Motto. Vires Acquirit Eundo translates as ‘We gather strength as we go’.

INT. VATICAN OBSERVATORY – NIGHT

A telescope points toward the southern stars as Pope Pius XIII swirls a glass of Chilean Carménère. Kylie Minogue, future Mayor of Melbourne, lounges in a chair, watching him with amused curiosity.

POPE PIUS XIII (eyes gleaming)
“You want someone hot like Chile? Fine. But not just any Chilean—someone who burns with history. Someone who can bring peace to a continent that has forgotten the word.”

KYLIE (grinning)
“So, a revolutionary with a PhD and a penchant for trouble?”

POPE PIUS XIII (snapping his fingers)
“Better. An old friend. Your age. My oh my oh my”

*From the shadows steps Emmanuel Ascui—49, salt-and-pepper scruff, a faded Santiago football jersey under a blazer. He carries a well-worn book of Neruda’s poetry and the smirk of a man who has dodged death, dogma, and dictators.*

EMMANUEL (raising an eyebrow at the Pope)
“Lenny. Still pretending you don’t miss smoking?”

POPE PIUS XIII (ignoring him)
“Kylie, meet Manny. My only friend from seminary who got expelled for arguing that liberation theology needed more Marx and less Aquinas.”

KYLIE (laughing)
“Oh, this is the prophecy guy? ‘Emmanuel’—God with us? The great hope of South American peace?”

EMMANUEL (taking a swig from the Pope’s wine)
“Not the hope. Just *a* hope. Also, the only man alive who’s been banned from both the Vatican and the Chilean Senate.”

POPE PIUS XIII (dry)
“He once convinced a room full of cardinals that the Book of Revelation predicts a socialist utopia.”

EMMANUEL (grinning)
“And you excommunicated me for it. But look at us now—best friends again.”

KYLIE (leaning in)
“So, Manny… you really think you can bring peace to South America?”

EMMANUEL (serious for the first time)
“No. But I can make the fight worth it. And Melbourne? It’s a start.”

Kylie studies him, then extends a hand.

KYLIE
“Well, Emmanuel… let’s see if you live up to the name.”

He takes it. The Pope exhales, as if he’s just set something dangerous into motion.

POPE PIUS XIII (muttering)
“God help us all.”