Lateran Palace
"The Holy Father have agreed to see you." a priest said to the group of merchants and motioned for them to follow him.
---
Going inside the room, the priest announced:
"Holy Father, the group of merchants!"
("'The group of merchants' sounds lame comparing to announcing cardinals or bishops or nobles.") the priest thought.
"Father..." Benedict called the priest when he saw the priest kept standing there, preventing the audience between the merchants and him, but he realized he didn't know the name of the priest. He was quite busy and rarely stopped to ask for a name.
"Ah..." the priest snapped back "I'm sorry, Holy Father!" he turned around and left the room.
"Holy Father!" the leading merchant walked towards Benedict, knelt down, took his right hand and kissed the Fisherman Ring. The other merchants also knelt down on one knee.
Benedict used his right hand to rise the hand of the leading merchant up, indicating for him to stand up.
The lead merchant stood up, and others followed suit.
"What have you come here to seek me for?" the Young Pope asked.
"Holy Father, today we came to assist at the Mass you celebrated...and we could see ourselves in your sermon, albeit we could not understand everything due to wanting of knowledge in many things, except trade, of course...Our businesses...are not doing well due to many conflicts between the Emperor and the Church and other nobles..."
"So you came here to ask Us some guidance?"
"Yes, Holy Father!"
"But We are not merchants, how can We give you guidance on business!?"
"...I...I'm sorry, we just thought that we could receive divine inspiration from the Vicar of Christ...I guess we were wrong. Well, we shall take our leave then."
"Wait!"
"Yes, Holy Father!"
"Do you know about 'guild'?
The leading merchant understood what the Young Pope was asking about and the direction of the conversation.
"You mean we should together as a merchant guild, to help each other during periods that are not stabilize."
"Like now." Benedict added.
"Why didn't I of it before? Thank you, Holy Father, you have enlightened us!"
"You flattered Us! A merchant guide is a tried-and-true method that helps merchants survive. We simply tell you something that has been passed down to Us."
"Yes, you're right!"
"Before you go, We have something We want to give you."
The door opened, and a fat Benedictine monk walked in. It was the same monk who took the merchants' money.
The monk looked at Benedict, his eyes were telling him that he could not do the thing he had been told to do. But Benedict gave him a stern look.
The monk turned to look at the merchants, knelt down, took out the money purse and said:
"My beloved brothers, I have sinned against God and against you." his face became red from embarrassment "We clergy and religious are taught to despite attraction to material possession, and yet due to my own greed, I have taken money in your possession and even justified the action by using the Holy Father's name. It's all my fault." the monk took out the money purse. "Now I return it to you. And I promise to God and to you, brothers, that I won't commit this sin again. And I'm willing to accept any punishment from the Vicar of Christ and my superiors."
The merchant received his denarii purse back. He and his colleagues were speechless, none of them had ever seen a clergy kneeling down to apologize to others for the sin he had committed. Some of them only heard some similar stories, which were attributed to saints of a distant land.
"Count the amount!" Benedict said to the merchant.
"1, 2, 3,..., 100. It's all the money, Holy Father!"
Benedict nodded: "You can go now."
The merchants again knelt down and left after kissing the Fisherman Ring.
After the merchants had left,
"Now, your punishment!" Benedict turned to the monk.
"Eek!"
"From now until Midnight Mass of Christmas, except Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, you're to fast on bread and water alone. Two meals only on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. No Holy Communion for you until We say otherwise."
"Yes, Holy Father!"
"Also...you're to clean all toilets in this palace and your monastery until We say otherwise. And..."
"Please no more, I beg you!"
"And you're to say prayers against avarice and attraction to material possession every day, until We say otherwise. Hmm, alright, you can go now."
"Yes, Holy Father!" the monk got up and left.
===
Benedict called in an attendant.
"Follow that fat monk back to his monastery and give this letter to the Abbot there." Benedict said.
"Yes, Holy Father!"
"Ah, one more thing, go to the merchant's place and said this to them." Benedict then whispered to the attendant's ear.
"Yes, Holy Father!" the attendant was quite puzzled, he did not understand the message to the merchants.
"Ah, one more thing!"
"Y~e~s!"
"We forgot to ask...this is a bit embarrassed...what's your name?"