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Lone Star Special: Revelations and Revolutions
Revelations and Revolutions
January 11th, 1846 11:00 P.M. Vatican, Rome.
Pope Pius IX let out a large yawn as he made his way toward his bedroom within the Papal apartments. He had just concluded a 9:00 mass and had spent some time staying in St. Peter's talking with the bishops and many of the lay Catholics who had traveled great distances to attend a roman mass conducted by the pope. While his job was sometimes tiring Pius never complained as he saw it as his God given duty to lead the church and its people to salvation. Still the last few centuries had not been entirely kind to the Catholic Church. While the numbers of faithful had been increasing across the world, the Church's temporal power had been slowly diminishing every decade with the rise of nationalism and the great rising powers of the world such as Great Britain and France. It had saddened Pius that the glory days of the past such as the Crusades and the age of exploration were over, unlike his predecessors Pius at least knew that the Church had to undergo new reforms if it was to continue its unity and spread the word of God. Clinging to the old ways had lead to the Reformation and the conquest of Rome during the French Revolution, something Pius hoped to prevent from happening again with his latest liberal reforms that he was trying to implement for the states. Speaking of, Pius had just received disturbing reports from the clergy within Paris that the Bourbons had abdicated the crown and fled the country, leaving the French capitol in a state of anarchy and chaos. Pius had given explicit instructions for all of the churches in the area to give shelter to victims of the riots and stay out of any politics going on in the revolution. Pius earlier had received advice to do so from Father Pascale, a French priest who was an librarian in the Vatican archives and was a survivor of the first French Revolution. Pascale experienced firsthand the evils of atheism under Robespierre and how that man tried to make himself as the anti-Christ incarnate by trying to destroy the Church within France. Luckily the local parishes so far had experienced minimal damage with the source being from rouge vagabonds of anarchists. Still even if the Revolution ended in the Church being secure in France it did not mean they were in the clear yet. The people of the Papal States were getting restless every day with growing calls for unification of Italy, a foolish idea in Pius's mind as there was little that Italy shared in unity besides its states residing on the same peninsula. Luckily most people looked towards Pius as the primary candidate for unification, as he was the most liberal Pope elected in possibly centuries. While Pius wasn't entirely against the idea of Italy under Rome, any means of unification meant going against Catholic Austria, an historical defender of the Church. However if Pius went against the movement or stalled for time, then Garibaldi and his band of Republicans would hijack the movement and try to turn Rome into a republic, something that may have happened historically but would not happen under Pius's watch. 'Sometimes I just wish I could let go of my temporal responsibilities', Pius thought. Still he would continue his duties and make sure that he did his best as leader of Rome and the greater Church. Pius than entered his bedroom, changed into his night robe, and went to sleep reflecting on the day's events
'Good Lord this light is too bright, I thought I told Rodrigo to get thick curtains for the windows. In fact why hasn't he waken me up yet?' Pius opened his eyes to only find shockingly that he was no longer within his Papal apartment, or within the walls of Rome for that manner. Rather Pius was right in the middle of a green field of grass with the sun shining directly above and several clouds forming overhead. Pius panicked as he though that he was the victim of a kidnapping but then he realized several factors that disproved his theory. Firstly, the Pope's was under the protection of the Swiss Guards at all times, so any attempt at kidnapping would result in the elite guardsmen coming to his rescue, which would surely have waken the Pontiff in his sleep. Second, while Pius was no expert in the crime of kidnapping he knew that the perpetrators would never be idiotic enough to leave the Pope in the middle of an open field where he could travel for help. Finally when Pius looked at himself he noticed that he had been changed out of his night attire and into his Papal garment, something that men of ill intent surely would not have done. When Pius sat up he noticed that there was a large group of housing that was created in Roman architecture near his location, so Pius got up and walked to the village in hopes of finding answers to his predicament. What Pius found was rather strange to him, not in a bad way but still strange. As he walked through the village he noticed that the inhabitants were of a very diverse lot, all around there were men and women of various different races and ethnicities who were all walking around in white garments in what could be described as a state of pure bliss. Everyone was interacting with one another in pure happiness as if there were no cares in the world, individuals of different races and genders who would usually be in conflict were conversing with one another as friends and equals. While it made Pius happy he knew that there were few places like this were such a thing as this would happen, the closest he could think of would be the United States but even their people would not act in a manner such as this. Strangely when Pius looked at all the other people they all spoke in different tongues and yet they could understand one another, a miracle that was only possible in the time of Jesus. What was even more confusing was how when people saw him they gave Pius a warm greeting and welcomed him as the holy father, while Pius could deduct that this would be a Catholic town he did not think that all of its inhabitants would be Catholics such as the Chinese and Africans. Wanting to find a sense of direction Pius walked up to a little Italian looking boy who was playing with a ball with some other children.
