Journal of a Cowboy

Pope Pius IX makes some difficult decisions

“Do you remember, mon ami?” Jean-Luc asked Jacques Duvalier as they were sitting by the bonfire. “A few years ago, there was an unknown girl in Lourdes, France who caused quite a noise in the world by proclaiming that she had seen a beautiful lady at a dumping ground called Massabielle.”

“You must be talking about Bernadette Soubirous,” Jean-Luc nodded. “She was ridiculed by everyone in town, including her parents. The only one who believed her was her Aunt Bernarde, after whom she was named.”

“What message did the lady give to young Bernadette?” Jean-Luc asked Jacques Duvalier. “My mother told me once, but I seem to have forgotten it.”

“Well, the lady appeared to Bernadette 18 times, and she also asked her to dig near the entrance to the grotto of Massabielle and there, she would find a spring of fresh water. Young Bernadette was only 14 years old and so she dutifully obeyed the lady.” Jacques Duvalier replied. “The beautiful lady also told her to ask the people to do penance and to pray for peace.”

“Why did the lady need fresh water?” Jean-Luc asked, as he stirred the evening meal of fried potatoes and onions.

“She didn’t need the water,” Jacques Duvalier replied. “But the water of the grotto contained healing properties by which many invalids would become healthy and so began a great pilgrimage to Lourdes from all over France. Pious peasants came seeking healing.”

“That is a beautiful story,” JeanLuc said to him. “Was there any other message for Bernadette Soubirous?” he queried.

“There was one more thing,” Jacques Duvalier answered. “The lady told Bernadette: ‘I cannot promise to make you happy in this life, but only in the next. I am the Immaculate Conception.’”

Jean-Luc stopped stirring the fried potatoes and he look intently, trying to understand Jacques Duvalier’s response. “I wonder what she meant by that?”

“For centuries, the Catholic Church had been debating whether or not the Virgin Mary had been born without Original Sin like the rest of mankind. Now, judging by the words of the vision, any doubt was erased, and it became a dogma of the Church.”

It eased the mind of Pope Pius IX, who had been perturbed trying to make an ecclesiastical ruling. He had also been disturbed by the idea that the Pope could not err in matters of the Church and also that the first bishop in the territory of New Mexico had approached him with a question: “Who were a cohort of men