Even later, when Antonio defied papal authority and trespassed on what was classified Vatican property, the church held that his origami creations were commissioned by the hand of God and fit within the guidelines of sacred art described in the strictures of Vatican II. And though Antonio's excommunication papers were field, the figurines were allowed to remain on the altars.
Antonio followed church rumors that had passed from cardinals to priests and then down to rectory altar boys. He visited every one of the cities they mentioned, asking for the whereabouts of the factory.
Those who did not ignore him simply shrugged or pointed to a skyline of smokestacks. Had it not been for a disgruntled monk who spoke defiantly against a life of constant walking and bird-watching, Antonio would never have come upon the doors of the factory. The monk handed Antonio a scrap of parchment. Written on it were caliper measurements and detailed illustrations of feathers, ordinary details found in any field guide, but the underside of the paper revealed the never-before-disclosed coordinates of the factory. At the bottom of the page, in the same hand-writing, the monk signed in careful cursive, using not his Christian name but his assigned position in line: fifty-three.
【全訳】
のちにアントニオが法王の権威に背き、極秘とされたバチカンの地所に不法にも侵入した時ですら、教会は彼を擁護し、彼の折り紙の創造物は神の手が創らしめたものであって、第二バチカン公会議の定めるところの聖なる芸術の典範から逸脱するものではない、と主張した。
アントニオの破門は広く告知されたが、紙の小立像は祭壇にとどまることを許可された。枢機卿らから司祭たちへ、そして司教館の侍者たちへと伝わっていった、教会で囁かれる噂をアントニオは辿った。名前が挙がった街をすべて訪れ、工場のありかを訳ねて回った。