[Gocamino] Pilgrim Benedict XVI?

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Shortly after the present Pope's ascension to the Papacy the Molinaseca (Leon) hospitalero, A. Alfredo Jimenez, appeared in a Leon TV station holding a postcard which, Sr. Jimenez said, he had received in the year 2000 from the then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger. 
As Sr. Jimenez insists, the Cardinal walked to Santiago as an incognito private pilgrim and spent the night at the Molinaseca albergue where he had a long, friendly and amusing  conversation with the hospitalero about the peace of the Camino and the busyness of life in Rome . While on the way back to Rome the Cardinal, Sr. Jimenez says,  mailed the postcard in question from Montpellier, thanking Mr. Jimenez for his warm hospitality and signing the post-card "Future Pope Benedict XVI". 
After his TV appearance Mr. Jimenez was the focus of relentless opprobrium and ridicule, and thenceforth refused any public appearances or further interviews, particularly since intensive and frantic searches revealed no record whatever of a visit to Santiago by such an eminent member of the Roman Curia.
After the lively, and mirthful, polemics that ensued Mr. Jimenez disappeared from view.... until now, that is. 
Last week Mr. Jimenez, who has been, in fact, the Molinaseca hospitalero for the past 15 years, presented to the Spanish media statements from renowned world experts in handwriting , such as Jose Javier Simon,  in which the experts claim to be at least 80% sure that the postcard's handwriting is, indeed, that of Pope Benedict's.
Further, the administrative people in Rome who keep track of the whereabouts of Cardinals and such, have declined any comments related to the time in question claiming that even Cardinals have "private devotion times".
Hospitalero Jimenez' strongest argument to bolster his claim is that at that time, in 2000, no one could have known that there would be a "future Pope Benedict XVI" except the Cardinal-as-private-pilgrim himself. 
Mr. Jimenez claims that his only reason for going public now is to clear his name and, perhaps, shield his family from the taunts and bad-taste jokes that have been showered on them since his first TV appearance.
While I, most shamefully, resent this Pope and cannot forgive him for not being my dear and unforgettable John Paul II, he does seem to be a sweet and unprepossessive person. For him to sign a post card pretentiously as "future Pope" seems out of character.... unless it was a joke related to the long, amusing and friendly chat which Mr. Jimenez claims the two of them enjoyed at the albergue.  
Well, to paraphrase F. Scot Fitzgerald, 'Cardinals and such are not like you and me': Pope John XXIII traversed the Camino del Norte twice before assuming the Pontificate and Pope John Paul II once.... yet, to this very day, the monks at the Monasterio Sobrado des Monxes in Lugo, where both stayed, are still sort-of sworn to secrecy and will not  entertain any questions about their visits or talk about them . Once, when my New Yorker pushiness got the better of me and I asked and asked and asked, one of the monks reproachfully reminded me of the Gospels admonition that in acts of devotion the right hand should not know what the left is doing.
So...... who knows!
But the Spanish newspapers, including yesterday's Correo Gallego, and the TV wiseguys are having a field day, again, at the expense of hospitalero Jimenez.
Hugs!
Rosina
 
 
 
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