Ch.342Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

Lucia, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, looked exactly as I remembered her.

Transparent skin and dazzling blonde hair. A delicate body and fine facial features. Eyes as blue as the ocean.

Lucia appeared before me looking the same as always. If there was any difference, it was that she seemed a bit thinner.

She looked surprised, perhaps a bit flustered. At a glance, she also seemed somewhat pleased.

Her expression changed momentarily as her emotions showed plainly on her face.

“……”

Lucia, who had been holding the doorknob, opened the door slightly and spoke.

“…Come in.”

Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

The bedroom was more modest than I had imagined.

Compared to the scale of the Tranquille Cathedral, one of only three basilicas in the entire religious order, Lucia’s room was so simple that it was hard to believe it belonged to a saint.

While the wallpaper and tiles were all premium quality carefully selected by the order, the bedroom itself contained only a desk, a chair, and a single bed. There were no other furniture or personal belongings necessary for daily life.

“Hmm….”

As I looked around the room with a murmur, Lucia, who had been busily checking the corridor, suddenly offered this excuse.

“It’s barren, isn’t it…? I couldn’t bring many belongings when I moved in a hurry.”

“No, you don’t need to explain….”

Unlike Veronica, Lucia was never one to enjoy luxury.

Like a proper clergy member, she considered it important to keep her room—both a living space and a place of faith—tidy, but she never brought in artwork or various pieces of furniture.

Who was I to criticize her for choosing to live frugally?

There was no need, nor reason to do so.

After opening the door herself to let me in, Lucia looked around the corridor and quickly locked the door.

Then she frantically combed her hair with her fingers, and soon stood in an awkward posture, glancing at me repeatedly.

“Um… Frederick?”

“Yes?”

“M-may I ask why you’ve come here…?”

Lucia asked cautiously in a subdued voice. She looked as if she was expecting something.

Interlacing her fingers then releasing them, clasping her hands then spreading them.

The way she couldn’t properly meet my gaze and kept fidgeting reminded me of a child who wakes up before dawn to check under the Christmas tree.

A child hoping that perhaps Santa Claus had visited during the night and left the gift they so desperately wanted.

I opened my mouth to address Lucia, who was sending me glances while rolling her eyes slightly.

“I heard rumors that you went into seclusion suddenly after your private audience with the Pope. I came to find out exactly what happened.”

“……”

At my answer, Lucia’s head turned sharply.

Unlike moments before when she avoided eye contact as if burned, she now held her head perfectly straight and looked directly into my eyes.

Staring at me with blank eyes, Lucia muttered with an expression of obvious bewilderment.

“…Is that why you came?”

“Why else?”

“……”

Lucia’s lips pressed firmly together.

At the same time, her pale pink lips protruded in a pout.

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“…No. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Pouting like a duck, Lucia trudged over to the bed and plopped down.

With her hands neatly folded on her knees, she took a small deep breath and asked me one question in a calm tone.

“How did you learn about my meeting with the Pope?”

“From Saint Veronica.”

“…Then, do you also know what happened that day?”

I approached Lucia and shook my head.

“No. I only heard that you met. If I had to add anything, it would be that after the meeting, both Pope John XVI and your expressions were noticeably darker. But what exactly was said there?”

“Ah, well….”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lucia avoided answering, trailing off in a way unlike her usual self.

Fidgeting fingers and a face mixed with subtle emotions. Vague utterances and sighs full of worry escaped from between her lips.

When I sat beside her and pressed for an answer, Lucia’s lips began to move.

“I… made a bit of a verbal slip…”

“In front of the Pope?”

“Yes…”

“What did you say?”

“Well….”

Lucia pulled a pillow from the bed and hugged it to her chest. Then, as if embarrassed, she buried her face in the pillow and answered in a weak voice.

“Geezer…”

“Pardon?”

“The nuance was a bit different, but I called him a geezer…”

“Who exactly did you call a geezer…?”

