In 2000, Rev. Gary Mercure, pastor of Sacred Heart and St. William's parishes in Troy, was on a three-month sabbatical at the North American College in Rome.

While strolling through the Borgo (the area next to the Vatican) with two friends, he spotted a familiar figure climbing out of a car and heading into a religious goods store.

Encounter

"He was wearing a black cassock and a beret. He wasn't wearing his scarlet robes, but I recognized him because of his white, white hair," Father Mercure recalled. "I said to my friends, 'There's Cardinal Ratzinger! Let's go see what he's going to do.'"

The priest followed the cardinal into the store but noticed something strange: When the cardinal entered, everyone else left.

Father Mercure wasn't sure whether the shopkeeper had asked the other customers to leave or they'd done so on their own, but he decided to confront Cardinal Ratzinger about it.

Dialogue

"Eminenza, parla inglese?" (Eminence, do you speak English?) he asked the cardinal. The cardinal, looking puzzled, answered, "Yes, I do."

"I'm a priest from the United States, here on sabbatical," Father Mercure told him -- and pointed to the customers now grouped outside. "All those people left because you came in, I think."

"No, no, no!" protested the cardinal, but Father Mercure insisted it was true. Cardinal Ratzinger then went outside and spoke to the customers, who returned to the store and resumed their shopping.

Blessing

"He thanked me for telling him," Father Mercure told The Evangelist. "I asked him for his blessing; he blessed me, and he asked me for my blessing! My friends had been a little nervous about talking to the cardinal, but he seemed very cordial, smiling."

During his sabbatical, Father Mercure spied the cardinal twice more. Cardinal Ratzinger was always dressed in black and apparently walking to work at the Vatican, where he was then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The priest remarked that it's doubtful Pope Benedict will be able to take such leisurely, solitary walks now that he is the leader of the Church.

Impressions

Listening to a sermon Pope Benedict presented a few days after his election gave Father Mercure hope that the new pope will show the same qualities evinced the day the pair met in Rome.

"I thought [the homily] was very well-balanced," Father Mercure said. "He talked about being a peacemaker, he said his heart went out to all priests, and he mentioned the youth. He was very inclusive. Maybe he is going to try to be a pastoral, peaceful pope."