"Excuse me my son, I'm afraid I do not know where on Earth I currently am. Could you please tell me where I am located and which road I can use to return to Rome?"
"You're not on Earth silly, your in the happiest place ever. Though if you do want to know where you are Mr. Ferretti you should go to the church that is at the end of the town."
"Thank you my son, God bless you for your kindness."
"I already am blessed though, all of us are." With those words the boy went back to play with his friends. The conversation that he had just had was rather strange. The boy had somehow knew his given family name of Ferreti, something which was accessible knowledge to the public but would not be known by a mere child. Then there were his two strange claims, that Pius was not on Earth and that everyone located in this town was blessed. 'But then that would mean that I am in...no it couldn't be, probably just random words of a child's mind.' Still the idea was stuck in Pius's mind as he made his way towards the church in order to gain information from the local priest.
When Pius arrived at the church he saw that it was a small compact building that was based off of the architecture from the parishes in Jerusalem, whose image he knew off from paintings he had bought from a pilgrim artist. Pius made his way inside of the church to only find that there was nobody currently inside of it.
"Hello is anybody here? I am the holy father Pope Pius IX and I seek refuge and information for where I am currently am." Pius was greeted with silence in the church which confirmed his suspicions that nobody was currently occupying it. Tired from his travels Pius made his way to the pews and knelt down in prayer, hoping to find the answers that he sought from God. 'Oh Lord almighty, please I ask of you that you may enlighten me of my predicament and may show me the path I must take.'
"If you truly do wish to seek answers than look no further for I am here."
Pius looked backwards to the new voice when he was filled with awe and pure shock. Standing at the entrance of the church was the man who was the center of his faith, the son of God and messiah of humanity, Jesus Christ himself. Pius trembled as he made his way towards the Lord and knelt in adoration in front of Jesus. 'Is this really happening? Is this miracle real and I am in direct contact with God himself?'
"Oh almighty Lord Jesus Christ, I am eternally blessed and humbled that you would appear before such as lowly man as myself. I ask of you what I am doing here and if I may be so honest, why you would chose to appear before me."
Jesus smiled and knelt down so that he would come face to face with Pius. "Do not think so lowly of yourself Giovanni, you have spent a lifetime in service of my father and for that we are eternally grateful to have such a faithful bishop such as yourself. Truly you have made even Peter proud in your actions. As for where you are currently right now, you are within the glory of Heaven among the angels and saints."
When Pius heard this revelation he had cried immensely both tears of joy and sorrow. Joy that after death he had gone immediately into Heaven and that his soul would be forever protected under the watchful guise of the heavenly father. Yet he felt immense sadness that he had left Earth so early in his pontificate, he had so many plans for the Church and none of them would come to fruition now that he had passed on. When Jesus saw this he held Pius in an embrace and comforted him.
"Do not worry my son, you have not died and pass from the world yet. You are merely here in spirit in direct contact with myself."
After hearing this Pius became immensely confused, "Jesus, if my body is on Earth then why is my soul in heaven? I know that as the son of God anything is in your power but what would be the purpose of my current state?"