A mumble escaped from between the pillowcase.

“…The Pope.”

*

Before I arrived at the religious order.

Lucia had met with the soon-to-retire Pope and conversed with him twice.

However, the expressions of Pope John XVI and Lucia after their private audience had something unsettling about them. The Pope storming out of the garden with an angry face, and the saint hurriedly leaving with a devastated expression, covering her mouth.

The clergy who remembered the warm atmosphere before the conversation began were shocked by the sudden temperature change between the Pope and the saint.

A political debate broke out between the Pope and the saint.

The Pope criticized Lucia’s actions in visiting the Magic Tower after setting aside her status as a saint.

The saint directly criticized the Pope’s policies, and so on.

Similar rumors began to circulate among the clergy who remained at the scene, and these reached my ears through Veronica, the other saint.

When I first heard the news, I thought the rumor that “the Pope and the saint had a political debate” was quite reasonable.

After all, Pope John XVI, who had risen to the papacy through the Inquisition, was a conservative clergyman and hardline politician surpassing even Raphael.

In contrast, Lucia was an uncontroversial figure without any particular political color.

If anything, Lucia could be considered a moderate with reformist tendencies.

Given these two individuals with opposing tendencies conversing, I naturally judged that their relationship had soured due to political differences.

Moreover, Lucia had recently sent a letter to the Grand Duke of the North seeking cooperation. Although she sent the letter to catch a demon, considering the relationships between the Empire and the religious order, and between the Magic Tower and the religious order, this was quite a political action.

So I naturally suspected that the Pope might use that as a pretext to exert some kind of pressure.

Coincidentally, around that time, intelligence about the discord between the Pope and Lucia came in.

But as always, reality betrayed my expectations spectacularly.

“…No. So you’re saying that you, Lucia, called the Pope a geezer to his face. Is that it?”

“G-geezer? I didn’t use such a disrespectful expression. The nuance was similar, but…”

“You didn’t use the word ‘geezer’ but you did say he was like one. That’s like saying you held the steering wheel after drinking but weren’t drunk driving?”

“……”

Lucia buried her head in the fluffy pillow.

If it had been a subordinate, I would have scolded them, saying what difference does it make if you just bury your head, but unfortunately, Lucia wasn’t my subordinate but my colleague.

The sensation at the back of my neck was distinctly painful, as if it might burst at any moment.

Grabbing my nape, I turned my head and let out a deep sigh.

“No… Let’s set that aside for now. What conversation could possibly have led you to use such an expression to an 80-year-old man? Did you discuss politics with him or something?”

“Politics…? No. The Pope isn’t someone who would discuss such topics with me.”

Lucia was startled by my mention of politics and waved her hands dismissively.

She added that she was not a politician but merely a clergy member, and that the Pope was not such a materialistic person either.

“I’m inadequate to discuss complicated matters like politics. My sister may discuss major church affairs with the Pope and bishops, but I’m not cut out for that. Just think about it…”

Hearing Lucia’s words, I naturally understood.

Unlike Veronica, who had lived as a saint for over ten years and simultaneously played the roles of lobbyist and politician, Lucia had no notable credentials as a politician.

Although she had been going back and forth between conflict zones and hostile countries like the Magic Tower, that was to save human lives, not to consider the political interests of specific groups or diplomatic relations.

Even if I were the Pope, I wouldn’t need to call Lucia in for a political conversation.

Moreover, after awarding her a medal for demon subjugation, there was no reason to embarrass her by bringing up past issues.

“That’s true, but…”

Yet questions still remained.

“Then why was the Pope so angry and huffing? And what’s this about calling him a geezer?”

“Ah, that…”

Lucia glanced around as if checking her surroundings, then began to reveal the truth in a small voice.

“Actually, that day, there was a religious argument between the Pope and me…”

*

It was a peaceful day.

For Pope John XVI, the past month had been a nightmare.

