LENNY BELARDO: Absence is presence.
What you are proposing is media suicide.
BELARDO: Mentor me. Just like you've always done.
CARDINAL SPENCER: You wanna make the world pay for the wrong it did you.
You don't know how to love.
You must do what I ask.
Sanchez Angelo, my superiors have determined
that you are neither suited for nor worthy of the priesthood.
VOIELLO: The press is attacking us.
They are calling us murderers.
BELARDO: What do you think? Did we kill him?
You killed him.
DUSSOLIER: Have you never experienced pity?
I can't take it anymore.
I wanna go home.
[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
- Lord Almighty,
now that You have our beloved Dussolier in Your arms,
I pray to You,
remind him of that afternoon
when we ran away together from the orphanage.
Remind him of the fear and freedom
we felt on that rainy afternoon.
And reassure him, there's nothing wrong.
Freedom and fear are always together,
like an old married couple,
each willing to die for the other.
Remind him of Sister Mary at age 20,
her hair flowing and blonde and drenched in sunlight
as she ran and sank baskets.
Remind him of that indelible, archaic picture of beauty
that so stirred us, in silence.
Now, I know very well
that neither he nor I will ever forget that picture.
Remind him, Lord Almighty,
of all our endless late-night conversations
in that big one-room dormitory,
under the blankets,
how we whispered in secret about our one and only
inexhaustible topic of discussion:
our future.
We were children then,
and that's what children do.
They paint the future in colors that reality can never know.
Remind him not to grieve over all our shattered dreams.
We wanted to live the lives of the great baseball player,
the elderly gas station attendant on the county road,
the heroic soldier,
the low-life New York musician,
the fireman,
the blue-water sailor.
Remind him not to weep when he remembers that instead
we lived only the simple, drab life of the priest.
Such a strange life.
A life of hope and prayer that You,
Lord Almighty,
really do exist
and might think about us.
[muffled whooshing]
[water bubbling]
[panting]
Amen.
[instrumental rock version of "All Along the Watchtower"]
♪ ♪
Ohh.
[exhales sharply]
[grunting]
[back cracks]
[groaning]
[grunting]
[somber electronic music]
♪ ♪
[static crackles]
♪ ♪
Sancta Maria, mater Dei.
♪ ♪
[music stops]
[thud]
- [sobbing]
[somber violin music]
♪ ♪
[jet engines whooshing]
- Where do they go, the airplanes we never take?
- I always wonder the same thing
every time I see one.
- I always think they go to places I've never been.
[cell phone chimes]
They go somewhere else.
♪ ♪
Tell me about the Blessed Juana.
- She is revered in Guatemala
and across all of Central America.
She died at the age of 18 and--of leukemia,
and on her deathbed, she said,
"All the world will be infatuated with me
"because all my life,
I have been infatuated with the world."
- What did the Blessed Juana do to deserve canonization?
- Well, she cared for sick children in the hospitals,
and in order to alleviate their suffering,
she would tell them fairy tales that she thought up herself,
very amusing ones, apparently,
and always with the same protagonist:
the Madonna.
- I like this. Go on.
- But these fairy tales gave more than a smile
to the sick children.
Many of these children,
just a few days after listening to Juana's fairy tales,
recovered from terminal illness.
And they recovered with a smile on their face.
All of the cured children,
when they were asked whether they had any idea
why they felt better or were healed,
gave the same answer:
"The Madonna made us laugh."
- That's a wonderful story, Your Eminence.
- Yes, Holy Father, it's a wonderful story.
- Beautiful.
If only it were true.
- But, Holy Father, it--it is true.
- All right, let me think about it.
I'll let you know my answer soon.
Tell me about your calling.
[wind whooshing]
[birds calling]
- Holy Father, the announcement of your orders
making abortion unforgiveable has unleashed the FEMEN,
and they're protesting everywhere.
Underneath the Eiffel Tower,
in the European Parliament, even in St. Peter's Square.
- I don't want to talk about people who strip naked
in order to protest against something.
- The death of Andrew...
you weren't to blame.
- Oh, yes, I was.
[bright guitar music]
♪ ♪
Valente.
- Holy Father?
♪ ♪
- I'm so tired.
[helicopter rotors whirring]
♪ ♪
[door opens]
- Here I am, Holy Father.
- Make yourself comfortable.
You have a good trip?
- Oh, I just love helicopters.
They make me feel like I'm having an adventure.
- Mm.
Young people like you love adventures.
- Holy Father, may I remind you
that we're the same age?
- We used to be the same age.
- I was so surprised and happy to hear
that you wanted to see me.
- I, too, was surprised to learn
that I needed to see you.
[grunts]
- Oh, not wanted but needed.
Weigh your words carefully, Holy Father.
- I'm really tired.
You know that?
- If you will allow me, Holy Father, you're not tired.