"Sit down my son, many events have transpired and we have alot to discuss if we are to protect the Church." Pius followed Jesus as they made their way to the front pew and sat down directly in front of the altar. It was kind of ironic he thought since he was sitting with Jesus directly across a large crucifix that bore his image from the passion.
"You see Giovanni, the state of Earth is on the verge of entering a new age where science and technology will take man to new limits never before thought possible. Yet as mankind moves forward the world will come into greater conflict as the descendants of Adam and Eve engage in greater conflicts that had not been previously capable. The Church will come under a great amount of pressure from both within and without as new ideas shall emerge that will change current doctrine and the world shall fall under greater darkness."
"What kind of darkness my lord?"
"I shall show you images of what may take place in the future if man is not careful, be forewarned though, while these events may not have happened yet their likelihood of developing is still very much possible." Jesus then took a hand to Pius's head and showed him in his mind the events that could take place in the future. What Pius saw truly shocked him to his core. He saw various atrocities and scenes that he thought could only happen in his worst nightmares. A sequence of events shifted before Pius as he truly saw how far man could go below. He saw images of armies waging great bloody wars with machines and guns that were fare advanced beyond the current time, giant metal boxes made their way across the battlefield and brought hellfire on the enemy with great destruction. He saw churches being raided and destroyed as men who spoke Russian and were wearing some sort of red star were making their way into the holy places of worship and kidnapping priests while destroying everything sacred in sight. There was a camp where people were herded in as cattle. Various men, women, and even children were being led to their deaths by a group of black uniformed soldiers who spoke German, strangely most of the victims were Jews, who while they might have rejected the Lord did not deserve to undergo this treatment at all. Great sadness filled Pius as he saw a rural African village that was filled with people who were inflicted by disease and immense poverty. What was the worst image at all for him was the sight of a coastal city that became engulfed in an explosion that was even brighter than the sun, wiping out all life in sight. When Pius opened his eyes he cried immensely, shocked at the horrid images of the future.
"Is this what man is truly destined for Lord? Is this how far we will turn away from God?"
"These were images of the darkness that is to come. But fear not for mankind will also reach new heights of greatness too." Jesus once again reached out to Pius and filled him with images of the future, this time though Pius was filled with hope as he saw the greatness of mankind. Before him stood a different Pope that spoke Polish before an immense crowd of possibly a million worshipers who were all gathered around in awe and praise of the holy father. The scene shifted to a large crowd of mixed races that were gathered in what appeared to be a future version of Washington D.C. where an African man spoke with a fiery passion of a dream. There was a city in the aftermath of a battle, where its inhabitants walked out in pride and joy at the sight of what appeared to be American and British liberators who had come to rescue them. A wall was being torn down where crowds of Germans gathered from both sides and embraced each other in love and unity. The last scene had shocked Pius as it had not taken place on Earth at all. Rather it appeared to be on the moon of all places where a white clad man had jumped out of a ship onto the surface of Luna. Upon seeing these images Pius knew that while mankind would face many challenges that they were safe for now.
"I now understand lord that while the future is dark and perilous that there will be many bright spots that still give mankind hope. Yet my primary question is still not answered. What is my purpose for being here?"
"For now Giovanni many of these events will not come to pass as the rise of a new nation has caused a divergence upon which paths we will go towards. There will be many atrocities and dark times ahead lying ahead but in order to limit their impact and make sure that the path of salvation is open towards all the Church will need to stand strong as a beacon of hope for all. You see, in the future I showed you the Catholic Church still existed and was very strong, yet due to a series of events that are about to take place in your time with the rise of revolutions in Italy, the Vatican lost its temporal power and focused on spiritual matters. While I still want you and your successors to focus on the faith first and foremost, in order to protect the Church and take a more active stance in the world, Italy shall need to be united under your influence. Romam ut Resurgat." The last words Jesus had said were in Latin and meant Rome must rise again.
"Are you saying Lord that the Papal States must unite Italy under its banner?"
