandria, from which they call it the Bible of the Seventy, or Septuagint. It’s curious that the four evangelists of the New Testament quote biblical texts from this Greek translation rather than the original. Saint Jerome translated the Greek into Latin and called it the Vulgate. Every day in all the Catholic liturgical celebrations, one passage from the Old Testament and another from the New are read.’

Gavache listened attentively to the history lesson. Any detail might be important, but he was under no illusion that these people were here to help find the murderer, but rather to help their church, including Jacopo.

‘And what does this have to do with Ben Isaac?’

Jacopo took up the thread of the discourse again, now that he’d launched into historical considerations of the Bible. ‘Well, according to what’s said in these restricted circles, Ben Isaac discovered some important documents that relate to what’s said about the Bible.’