Clergy of the Inquisition had met their deaths, and a rift had formed between the religious order and the Empire over the deaths of battle mages.

The attack that emerged from this rift added fuel to the conflict with the demon race. Amidst the daily escalating tension, impure beings whose names were troublesome even to mention appeared on the surface.

Undead, necromancers, demons.

The evil beings in league with humanity’s betrayers led the armies of hell and appeared in the north.

Upon hearing this news, Pope John XVI knelt before the statue of the Celestial God erected in the Medius Cathedral and offered an earnest prayer. He asked that, as in the moment of creation, God would once again send armies to defeat the demons.

Despite his desperate prayers, there was no answer today either.

God remained silent, and the darkness hanging over the north only deepened day by day.

Then one day.

At the end of the year, as the Pope was preparing for the New Year’s prayer, unexpected news was delivered to him.

It was a victory report that a demon had been subjugated.

Five people had subjugated the demon. Two of them were clergy from the religious order.

Veronica, who had ascended to sainthood by hearing the voice of angels and performing miracles.

And Lucia, who followed her to become the second saint in history, unprecedented in the annals.

According to church law, she couldn’t yet be called a saint since she hadn’t been canonized, but no one in the religious order thought she didn’t deserve to be called a saint.

Pope John XVI was one of those people.

“This is tea sent from the eastern diocese. Please drink it.”

“Thank you, Your Holiness.”

He offered Lucia tea that he had brewed himself.

With a benevolent smile, the Pope sipped the mint-scented tea and praised Lucia in a gentle voice.

“You’ve worked very hard over the past month. Catching a demon must not have been an easy task.”

“It was difficult, but it was something that someone had to do.”

“It brings me great joy as an old man to hear a saint say such things. At the same time, I feel sorry.”

Leaning back in a chair as white as his cassock, the Pope looked around at the trees in the garden with a weary face.

“I understand that many priests died in the north, clutching their crosses. The same goes for the holy knights who fought against the dragon.”

“……”

“The fact that the demon has been subjugated may not heal the wounds they suffered, but if this news spreads widely, at least the priests and holy knights can rest in peace. That fact… gives me some comfort.”

Conversations about death are always heavy.

In response, Lucia, who had participated in the demon subjugation, bowed her head and prayed, and the Pope, who had been silently waiting for the prayer to end, waved his hand as if embarrassed.

“I misspoke. This is not something that should be said by someone who only offered prayers in the cathedral while a hero directly confronted the demon. I apologize. I didn’t intend to trouble your mind.”

“It’s alright, Your Holiness. It’s all in the past.”

“I’m truly grateful for your understanding.”

The smiling Pope removed his zucchetto and tidied his hair.

As the cool breeze made his white hair flutter and tickle the bridge of his nose, the Pope, who was about to retire, brought up the main topic with a childlike, bright expression.

“As I mentioned earlier, today I want to discuss the future of our church with you. It’s a theological topic. Are you interested in theology?”

Receiving the Pope’s question, Lucia put down her teacup and neatly folded her hands.

“I may not have the specialized knowledge of someone who majored in biblical archaeology, but as someone in the clergy, I am very interested in theology.”

“Ah, that’s welcome news. I feel the same way. I hear that young priests these days avoid such old-fashioned topics, but you seem a bit different. Haha.”

The Pope laughed brightly and began his story. Befitting religious people, the two opened their conversation on a topic related to religion.

“Saint. I would like to ask you first.”

“Please speak, Your Holiness.”

“What are religion and faith to you?”

As is often the case with philosophy and religion, most of the conversation topics were abstract.

To a question that seemed like asking whether the chicken or the egg came first, Lucia organized her thoughts briefly and answered.

“Religion and faith. That’s quite a philosophical topic.”

“Was it a difficult question to answer? I can give you plenty of time.”

Lucia shook her head.

“I already have an answer. I believe the difference between religion and faith lies in attitude.”

