Chapter 8 Summary

Cardinal Bem is picked up by two local police, who chastise him for being in a restricted area. Cardinal Bem tells the men that he was traveling with another priest when their car broke down. They circle back to find Father Prisbek but he is nowhere to be seen, which confirms Cardinal Bem's suspicion that Father Prisbek is working on the side of his captors. The policemen decide it is too much red tape to file a report about finding a priest in the restricted zone, and so they drop him off in the next town and advise him to forget he ever met them.

Chapter 8 Analysis

This chapter presents an interesting vignette about the lack of loyalty or passion in local law enforcement and the bureaucracy that gives them more incentive to ignore a crime rather than get involved.