"That is exactly it. When I send you back you will awaken to find that the people of Sicily have risen in revolt. Rome will be met under revolutionary fire later but all will be well, just remember to continue your current path of reform and support the will of the people by doing what is right." An angel then appeared within the Church whom Jesus ordered to guide Pius's soul safely back to Earth. "We have faith in you Pius, continue to do the father's work and you shall always be protected."
Pius thanked Jesus for his revelations and made a solemn vow to do as he was commanded once he was back in Rome. Before he left Pius turned back to Jesus and asked him one final question. "Lord Jesus, before I am to return to Earth there is one thing that I must know, my mother and father, are they in Heaven?" Jesus smiled and replied, "Do not worry, for your parents have kept their faith and are here awaiting you eventual arrival, though your mother has expressed that she does not wish for you to come too soon. Go and peace my son and serve the Lord."
"Thanks be to God."
Pius then awoke to suddenly find himself in his Papal apartments in Rome, it was morning and Saint Peter's was being filled with clergy and pilgrims. Pius arose up and wondered what had happened. 'It could not have possibly been a dream, it must have been a direct vision with God I know.' Pius found his doubts thankfully put down as he saw a map of Italy on his night stand that had not been there the previous night. He saw that bright red ink was written on it with the words Romam ut Resurgat, the borders being united in one nation under the coat of arms of St. Peter. Pius then called out for his aide, "Rodrigo come in here!"
"Yes your holiness is there anything that you require?"
"What's currently on my agenda today?"
"Well your holiness you have a mass that will be conducted later at 10 followed by a meeting with the Foreign minister over establishing relations with the Republic of Texas."
"Tell the Cardinal that the meeting will be extended for another 3 hours and that we will also discuss the issue of the Italian unification movement. In the meantime get me as many maps of Italy and books over the various Italian cultures and people as you can find. Italy is going to be united soon and I want Rome as its center, after all Deus Vult."
A/N: Well now you know which direction I am going for with Italy. Tell me your thoughts in the comments below and I'm curious to see who got all the references. Chapter 31: Rise of Italia will come out later today or Saturday. Long live the Republic of Texas!
January 11th, 1846 11:00 P.M. Vatican, Rome.
Pope Pius IX let out a large yawn as he made his way toward his bedroom within the Papal apartments. He had just concluded a 9:00 mass and had spent some time staying in St. Peter's talking with the bishops and many of the lay Catholics who had traveled great distances to attend a roman mass conducted by the pope. While his job was sometimes tiring Pius never complained as he saw it as his God given duty to lead the church and its people to salvation. Still the last few centuries had not been entirely kind to the Catholic Church. While the numbers of faithful had been increasing across the world, the Church's temporal power had been slowly diminishing every decade with the rise of nationalism and the great rising powers of the world such as Great Britain and France. It had saddened Pius that the glory days of the past such as the Crusades and the age of exploration were over, unlike his predecessors Pius at least knew that the Church had to undergo new reforms if it was to continue its unity and spread the word of God. Clinging to the old ways had lead to the Reformation and the conquest of Rome during the French Revolution, something Pius hoped to prevent from happening again with his latest liberal reforms that he was trying to implement for the states. Speaking of, Pius had just received disturbing reports from the clergy within Paris that the Bourbons had abdicated the crown and fled the country, leaving the French capitol in a state of anarchy and chaos. Pius had given explicit instructions for all of the churches in the area to give shelter to victims of the riots and stay out of any politics going on in the revolution. Pius earlier had received advice to do so from Father Pascale, a French priest who was an librarian in the Vatican archives and was a survivor of the first French Revolution. Pascale experienced firsthand the evils of atheism under Robespierre and how that man tried to make himself as the anti-Christ incarnate by trying to destroy the Church within France. Luckily the local parishes so far had experienced minimal damage with the source being from rouge vagabonds of anarchists. Still even if the Revolution ended in the Church being secure in France it did not mean they were in the clear yet. The people of the Papal States were getting restless every day with growing calls for unification of Italy, a foolish idea in Pius's mind as there was little that Italy shared in unity besides its states residing on the same peninsula. Luckily most people looked towards Pius as the primary candidate for unification, as he was the most liberal Pope elected in possibly centuries. While Pius wasn't entirely against the idea of Italy under Rome, any means of unification meant going against Catholic Austria, an historical defender of the Church. However if Pius went against the movement or stalled for time, then Garibaldi and his band of Republicans would hijack the movement and try to turn Rome into a republic, something that may have happened historically but would not happen under Pius's watch. 