The Delight of Being Ordinary

Day One

1

My name is Paolo dePadova ­son of an Italian mother and an American infantryman father, and thanks to a peculiar combination of loyalty and luck I served, for a time, as First Assistant to my beloved cousin His Holiness the Pope of Rome. My tenure didn t last long. In fact, my duties came to an end as a direct result of the story I m about to tell here, a story the Pope himself asked me to make public when I felt the time was right. Parts of it will be familiar from headlines in the international news, but, as you might expect, those parts were sensationalized, tarnished by rumor, stained with misinformation. The heart of it, the essence, the real, full story, remains known only to a handful of people, myself included. I share it now in a spirit of reverence and compassion, but also in service to the truth. As my cousin liked to say, Anche i papi sono uomini. Which might be translated as Popes are people, too.

2

My odd story begins, oddly enough, with a Buddhist. Or, at least, with the visit of a famous Buddhist to the most sacred halls of Roman Catholicism. It s common, of course, for a pope to receive visiting heads of state ­presidents, prime ministers, first secretaries. Catholics have a great deal of clout in the world s voting booths, and politicians, even the least religious politicians, like to make a papal pilgrimage. They sit for a photo op with the Pontiff, pretend to exchange ideas, make promises they never intend to keep, then fly back to their luxurious lives and seats of power.

Popes, in my experience, handle these visits with an admirable patience. Disappointed again and again, they nevertheless always seem to hope that the leaders of the world will actually behave in ways that reduce the chance of war and give comfort to their poor.

In the case of the Dalai Lama s visit, however, the Holy Father had good reason for optimism. Here was a man whose responsibilities were similar to his own, and whose devotion to his faith

ROLAND MERULLO is the acclaimed author of fifteen previous books, including Revere Beach Boulevard, Golfing with God, and Breakfast with Buddha. Merullo's work has been translated into German, Spanish, Korean, and Croatian, and he has won numerous prizes, including the Massachusetts Book Awards in both fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

"The Delight of Being Ordinary is a thrilling book, a rip-roaring, risk-taking literary tour de force that kept me up late and moved me deeply.  Bursting with laughter and suffused with the divine comedy of the human condition, the story makes our complicated  world seem a broader, more generous place. In this ultimate celebrity road trip, Merullo has written a love story for our times."  
Susan Cheever, author of Home Before Dark

"Another genre-defying installment in Merullo's engaging series of seriocomic religious novels . . . Admirers of previous volumes will recognize Merullo's knack for depicting goodness without treacle in his deft portraits of the pope and the Dalai Lama, and a La Dolce Vita-esque party scene spotlights his ability to discern humanity in the most decadent circumstances . moving and unnerving . . . Lucid, unpretentious fiction spotlighting the drama of trying to make the divine part of our everyday lives."
Kirkus, starred review

"A quirky but uplifting story in which Paolo de Padova, first assistant and cousin to Pope Francis, is asked to whisk away the pope and the visiting Dalai Lama on a clandestine vacation . . . Merullo s newest is a thoughtful, compassionate, and mature work, a 'Christian- Buddhist-agnostic prayer' to the world, and readers will find a pleasant surprise in its conclusion."
Publishers Weekly

Whimsical and irreverent, Merullo s parable meanders through divine doctrines and human relationships, attaining insights where least expected . . . A charming story celebrating connections over divisions that will especially thrill devotees of Merullo s Buddha Trilogy
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