14_Tablet21Nov20 Diary Puzzles Enigma.qxp_Tablet features spread 17/11/2020 15:44 Page 13 WORD FROM THE CLOISTERS
[email protected] the Jesuits, somebody recognised him in the Super Mario street and offered him congratulations. That was the first he’d heard of his nomination as FR PAUL GRAHAM OSA, an old friend of a cardinal. The Tablet, now lives in the Augustinians’ headquarters in Rome, where he is a mem- “A POPE OF SURPRISES” was Fr Paul’s ber of the Prior General’s team, helping immediate reaction to the news of Bishop oversee the global work of one of the great Mario’s elevation. “My hope is, Francis will religious orders. surprise us with a female cardinal one day. There are about a dozen in the community, Mario’s story puts flesh on the bones of Pope and they have a few spare rooms. They had Francis’s promise to ‘go to the periphery’. a call last year from a diocesan bishop of a The other nominations include the first small country who had been asked to take up African American; a vicar apostolic from a job in the Roman curia. Could he stay with Brunei; a parish priest; and a Franciscan in them until the Vatican sorted out his accom- charge of the shrine in Assisi. As Karl Rahner modation? “He’s still with us,” Fr Paul tells famously said, God’s grace is at work every- me. “He joins us for prayers, meals and recre- where in the world, but not everyone ation; he even joined us on some of our “The speaker system is excellent, so we can recognizes it.