St Paul’s Church

St Paul’s Church is a modest Catholic church in Oslo whose open door makes it a refuge, a remembered site of confession, and ultimately the place where Simon Kefas finds Sonny Lofthus. The church’s confessional gives physical form to the novel’s recurring concerns with guilt, forgiveness, and judgment, while its role in the final pursuit turns that spiritual setting into the location of a violent reckoning.

Setting and Character

Situated between two apartment blocks, St Paul’s Church is described as modest beside the famous churches of other capitals. It is Catholic in a Protestant country, faces west rather than in the expected direction, and has only a hint of a tower at its front. Three steps lead to the entrance, but the church is always open. Its unassuming architecture and accessible door contrast with the weight of the religious history and symbolism that Simon associates with the interior.

The church’s plainness does not make it spiritually empty. Simon remembers Else explaining how even basic building materials and stained glass could carry religious symbolism, and how that symbolism gained weight from its historical context and from the faith of generations of thoughtful people. He regards the church’s atmosphere as foreign and theatrical, yet cannot dismiss the meaning invested in it. That tension between skepticism and the persistence of belief shapes his response to the place.

Simon’s Earlier Visit

Simon had come to the church once before, late one evening during a crisis, after he had lost everything and before he found salvation in Else. Drunk and unfamiliar with the confessional’s layout, he worked out that the priest would be in the curtained compartment and entered the other cubicle. He spoke through the perforated wooden partition, confessing his sins loudly while hoping that someone might hear him and either forgive or condemn him.

Nothing answered. The next morning, Simon woke without his usual headache and concluded that life would continue as if nothing had happened and that ultimately no one cared. That unanswered confession marked the last time he entered a church until the events of the novel’s final pursuit. The memory gives his return a personal history: the church is not merely a convenient landmark but the place where his attempt to hand over the burden of his mistakes failed to alter his isolation.

Martha and the Church

When Simon returns, Martha Lian is near the altar with a woman discussing flowers, a ceremony, Anders, and guests. The conversation suggests preparations for a wedding, while Simon’s first impression of Martha is that she looks empty, alone, and miserable. The woman leaves after Simon invokes confidentiality, and he and Martha sit together on the front pew.

Simon asks why Martha did not tell him that she had been seen driving with Sonny. Martha explains that Sonny wanted to learn to drive and that she had taken him to a car park to practise. The church thus also becomes a private meeting place where Simon questions Martha about her connection to Sonny. The domestic and ceremonial setting stands in contrast to the suspicions and criminal danger that frame their conversation.

The Final Search

Later, Simon and Sonny search for the man they are pursuing. Simon studies the street and tries to compensate for what he has failed to see. A flash from a moving piece of glass or metal catches his attention; he recognizes it as the brass handle of a door with a closer that shuts slowly, recalling a place that is always open. He identifies the church and leads the way inside.

The church is quiet, and the pews are empty. Candles burn on the altar ahead of a morning mass due to begin in half an hour. Their light falls over the figure of Jesus on the cross as Simon hears a whispering, chanting voice from the left. In the open confessional, Sonny has the Uzi aimed at the perforated partition. Through a narrow gap beside the black curtain, Simon can see a hand; beneath the curtain, blood is spreading across the stone floor.

Sonny’s words ask earthly and heavenly gods to have mercy on the person behind the curtain and forgive his sins, while declaring that the penitent’s soul will be led to Paradise. The prayer takes place within the same confessional where Simon once sought an answer and received none. This time, Simon finds Sonny using the space to pronounce absolution as death approaches. The church’s recurring significance lies in that reversal: a place associated with Simon’s unanswered plea for judgment or forgiveness becomes the setting for Sonny’s final appeal on behalf of another person.