THE CARDINAL AND I By Robby Tantingco Monday, June 21, 2010 WHEN the highest-ranking Church dignitary to ever

set foot on Pampanga soil came to visit the Center for Kapampangan Studies, I made sure he was accorded the hi ghest respect that his stature demanded, and the warmest hospitality that a univ ersity could provide. Thousands of our students waving Vatican flaglets, together with a brass band, a choir, a rondalla and a dance troupe, greeted His Eminence, Francesco Cardinal Marchisano, D.D., who arrived with Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, D.D., Msgr. Ted T orralba of the CBCP, and Dr. Cristina Carlostella, secretary of a pontifical com mission. Everything looked spontaneous, but what they didn't know was we had spent countl ess hours planning every detail to make sure every step was counted, every dista nce measured, and every word scripted, according to strict Vatican protocol. What I didn't know was some people in the university had set up a secret and ela borate surprise that would throw everything upside down, and the septuagenarian Cardinal and I were only moments away from it. To give you an idea of how important Cardinal Marchisano was, he was at the time a ranking member of the Roman Curia-the term used for the central governing bod y of the entire Roman Catholic Church, or what we might call the Pope's Cabinet. He held three important positions: First, he was Pope John Paul II's Vicar-Gener al for the State of Vatican City, which means he attended to the spiritual needs of all Vatican officials and residents. Second, he was President of the Fabric of St. Peter, which means he administered policies involving the preservation, decoration, tours and pilgrimages inside S t. Peter's Basilica. And third, he was President of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, i.e., he was in charge of explorations of ancient sacred cemeteries, catacombs, monuments, churches and basilicas in Rome and elsewhere. In short, our visitor was the Vatican's chief spiritual director, curator and ar chaeologist all rolled into one. Those who had planned the surprise behind my back probably didn't know how big C ardinal Marchisano was, or how serious the breach of protocol their plan meant. As the Cardinal inched his way through the crowd towards the Center for Kapampan gan Studies, our University President at the time turned to me and smiled, quite pleased with how things were turning out. I didn't know it then, but her smile probably meant, "Wait till you get inside." Up at the entrance of the Center, I spotted a group of school administrators, gr inning from ear to ear but probably saying to each other between their teeth, "L ook how clueless he is!" Inside the Center, my staffers giddily welcomed the entourage. Unknown to me, in the previous week while I conducted planning sessions with them, my staffers ha d probably also held parallel secret meetings, on orders of the President hersel f, to set up the trap that was now about to draw me and the Cardinal in a really mind-blowing, discombobulating situation. After a walking tour of the museum, we led the Cardinal to the theatre, where we

would honor him with a short presentation. As emcee, I made sure the program was brief and dignified, in keeping with Vatic an protocol. When the turn of the University President to speak came, I sat on a box on the theatre steps, because all seats had been taken. She began with the perfunctory expression of gratitude, significance of the occa sion, etc. I was only half-listening, until a palpable change in the President's tone caught my attention. I looked up and saw her looking straight at me, tears welling up in her eyes and her voice cracking, as she began telling the audience how far the Center had co me, and how proud she was of our work. Then she proceeded to talk about me-my "talent and creative ideas," my "childlik e sense of wonder which allows magical moments like this to happen," and my "gif t of friendship" which she said made her work in the University such a pleasure. I remember sitting there and thinking, "This is not happening...." I had left no stone unturned to make the event as flawless as a Vatican dignitary deserved, a nd now they were throwing away the prepared script and turning the program into a tribute to honor, not the guest, but the emcee! The horror was just beginning. The President asked me to come in front of the au dience, and then motioned to an accomplice at the door to usher in (gasp!) my mo ther, my sister, and my son-dazed and bashful but all partners in crime, it turn ed out. But the worst was yet to come. The President asked Cardinal Marchisano and Archbishop Aniceto to please come fo rward and award her big surprise for me: a new laptop, contained in the same box I had just been sitting on. If you ask me, I'd rather be struck by lightning than see a Prince of the Church being obliged to hold a huge box for me. Yet there he was, graciously doing wha t he was told to do. I quickly took the box from his hands so that he didn't hav e to carry it a nanosecond longer. The audience was clapping and cheering, "Speech! Speech!" I said something like "Thank you, but can we get on with the real program, pleas e?" What I really wanted to say was, "You fools! What do you think this is, The Buzz? How could you do this to me? How could you do this to the Cardinal?" After the program, we had dinner with the visitors, and the next morning, I saw them again for breakfast. Then I accompanied the Cardinal to his next stop in Ma lolos, where I apologized once more for my co-workers' ill-advised but well-inte ntioned caper. Cardinal Marchisano embraced me and said, "Next time you visit Rome, come and se e me at the Vatican. I will take you to the Dome of St. Peter's and show you the Secret Archives. I will even give you a relic of any saint you want." I replied, "I hope you'll be the next Pope." He laughed out loud. The next time I saw him again was on TV, when Pope John Paul II died, and again when Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. That single most embarrassing moment of my life was the worst day and the best d ay as well, because my President, out of kindness and friendship, really went ou t of her way to please me, and the Cardinal, full of grace and humility, proved to be a good sport by playing along.