ralph... welcome back to rome. you have chosen. you said i mustif i'm to go on in the church. but having chosen... how can i go on? i have broken... all my vows. you went to the rose.
yes. vittorio... i never felt such ecstasy in god's presenceas i felt with her. i found a pleasure in heri never dreamed existed. not just in her body... but because i love to be with her... smile at her... talk with her... share her food, share her thoughts.
i wanted never to leave her. but you left her. you found the strength to leave her. but i haven't let go of her. that's what wounds me,and i don't know how to heal myself! perhaps you're not meant to. perhaps that wound has saved you. do you remember the greek story of hippolytus? the play we saw in athens.
- he was killed because he couldn't love.- no. because he was too proud... to love. too arrogant to count himselfamong mortal men. yes, your vows are broken. but so, too, let us hope,is that proud spirit... that kept youfrom the thing you wanted most. you see... one cannot truly be a priest...
without the humility to understand... that one is first a man. when you think of your rose... think that it was she... that led you to understand that. no. to see her only as... as some means of saving mewould be the greatest arrogance of all. she loves, vittorio, despite everything.
and with a singleness of mind and heart. if only i... could love like that.