“Attitude?”

“Yes. Human attitude.”

The Pope nodded as if to say, tell me more.

“Religion and faith may seem to have no significant difference at first glance. Religion is faith, and faith is religion. People think of religion and faith as inseparable.”

“Then what is your opinion? Do you think religion and faith can be separated from each other?”

“No, that’s not it. The common view that religion and faith are inseparable is valid, and I fully sympathize with it. However, I believe that while religion and faith may be essentially the same, there are clear differences.”

“What differences do you think exist?”

“Let me give an example.”

Lucia picked up a piece of bread from the table.

“This bread is ordinary bread, but according to the teachings of the order, bread is part of the spiritual body.”

“Cenantibus autem eis, accepit Iesus panem et benedixit ac fregit deditque discipulis et ait: ‘Accipite, comedite: hoc est corpus meum.’ So it is written in the scripture.”

“I will assume this bread represents God’s teachings.”

Lucia put down the bread and began her explanation.

“When bread is given to a hungry person, most will thank for the provision and consume the bread. They eat without any worry or concern. But a wise person doesn’t just eat the bread; they look for ways to obtain new bread.”

“Obtain new bread?”

“Eating bread may satisfy today’s hunger, but it can’t solve tomorrow’s hunger. Whether by working to obtain bread or learning how to bake it, a wise person seeks a way to live for the future. Apply this to religion and faith.”

“……”

The Pope, who had been lost in thought, exclaimed as if he understood.

“Ah, so it’s the difference between someone who believes in God’s teachings without any doubt and someone who understands and interprets God’s will.”

Lucia smiled and nodded at the Pope’s answer.

“I meant to include practice as well. Knowledge understood in the mind is useless unless put into action.”

“A fresh perspective. And not a bad analogy. To interpret the topic of religion and faith by citing a passage from scripture—that’s an idea that even priests would find hard to come up with without preparation. Remarkable.”

Satisfied with Lucia’s answer, Pope John XVI did not spare his praise.

He handed the plate of refreshments to Lucia and savored his tea with a satisfied smile.

“Then one more thing. I’d like to ask you.”

“Please speak.”

“Do you believe we can truly be forgiven for our sins?”

This topic, too, invariably carried philosophical meaning.

Sin and forgiveness.

“No matter how excellent a person is, they cannot satisfy everyone. Can you claim that you have never committed a sin in your life?”

To the Pope’s question, Lucia firmly denied it, shaking her head.

“No.”

“I’m the same. Especially when it comes to matters involving my child.”

At the Pope’s sudden words, a troubled look flashed across Lucia’s face.

This was understandable, as the Pope’s child issue was one of the dark aspects of the papal curia that no clergy would mention.

Based on the historical background marked by monster atrocities and wars, and the teachings of scripture written by the Magi conveying God’s words, the early papal curia allowed clergy to marry.

After all, marriage was a blessing acknowledged even by the Celestial God.

But scripture also emphasizes a life of moderation.

Marriage and moderation.

At first glance, the two seemed unrelated, but the clergy of ancient times thought differently.

The clergy of the papal curia believed that reproductive activities for procreation could lead to misguided desires.

So there was a time when the papal curia banned clergy from marrying.

Although the marriage ban was soon canceled due to the fervent opposition of prominent theologians and clergy of the time, from that point on, a tendency to treat interaction between clergy and the opposite sex as taboo began to spread within the order.

Therefore, clergy and monks of the order generally interacted with the opposite sex secretly, avoiding the eyes of those around them. But when their relationships became known, they had to bear the aftermath themselves.

This tendency became even more severe as one’s rank increased.

Every year, hundreds of letters denouncing bishops and cardinals for their secret relationships with the opposite sex are sent to the papal curia. Most of these letters are written by other clergy in competitive relationships.

Therefore, high-ranking clergy who decide to date or marry are given two choices.

