The 8,000 mourners filed out of Vienna’s St Stephen’s Cathedral and fell in line behind the catafalque drawn by six black horses. Two hours later the procession ended at the Capuchin Church, where, in keeping with tradition, a member of the funeral party knocked on the door and a priest asked, “Who goes there?” 

The titles were read aloud: “Queen of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia. Queen of Jerusalem. Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Cracow…” 

“I do not know her,” said the father. 

A second knock and “Who goes there?” brought the response, “Zita, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary.” Again the reply, “I do not know her.” 

When the inevitable question was put a third time, the answer was simply, “Zita, a sinning mortal.” 

“Come in,” said the priest, opening wide the door not for royalty, but for a faithful member of the Church, whose life had finally reached its end. 

What has that to do with Donald Trump? Let the American commentator Steve Berman draw the link. As the results from the South Carolina primary came in, he posted:

“After hearing Ravi, I felt I should pray for the one man in the Republican presidential race who most needs to learn the lesson from tonight. Donald Trump is a man who laughed off, ‘I said I drink the wine, I eat the cracker,’ who asked ‘Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?’

“A man who would say those things needs to know that we all face the final knock, and that there’s but one way to enter into the joy of the Lord: as a sinning mortal.”