'Sometimes I just wish I could let go of my temporal responsibilities', Pius thought. Still he would continue his duties and make sure that he did his best as leader of Rome and the greater Church. Pius than entered his bedroom, changed into his night robe, and went to sleep reflecting on the day's events
'Good Lord this light is too bright, I thought I told Rodrigo to get thick curtains for the windows. In fact why hasn't he waken me up yet?' Pius opened his eyes to only find shockingly that he was no longer within his Papal apartment, or within the walls of Rome for that manner. Rather Pius was right in the middle of a green field of grass with the sun shining directly above and several clouds forming overhead. Pius panicked as he though that he was the victim of a kidnapping but then he realized several factors that disproved his theory. Firstly, the Pope's was under the protection of the Swiss Guards at all times, so any attempt at kidnapping would result in the elite guardsmen coming to his rescue, which would surely have waken the Pontiff in his sleep. Second, while Pius was no expert in the crime of kidnapping he knew that the perpetrators would never be idiotic enough to leave the Pope in the middle of an open field where he could travel for help. Finally when Pius looked at himself he noticed that he had been changed out of his night attire and into his Papal garment, something that men of ill intent surely would not have done. When Pius sat up he noticed that there was a large group of housing that was created in Roman architecture near his location, so Pius got up and walked to the village in hopes of finding answers to his predicament. What Pius found was rather strange to him, not in a bad way but still strange. As he walked through the village he noticed that the inhabitants were of a very diverse lot, all around there were men and women of various different races and ethnicities who were all walking around in white garments in what could be described as a state of pure bliss. Everyone was interacting with one another in pure happiness as if there were no cares in the world, individuals of different races and genders who would usually be in conflict were conversing with one another as friends and equals. While it made Pius happy he knew that there were few places like this were such a thing as this would happen, the closest he could think of would be the United States but even their people would not act in a manner such as this. Strangely when Pius looked at all the other people they all spoke in different tongues and yet they could understand one another, a miracle that was only possible in the time of Jesus. What was even more confusing was how when people saw him they gave Pius a warm greeting and welcomed him as the holy father, while Pius could deduct that this would be a Catholic town he did not think that all of its inhabitants would be Catholics such as the Chinese and Africans. Wanting to find a sense of direction Pius walked up to a little Italian looking boy who was playing with a ball with some other children.
"Excuse me my son, I'm afraid I do not know where on Earth I currently am. Could you please tell me where I am located and which road I can use to return to Rome?"
"You're not on Earth silly, your in the happiest place ever. Though if you do want to know where you are Mr. Ferretti you should go to the church that is at the end of the town."
"Thank you my son, God bless you for your kindness."
"I already am blessed though, all of us are." With those words the boy went back to play with his friends. The conversation that he had just had was rather strange. The boy had somehow knew his given family name of Ferreti, something which was accessible knowledge to the public but would not be known by a mere child. Then there were his two strange claims, that Pius was not on Earth and that everyone located in this town was blessed. 'But then that would mean that I am in...no it couldn't be, probably just random words of a child's mind.' Still the idea was stuck in Pius's mind as he made his way towards the church in order to gain information from the local priest.
When Pius arrived at the church he saw that it was a small compact building that was based off of the architecture from the parishes in Jerusalem, whose image he knew off from paintings he had bought from a pilgrim artist. Pius made his way inside of the church to only find that there was nobody currently inside of it.
