Braun cut in. “No, you misunderstand me. This second shroud, the one that remains a secret, did not belong to the first Messiah at all. Rather, it belonged to the second.”

The American sat stunned.

“A second … but how … how could—” He struggled to gather his thoughts. “Do you mean to say that all these years the church has been covering up the proof of Christ’s divinity? Why keep it secret?”

Braun considered a moment before replying.

“Remember, please, my comments just a moment ago about the paramount need for unity and certainty in belief. Faith is fragile. This is the reason that we at the CDF—and our predecessors for centuries—have worked so hard to maintain the consistency of papal decrees and to defend the absolute truth of doctrine. If one small thing is admitted to be false, then ordinary people will begin to think that something else is to be doubted. The unraveling of a single thread is all that is needed to destroy an entire garment. Larger things?” He shrugged. “I can only say larger things will cause larger breaches of faith through which Satan is ever ready to leap.”

“Oh, man…” the American mumbled.

“I said you would experience much that was unsettling,” Braun said. “But have faith and trust in me, for the task that you have been elected to perform can affect the very future of Christianity.”

“Wow,” the American said quietly.

“This second Messiah—redeemer, if you will—lived during the time of Constantine, a ruler who found himself elected by the Almighty Father as the instrument by which Christianity would be unified and heresy eliminated. To this end, Emperor Constantine had this second Messiah brought to Byzantium and… eliminated.”

The American felt the bedrock of his convictions shift beneath him. He grabbed at the desk for support

“If this information were to leak out, Christianity and all that it stands for would be called into question. There would be chaos. Complete, utter chaos. A crisis of faith such as has not been seen in two thousand years. What’s more, it will rock Judaism as well. After all, Jesus was a Jew and no one awaits the arrival of the Messiah more than the original people of the Bible. And even more importantly, there exists for this second Messiah historical verification that far exceeds the documentation that exists for our Lord. This verification could lead millions to dismiss Jesus Christ as our strength and redeemer and shift their allegiance to this secret Messiah.”

The American noticed that the cardinal crossed himself when he said the name. “Millions would leave the church; the institution and its worldwide influence would be left in ruins.”

“It’ll be dismissed as a clever forgery,” the American said. “A conspiracy.”

“Perhaps,” Braun countered. “But your holy mission is to keep the secret of this Messiah. Recover the proof, the verification. And if you cannot do this, you must make sure that no one else can.” The cardinal fell silent, his face portraying an inner uncertainty for just an instant “It seems…” His eyes looked inward. “That this secret Messiah is evidence that perhaps God sends us messiahs all the time. Our salvation rests on following them. But we fail to recognize them. Or worse, we kill diem.”