The Catholic Cardinal Leonardo Sandri takes frequent private flights to Los Angeles to meet with Archbishop Jose Gomez.
Most popular direct flight destinations for airlines departing from Rome (Leonardo da Vinci International) on May 26th, 2021
For reference, on May 26th, 6.4% of all Rome flights landed in the United States. The global Covid-19 pandemic still limits the number of international flights out of EU based countries.
As of now, there aren’t any direct flights from Rome to Los Angeles.* However, there are connecting flights including those from Rome to London, Heathrow to LA or Rome to Paris, Charles de Gaulle to LA.
The good news is that Cardinal Sandri can take Pope Francis’ Dassault Falcon 50, which flies either into LAX or Burbank. This flight offers the Cardinal a robust 5G internet connection.
On this flight, Sandri scrolls on his purple iPhone 12.
He types “versace sneaker” into the search bar on Ebay.com.
He then searches for “fendi sneaker” and “prada sneaker” in the search bar:
| Brand | Average Price | Average bids | Number of items | search term |
| Versace | 327.5 | 3.7 | 62 | versace sneaker |
| Fendi | 389 | 1.4 | 62 | fendi sneaker |
| Prada | 282.8 | 1.8 | 66 | prada sneaker |
The Cardinal doesn’t place a bid and instead texts a personal buyer to arrange an in-store purchase of turquoise Versace sneakers in Milan.
4-Hour Spago Dinners
The Cardinal’s clandestine meetings with Archbishop Gomez are typically held at Spago in Beverly Hills. Dinners between the two can stretch for multiple hours.
Their meal begins with appetizers:
-Caviar rye tart, spicy big eye tartare cones
-Cara Cara Orange & Endive Salad
The main course is a Japanese A5 Sirloin (6 oz). Multiple barrel aged negronis are ordered well after the last bite of sirloin.
Beverly Hills is far from the Vatican walls and the Valencia orange trees that mark the territorial divide between the Vatican and Rome, Italy.
Tonight, the Cardinal will stay at the Peninsula Beverly Hills.
Sandri yearns for the days when he smoked Panama cigars with Frank Sinatra in Rancho Mirage. Instead, he settles for a meeting with some 19-year old TikTok influencer.
They don’t get along.
Before bed (11:19 pm), he reads sections of the Bible and then uses synthetic oil to paint abstract art. One day he hopes to sell it as an NFT. **
Ultimately, he reaches for the TV remote and watches an episode from Season 8 of the Real Housewives of Atlanta before falling into a deep sleep.
*At least from Leonardo Da Vinci International airport
**Non-fungible token
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