Talk:Runes/@comment-201.222.189.155-20120702025453/@comment-98.175.173.223-20130201051520

He said the Pope kissed Julio because that's how every mage that we've seen gaining their familiar finishes the ritual. Not only do we see it happen with Saito (no less than three times, mind you - twice with Louise, once with Tiffania), but it's heavily implied that it's the normal means of completing the ceremony. Louise kissed him after Colbert specifically instructed her to continue the ceremony and her reaction (as well as those of her classmates) indicate that this is the norm) indicated that she already knew that kissing was involved, and was merely upset that she had to kiss a commoner. Given that, it's very unlikely that Julio or Sheffield would have their contracts sealed differently.

If anything, pretty much everything we know about the summoning ceremony in the series would imply that it's silly to think they received their runes any other way. The only known exception (because again, it's heavily implied that the kiss is standard in sealing the contract) is Sasha, and that's because Brimir was basically the pioneer of the ritual and hadn't developed it at that point.