Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made” is the line from Kant that Jacopo Baldassare Lomeli recalls as the cardinals answer the roll call. It gives shape to his renewed affection for the flawed men around him: the Church, too, is built from crooked timber, yet by grace its pieces fit together and it endures.

The line in the roll call

The thought comes as Lomeli calls the cardinals by name. Bellini, Benítez, Brandão D’Cruz, Brotzkus, Cárdenas, Contreras, and Courtemarche pass through his mind as people he now knows much better, with their particular frailties and weaknesses. The roll call is no longer merely a formal count of those present; familiarity has made each name carry the weight of a person.

From imperfection to endurance

Lomeli extends Kant’s image from humanity to the Church itself. Its crooked timber is not an obstacle he imagines can be removed: the institution is made of imperfect people, and its coherence depends not on their becoming flawless but on grace bringing them together. He measures that endurance across two thousand years, then brings the thought down to the immediate crisis: if necessary, the Church can last another two weeks without a Pope.

A changed regard for his colleagues

The reflection culminates not in judgment but in love. Lomeli feels a deep, mysterious affection for his fellow cardinals precisely alongside his recognition of their weaknesses. The line thus joins institutional continuity to human imperfection, offering a way to regard both the Church and its electors without mistaking their frailty for the end of their common life.