After the Pope and the Jewish leader agreed to the final debate, they agreed to meet at the top of the Colessium (sp?) at 3:00. The Pope had a cardinal go over early to prepare, taking along various religious items in case they were needed for demonstration or divine blessing or just plain good luck. The rabii (or whatever) was so busy thinking about how to win the debate, he forgot what time and where in the Colessium to meet, so he went over at 1:00 at the bottom of the stadium. A cardinal rushed in to the Pope back at the Vatican to tell the him that the Jewish leader was already there. So the Pope rushed over, went to the top of the Colessium, and then saw the rabii clear down in the middle. Since it was such a long distance, instead of yelling or going back down to the bottom, the Pope decided to use improvised sign language.

The Pope pointed up to the sky.

The rabii thought and pointed to the ground.

The Pope paused and then held up three fingers.

The rabii thought again and held up one finger. [Use the index finger when telling the joke! :) ]

The Pope thought some more, and then brought out the bread and the wine used in Mass for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

The rabii paused again, and then pulled an apple from his pocket and began to eat it.

The Pope shook his head, yelled down, "You win!", and left, dejected, with the shocked cardinal.

The cardinal asked the Pope, "That was beyond me! What were you saying?" The Pope replied:

"I pointed to the sky to say that God is in Heaven. He pointed to the ground to say God is also with us here on Earth, and he was right. So I held up three fingers to say that God is three parts in the Holy Trinity. But he held up one finger to say that God is also one, and again, he was right. So I brought out the bread and wine to say that God gave us His Son. But the rabii began eating his apple to remind me that Man's original sin was the evil that made that necessary in the first place. The rabii was clearly the winner of the debate."

Meanwhile, the rabii had gone back to talk to his friends. His friends were excited to hear that the Pope had conceded, but the rabii seemed confused, so they asked him why. He told them:

"He began by pointing up to say we were supposed to meet at the top of the Colessium. I pointed to the ground to tell him I thought we were supposed to meet at the bottom. He continued by holding up three fingers, saying that we weren't supposed to meet until 3:00. I held up one finger to tell him that I thought we were supposed to meet at 1:00. Last, he brought out his lunch, so I brought out mine!"