Thomas And Vincent Making Eye Contact As Thomas Slips The Fisherman’s Ring Into Vincent’s Finger.

Thomas and Vincent making eye contact as Thomas slips the fisherman’s ring into Vincent’s finger. The whole world is watching, but they only see each other.

Thomas kissing Vincent’s hand, and deliberately missing the ring, instead his lips land on Vincent’s knuckles. It feels like a promise.

While they speak of loyalty and faith, their minds are both filled with the actual promise they are making. In sickness and in health.

They both wonder if in another world, the ring would be smaller, chosen by them. They wonder how this ceremony would’ve been if the world wasn’t watching. Perhaps there is a universe where they choose each other, where the ring symbolizes more than the service they give to God.

Neither of them ever mention it. As they live a long life, side by side, the only intimacy they are granted is the lingering of lips against fingers and long looks above desks.

Thomas, who was the one to put the fisherman’s ring onto the hand of the pope, who has spent years praying that his death will fall before the pope’s, has to hold back tears as he removes it. Tears are running down his face in silent mourning when the hammer hits the golden ring. Another conclave is imminent.