July 31, 1968
Any news from Rome?
Nothing important, but P.L. has sent me Msgr. R.’s photo.
Oh, I’d like to see it.
But I don’t think it’s a recent photo.
(Mother looks) … He’s had to struggle with powerful instincts. Sensuality and …
Very intelligent indeed!
Interesting.
A strange man: he is amoral. That is to say, he may do extreme good or extreme evil just as easily. And a brilliant intelligence indeed. A politician of the first order…. You understand, he is good because that’s good policy; but if the policy were to be bad, he would be bad.
I wonder if they have many like that among the cardinals?…
Sensation and thought.
Sentiments: none – what one considers should be, that’s all.
Interesting, very interesting.
When will he come?
It’s not yet decided. Maybe in August…. But P.L. on the one
hand and J. on the other told me he’s a man who has a strange
power over women.
Oh!
You know that he has a huge fortune, which was given him for
charity, and it was women who gave him that money. And J.
told me he has a power of attraction over women which is
quite strange. But P.L. told me that he is "constantly ill, con
stantly getting blows…." He must have some vital opening, a
weakness, and he gets blows.
Yes, he is the sort of man who IN THE PAST (now it’s no longer like that), who in the past used to disgust me the most. I am not
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surprised…. He has something oily.
But P.L. told me that at the same time, something in him feels
he’s gone astray and aspires for something else.
Yes, that’s above the mind.
It’s about the only type of man whom I used to find intolerable.
We’ll see.
(Mother goes into
a long contemplation)
I’ve been in close contact with all these people. We’ll see.
And what about you? Are you now all right?
Oh, I had a fever, for two days it was nasty. A big battle. We’ll see later (Mother is clearly not inclined to tell what’s going on).
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August