"Hello is anybody here? I am the holy father Pope Pius IX and I seek refuge and information for where I am currently am." Pius was greeted with silence in the church which confirmed his suspicions that nobody was currently occupying it. Tired from his travels Pius made his way to the pews and knelt down in prayer, hoping to find the answers that he sought from God. 'Oh Lord almighty, please I ask of you that you may enlighten me of my predicament and may show me the path I must take.'
"If you truly do wish to seek answers than look no further for I am here."
Pius looked backwards to the new voice when he was filled with awe and pure shock. Standing at the entrance of the church was the man who was the center of his faith, the son of God and messiah of humanity, Jesus Christ himself. Pius trembled as he made his way towards the Lord and knelt in adoration in front of Jesus. 'Is this really happening? Is this miracle real and I am in direct contact with God himself?'
"Oh almighty Lord Jesus Christ, I am eternally blessed and humbled that you would appear before such as lowly man as myself. I ask of you what I am doing here and if I may be so honest, why you would chose to appear before me."
Jesus smiled and knelt down so that he would come face to face with Pius. "Do not think so lowly of yourself Giovanni, you have spent a lifetime in service of my father and for that we are eternally grateful to have such a faithful bishop such as yourself. Truly you have made even Peter proud in your actions. As for where you are currently right now, you are within the glory of Heaven among the angels and saints."
When Pius heard this revelation he had cried immensely both tears of joy and sorrow. Joy that after death he had gone immediately into Heaven and that his soul would be forever protected under the watchful guise of the heavenly father. Yet he felt immense sadness that he had left Earth so early in his pontificate, he had so many plans for the Church and none of them would come to fruition now that he had passed on. When Jesus saw this he held Pius in an embrace and comforted him.
"Do not worry my son, you have not died and pass from the world yet. You are merely here in spirit in direct contact with myself."
After hearing this Pius became immensely confused, "Jesus, if my body is on Earth then why is my soul in heaven? I know that as the son of God anything is in your power but what would be the purpose of my current state?"
"Sit down my son, many events have transpired and we have alot to discuss if we are to protect the Church." Pius followed Jesus as they made their way to the front pew and sat down directly in front of the altar. It was kind of ironic he thought since he was sitting with Jesus directly across a large crucifix that bore his image from the passion.
"You see Giovanni, the state of Earth is on the verge of entering a new age where science and technology will take man to new limits never before thought possible. Yet as mankind moves forward the world will come into greater conflict as the descendants of Adam and Eve engage in greater conflicts that had not been previously capable. The Church will come under a great amount of pressure from both within and without as new ideas shall emerge that will change current doctrine and the world shall fall under greater darkness."
"What kind of darkness my lord?"
"I shall show you images of what may take place in the future if man is not careful, be forewarned though, while these events may not have happened yet their likelihood of developing is still very much possible." Jesus then took a hand to Pius's head and showed him in his mind the events that could take place in the future. What Pius saw truly shocked him to his core. He saw various atrocities and scenes that he thought could only happen in his worst nightmares. A sequence of events shifted before Pius as he truly saw how far man could go below. He saw images of armies waging great bloody wars with machines and guns that were fare advanced beyond the current time, giant metal boxes made their way across the battlefield and brought hellfire on the enemy with great destruction. He saw churches being raided and destroyed as men who spoke Russian and were wearing some sort of red star were making their way into the holy places of worship and kidnapping priests while destroying everything sacred in sight. There was a camp where people were herded in as cattle. Various men, women, and even children were being led to their deaths by a group of black uniformed soldiers who spoke German, strangely most of the victims were Jews, who while they might have rejected the Lord did not deserve to undergo this treatment at all. Great sadness filled Pius as he saw a rural African village that was filled with people who were inflicted by disease and immense poverty. What was the worst image at all for him was the sight of a coastal city that became engulfed in an explosion that was even brighter than the sun, wiping out all life in sight. When Pius opened his eyes he cried immensely, shocked at the horrid images of the future.
"Is this what man is truly destined for Lord? Is this how far we will turn away from God?"