First, voluntarily retire to preserve their love before denunciations from other high-ranking clergy arrive.

Second, thoroughly hide their private lives to protect themselves from discovery by other high-ranking clergy.

Most high-ranking clergy chose the latter. And the Pope also chose the second option.

Pope John XVI, who was a bishop of the diocese at the time, had a child with a believer without even registering their marriage.

Thanks to this, Pope John XVI rose rapidly as an executive of the Inquisition and ascended to the papal throne, but his son had to live as a fatherless child.

Pope John XVI’s private life, which had been hidden for over 20 years, was revealed to the world only after he had ascended to the papal throne and considerable time had passed. Through none other than his son’s mouth.

On the day his son’s letter filled the front page of the daily newspaper.

The authority of the papal curia plummeted, and the Pope, the subject of the scandal, faced tremendous internal and external criticism.

But Pope John XVI has firmly maintained his position as Pope until now, decades later.

The reason is simple.

Because his son, who wrote the denunciation, died.

“My son died of acute alcohol poisoning. His body couldn’t withstand the repeated binge drinking and overeating.”

The Pope murmured quietly, recalling the distant past.

At that moment, clouds covered the sun, and a dark shadow contrasting with his white garments enveloped his face.

“At that time, bishops and cardinals called me a monster. Even those who believed in and followed me spoke ill of me behind my back. I fully understand their feelings. I didn’t attend my wife’s funeral or my son’s funeral, even though we weren’t married, so naturally I wouldn’t have appeared human.”

“……”

“I’ve digressed.”

Having composed himself by drinking the mint-scented tea, he placed his hands on his knees. Then he posed another question to Lucia.

“Do you truly believe we can be forgiven for the sins we have committed?”

Lucia, who had been silent, raised her head and met the Pope’s gaze.

“No.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because forgiveness without repentance is merely false peace for self-satisfaction.”

The Pope smiled at the saint’s answer.

“Are you referring to confession? I agree with you on that point. Humans ask for forgiveness with their mouths, but the moment they turn around, they sin again.”

“That’s not it, Your Holiness. Even if one receives confession from a priest, a person’s sin does not disappear.”

At Lucia’s firm answer, Pope John XVI’s expression subtly changed.

“What does that mean?”

“Your Holiness. Sin is not like filth. I mean it doesn’t disappear just because one is forgiven.”

“Filth?”

“Sin is a wound. Sin can only be forgiven with apology and responsibility; it doesn’t disappear just because a priest forgives on behalf of the victim…”

“Are you in your right mind?”

The Pope said.

The benevolent smile disappeared, and his face filled with anger. With a slightly raised voice, the Pope severely reprimanded the saint.

“Sin is not filth? Confession cannot eliminate sin? So the confessional priests in dioceses around the world have been receiving filth all this time? Are you seriously saying that?”

“That’s not it, Your Holiness. I’m not disparaging the importance of confession.”

“But didn’t you just deny the effectiveness of confession? You said confession is useless. That one cannot confess sins and receive forgiveness. Didn’t you say so yourself?”

“Your Holiness. The church may think so, but skeptical believers and people…”

The Pope’s fist landed on the table.

Facing a face marred with anger and discontent, Lucia paused briefly.

But having something that needed to be said, Lucia took a small deep breath and uttered her final words.

“People don’t think that way. The church has built walls between itself and the world for too long. To the eyes of people outside the walls, the world inside—the religious order—appears only as a small world bound by old-fashioned rules.”

“…Are you saying that our church is a stagnant group without development?”

“Yes.”

Lucia nodded firmly and added.

“I’m saying it looks like a geezer.”

*

“…That’s what I said, and the Pope didn’t say anything. He immediately got up and went outside.”

“…Lucia.”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you just admit with your own mouth that you used the expression ‘geezer’ to the Pope?”

“Me? When?”

“……”

“I have no such memory.”

“…Ah, yes. Of course you don’t…”