You're grieving and struggling with guilt
over the death of your closest friend,
Cardinal Dussolier.
What did you want to talk to me about, Holy Father?
- What are we doing wrong?
- Oh, it's very simple.
We've failed to follow
the eternal, unchanging principle
of the carrot and the stick.
The carrot and the stick.
We brought the stick
but forgot the carrot.
- What do you mean by carrot?
- An opening.
- What do you mean by an opening?
- A speech about love and a pastoral voyage.
- I don't like to travel, and you know perfectly well
I don't like to be seen.
- I never said that you have to let yourself be seen.
As for traveling, everyone dislikes traveling
until they actually go on a trip.
Then they like it, don't they?
- Where are you thinking of dragging me?
- To Africa.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary
of the foundation of Sister Antonia's first
Village of Goodness.
The first of the 250 Villages of Goodness.
The largest multinational of charity.
Sister Antonia calls my office an average of 14 times a day
to repeat her invitation.
She'd gladly saw off one of her arms
to get you to come, Holy Father.
- Well, you just tell her to get to sawing
and then I'll be around, sooner or later.
- So what do you say?
- I'm not particularly fond of Sister Antonia.
And what's more, several cardinals have told me
she has a close and friendly relationship
with halitosis.
No.
This doesn't strike me as the right idea
to settle the problems we have.
- As you wish, Holy Father.
- What I really wish is to go back to Rome.
I'm not a man who's comfortable on vacation.
- All intelligent men are uncomfortable in vacation.
By the way,
something that may possibly cheer you up:
Elmore Coen, your favorite author,
is on vacation in Rome.
He stated in an interview with the press
that he'd like to meet you.
Might that be of interest to you?
- I've always wanted to meet Elmore Coen.
[crickets chirping]
[smooth rock music]
♪ ♪
[helicopter rotors whirring]
♪ ♪
What became...
of the roller-skating children?
♪ ♪
I've loved all your books, Mr. Coen.
It's an immense honor for me to meet you.
- Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Your Holiness.
After all, you're the Pope.
- I had heard you wanted to meet me too.
- How could I not?
You are the most mysterious man
of these first few decades of the century.
What writer wouldn't want to meet you?
- You writers are all so obsessed with mystery.
- You men of the cloth... [laughs]
Don't kid around either.
- Writers and men of the cloth are the same that way.
They can't afford to solve the mystery,
because the next day, they become irrelevant.
- Writing is the one way I've found
of concealing my boundless ignorance.
It's a fraud, really.
A way of gaining acceptance from the world
and especially from women... [laughs]
Who are my one and only real interest.
Oh, forgive me.
I've been inappropriate.
- Not at all.
Laymen always think we priests are scandalized
by even the slightest things,
whereas the truth is the exact opposite.
We're never scandalized.
No profession has to deal with sin
on such a continual basis as ours.
The confessional is our operating room.
Just as surgeons have no fear of blood,
so we priests no longer are afraid of scandal and sin.
- So...
how do you survive without women?
- An easy answer.
The foolish ones go with women on the sly.
The wise ones long ago understood
the degree to which sex, as a source of pleasure,
is overvalued in our society.
- Your Holiness, with a few words,
you have just razed to the ground
3/4 of my literary production.
I've almost always written about sex
as the motor that drives the world.
- And you were right,
but you don't write about motors that purr.
You write about motors that break down continuously.
And they should've given you a Nobel Prize for it
20 years ago.
- Ah, it's true.
Unfortunately they've got into the habit
of giving it only to those who don't want it.
Have you ever had a girlfriend, Your Holiness?
- Certainly.
I've only ever had one,
and I remember everything about her,
whereas you Mr. Coen, have probably had thousands
and don't remember a thing about them.
- [laughing] I only remember
certain perverse and lustful details.
- If you remember those,
that's probably because we're continually lecturing you
about how wrong it is to remember them.
How do you feel?
- Sick.
They've found something wrong with me,
only they're not sure what it is.
- Perhaps God has entered you.
- More than likely, it's the devil.
Are you going to resign?
- No.
I'm not going to resign.
- That only makes me feel worse.
- You're never gonna be Pope, Michael.
Get used to it.
I'm the Pope,
and I'm gonna remain Pope till the day I die.
Because I'm curious to see how it all turns out.
- You don't believe in God.
- What did you say?
- I said you don't believe in God.
I was 50 years old myself once, you know.
I had my own crisis of faith.
Like all priests.
Second calling is more challenging
and more fraught than the first.
You no longer have to deal with the enthusiasm of youth.
Now you must grapple with disenchantment
and the limitations of the rational.
You don't believe in God,
but that shouldn't upset you.
Even though you are Pope.
There's still another path that will allow you
to find the people and things you're looking for,
even if you can't see it now,
because all you can see before you now
are your own doubts and the darkness.
- Please show me the other path.
I beg you.
- If I show it to you, then the adventure is over.
