Pope v Santu

[Guest guest]

About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Indians had

to leave Italy. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Indian community.

So the Pope made a deal. He would have a debate with a member of the

Indian community. If the Indian won, the Indians could stay. If the Pope

won, the Indians would leave. The Indians realized that they had no choice.

So they picked a middle aged man named Santu to represent them. Santu asked

for one addition to the debate. To make it more interesting, neither side

would be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed.

 

The day of the great debate came. Santu and the Pope sat opposite each other

for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers,

Santu looked back at him and raised one finger.

 

The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Santu pointed to the

ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Santu

pulled out an apple.

 

The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Indians

can stay."

 

An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what

had happened. The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent

the trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there

was still one God common to all religions. Then I waved my finger around

me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the

ground and showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the

wine and wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an

apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What

could I do?

 

Meanwhile, the Indian community had crowded around Santu. "What

happened?" they asked. "Well" said Santu , "First he said to me that the

Indians had three days to get out of here. I told him that not one of us was

leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Indians. I

let him know that we were staying right here."

 

"Yes, yes,.. and then???" asked the crowd.

 

I don't know", said Santu , "He took out his lunch, and I took out

mine!"