The Pope sighed heavily. No matter

The Pope sighed heavily. No matter how he tried to achieve equality, he never felt any of
his efforts could be considered successes. Seeing the surrounding pedestrians and
tourists staring at him with shock and awe was a far different feeling from the way Laura
Stuart managed to integrate herself into her surroundings.
A dirty ball rolled out of a narrow alley.
Roughly thirty centimeters in diameter and intended for children, it was made of a
rubber material that looked like transparent plastic. The uneven surface of the material
looked as if it were cheap.
Without being consciously aware of it, the Pope prepared to bend down and pick the ball
up, only to be stopped by the secretary's hand. That very moment, a young girl appeared
from the alley chasing after the ball. Most likely a wandering child from the streets
nearby, she was a rare sight. The child, approximately ten years old, wore clothes even
more tattered and covered in dirt than the ball.
The Pope pushed the secretary’s hand aside and went to pick up the ball.
But before he could, a sharp voice interrupts his actions.
"Please don't."
The voice belonged to the girl.
"If you let such fancy clothes get dirty, I don’t know how you would be treated later."
The girl's icy tone echoed in the Pope’s ears, halting his actions just as effectively as if he
had been struck by lightning. The girl used the Pope's inaction to pick up the ball herself,
carefully put distance between the Pope and herself as if she was wary of a mob
attacking her, and retreated back into the alley.
"…"
The Pope could do nothing but stand rooted to the spot in stunned silence.
Love thy neighbors: Even if they were not direct blood relatives, all humans are equal
before God.
With these words appearing in his mind, the Pope bit down on his teeth as hard as he
could.
"This really is a problem.