'Then why should the Church annul an obligation which is quite as solemn as marriage?'
Giovanni thought he had caught the churchman in a fallacy.
'I beg your pardon,' he replied. 'I was taught as a boy that marriage is a sacrament, but I never heard that taking the veil was one!'
'Quite right, in principle. In reality, it is considered, for women, the equivalent of ordination, and therefore as being of the nature of a sacrament.'
'I am not a theologian, to discuss equivalents,' retorted Giovanni roughly.
'Very true, but a man who knows nothing of mathematics may safely accept the statement of a mathematician about a simple problem. That is not the point, however. If you remember, I said that "under the same circumstances" the Church would not do what the law would not. The Church considers a nun's final vows to be as binding under its regulations as the law considers that any civil contract is. The "circumstances" are therefore exactly similar.'
Giovanni was no match for his cool antagonist in an argument. He cut the discussion short by a direct question.
'Is it in the Pope's power to release Sister Giovanna from her vows, or not?'
'Then put your principles into practice and make him do it!' cried the soldier rudely.
Monsignor Saracinesca was unmoved by this attack, which he answered with calm dignity.
'My dear Captain,' he said, 'in the first place, no one can "make" the Pope do things. That is not a respectful way of speaking.'
Giovanni was naturally courteous and he felt that he had gone too far.
'I beg your pardon,' he answered. 'I mean no disrespect to the Pope, though I tell you frankly that I do not believe in much, and not at all in his authority. What I ask is common justice and your help as a friend. I ask you to go to him and lay the case before him fairly, as before a just man, which I heartily believe him to be. You will see that he will do what you admit is in his power and give Sister Giovanna her dispensation.'
'If you and she had been married before your disappearance,' argued the churchman, 'His Holiness would assuredly not refuse. If you had been solemnly betrothed before your parish priest as well as legally promised in marriage at the Capitol, he might make an exception, though a civil betrothal is valid only for six months, under Italian law. But there was no marriage and no such engagement.'