"These were images of the darkness that is to come. But fear not for mankind will also reach new heights of greatness too." Jesus once again reached out to Pius and filled him with images of the future, this time though Pius was filled with hope as he saw the greatness of mankind. Before him stood a different Pope that spoke Polish before an immense crowd of possibly a million worshipers who were all gathered around in awe and praise of the holy father. The scene shifted to a large crowd of mixed races that were gathered in what appeared to be a future version of Washington D.C. where an African man spoke with a fiery passion of a dream. There was a city in the aftermath of a battle, where its inhabitants walked out in pride and joy at the sight of what appeared to be American and British liberators who had come to rescue them. A wall was being torn down where crowds of Germans gathered from both sides and embraced each other in love and unity. The last scene had shocked Pius as it had not taken place on Earth at all. Rather it appeared to be on the moon of all places where a white clad man had jumped out of a ship onto the surface of Luna. Upon seeing these images Pius knew that while mankind would face many challenges that they were safe for now.
"I now understand lord that while the future is dark and perilous that there will be many bright spots that still give mankind hope. Yet my primary question is still not answered. What is my purpose for being here?"
"For now Giovanni many of these events will not come to pass as the rise of a new nation has caused a divergence upon which paths we will go towards. There will be many atrocities and dark times ahead lying ahead but in order to limit their impact and make sure that the path of salvation is open towards all the Church will need to stand strong as a beacon of hope for all. You see, in the future I showed you the Catholic Church still existed and was very strong, yet due to a series of events that are about to take place in your time with the rise of revolutions in Italy, the Vatican lost its temporal power and focused on spiritual matters. While I still want you and your successors to focus on the faith first and foremost, in order to protect the Church and take a more active stance in the world, Italy shall need to be united under your influence. Romam ut Resurgat." The last words Jesus had said were in Latin and meant Rome must rise again.
"Are you saying Lord that the Papal States must unite Italy under its banner?"
"That is exactly it. When I send you back you will awaken to find that the people of Sicily have risen in revolt. Rome will be met under revolutionary fire later but all will be well, just remember to continue your current path of reform and support the will of the people by doing what is right." An angel then appeared within the Church whom Jesus ordered to guide Pius's soul safely back to Earth. "We have faith in you Pius, continue to do the father's work and you shall always be protected."
Pius thanked Jesus for his revelations and made a solemn vow to do as he was commanded once he was back in Rome. Before he left Pius turned back to Jesus and asked him one final question. "Lord Jesus, before I am to return to Earth there is one thing that I must know, my mother and father, are they in Heaven?" Jesus smiled and replied, "Do not worry, for your parents have kept their faith and are here awaiting you eventual arrival, though your mother has expressed that she does not wish for you to come too soon. Go and peace my son and serve the Lord."
"Thanks be to God."
Pius then awoke to suddenly find himself in his Papal apartments in Rome, it was morning and Saint Peter's was being filled with clergy and pilgrims. Pius arose up and wondered what had happened. 'It could not have possibly been a dream, it must have been a direct vision with God I know.' Pius found his doubts thankfully put down as he saw a map of Italy on his night stand that had not been there the previous night. He saw that bright red ink was written on it with the words Romam ut Resurgat, the borders being united in one nation under the coat of arms of St. Peter. Pius then called out for his aide, "Rodrigo come in here!"
"Yes your holiness is there anything that you require?"
"What's currently on my agenda today?"
"Well your holiness you have a mass that will be conducted later at 10 followed by a meeting with the Foreign minister over establishing relations with the Republic of Texas."
"Tell the Cardinal that the meeting will be extended for another 3 hours and that we will also discuss the issue of the Italian unification movement. In the meantime get me as many maps of Italy and books over the various Italian cultures and people as you can find. Italy is going to be united soon and I want Rome as its center, after all Deus Vult."
A/N: Well now you know which direction I am going for with Italy. Tell me your thoughts in the comments below and I'm curious to see who got all the references. Chapter 31: Rise of Italia will come out later today or Saturday. Long live the Republic of Texas!
- Kaiser Chris
- Word Count: 3.3k