“And I had heard tales of Brother Paolo Zoppo, who in the forest of Rieti lived as a hermit and boasted of having received directly from the Holy Spirit the revelation that the carnal act was not a sin— so he seduced his victims, whom he called sisters, forcing them to submit to the lash on their naked flesh, making five genuflections on the ground in the form of a cross, before he presented them to God and claimed from them what he called the kiss of peace.”

“You are looking at the witch, are you not?“

“No! I am not looking at her— or rather, perhaps I am looking at her, but she isn’t a witch. We don’t know, perhaps she is innocent.”

“And you look at her because she is beautiful. She is beautiful, is she not? If you look at her because she is beautiful, and you are upset by her- but I know you are upset, because the sin of which she is suspected makes her all the more fascinating to you. If you look at her and feel desire, that alone makes her a witch.”

Umberto Eco
Excerpts from The Name of the Rose