Don't you see, Lenny?
Your life, your papacy,
is an unforgettable adventure.
- You truly are my spiritual father.
The best a priest could hope to have.
Michael, what must I do to restore the Church's fate?
- Go to Venice
and bury two empty coffins.
[somber piano music]
♪ ♪
- Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto,
requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Requiescant in pace.
Dominus vobiscum.
Sit nomen Domini benedictum.
Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
Benedicat vos ompipotens Deus,
Pater,
et Filius
et Spiritus Sanctus.
now...
Next Sunday,
we won't see each other,
my dear, devoted faithful.
I have to take a trip.
[crowd murmuring]
I've decided to visit Africa
to celebrate the 30th anniversary
of the foundation of Sister Antonia's
first Village of Goodness.
[ethereal music]
[rhythmic whistling]
♪ ♪
[crowd murmuring]
- I know. I know you wanted him, not me.
- When will he come out?
- I'll tell you right away
so you can get it out of your mind.
He is not coming out.
- What does that mean, he's not coming out?
In that case, why are we bothering
to all travel together on the same flight?
- Uh, to feel he's closer.
- Sofie, you know perfectly well
that this bullshit won't sell anymore.
- Boys, what can I tell you? He's not coming out.
That's the official version. Then I-I couldn't say.
Anything could happen.
One thing Pius XIII certainly doesn't lack
is unpredictability.
Take this trip.
In two hours, he told us, we are going.
And we put the whole thing together at the speed of light.
- But I'm gonna ask him a really important question.
- Not right now, you're not.
- But why won't he come out? What is he doing?
- He's praying. - And we're praying too.
That he'll talk to us.
We've been praying for months now.
- So what prayer is he praying? [all snickering]
- My dear boy, I still can't read the Holy Father's mind.
- Well, he's not praying out loud.
With this Pope, that constitutes news.
- I have an important question to ask him.
- I understand, Jennifer, but he's not coming out.
- Prince Abadi has prepared the stadium
for the Pope's public speech.
Will he go?
Will he allow himself to be seen in public for the first time?
- He said he will.
In any case, I'll keep you informed, okay?
- Sofie, when am I gonna be able to ask my question?
- I don't know, Jennifer.
- Holy Father!
Reliable sources say
that the Kurtwell investigation's at a standstill.
They say that you sent a man with no experience
to conduct that investigation
because you don't actually want to investigate.
And there's a very specific reason for that.
Kurtwell is blackmailing you.
Is that true, Holy Father?
And what is Kurtwell blackmailing you about?
What does Kurtwell know about you that we don't?
[tense music]
[all shouting, plane rumbling]
[dishes clattering]
[rumbling]
[engines whooshing]
[lively drumbeats playing]
[xylophones playing]
♪ ♪
[singers chanting]
♪ ♪
[camera shutters clicking]
♪ ♪
[camera shutters clicking]
♪ ♪
[singers whistle, chant]
♪ ♪
- Stay where you are! Nobody moves!
Stay where you are! - [chanting]
- Hey, people, stay where you are!
Stay where you are! Nobody moves!
Stay where you are! Don't move!
Stay where you are!
[melancholy music]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
[both speaking Italian]
[cheers and applause]
- Let's go!
[upbeat electronic music]
♪ ♪
This is our church.
♪ ♪
Next to it is the dormitory.
The health care clinic.
The dental clinic.
The elementary school.
The catechism school.
The cafeteria.
And the administrative offices.
♪ ♪
[speaking Swahili]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
Not all that glitters is gold.
That water is dangerous.
It can cause fluorosis, anemia,
joint pains, dental disease, and kidney failure.
The main problem afflicting this area
has to do with a supply of safe, clean drinking water.
Our benefactors send us huge quantities of clean water,
but the bureaucracy, the soldiers, and the gangs
hijack it illegally and keep it for themselves.
This is a very ingenious system designed by a Dutch company,
which donated it to us.
The water condenses on the glass and then drips into containers.
There are times when we manage to collect
as much as three liters a day.
Would you like some water to drink, Your Holiness?
- No, thanks.
[Roberto Murolo's "Era De Maggio" on radio]
[somber guitar music]
- [singing in Italian]
♪ ♪
- Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
I met this famous American author.
What a tempter.
He said he remembered only
the perverse and lustful details of women.
Now I can't seem to do anything but remember
my own very few of that nature.
You might say to me, "Which ones?"
When I met that girl in California on a beach
more than 30 years ago,
she told me, "You can touch my legs."
It's become an obsessive and very unhealthy thought.
Also, even though it was in good faith,
I never even realized I was doing it.
I must have sinned with Esther, Peter, and little Pius.
They left the Vatican without saying good-bye to me.
Just vanished.
Now I-I can't seem to sleep at night,
because I'm thinking about the photo that they left behind,
a photo I thought mattered to them.
A photo of me holding little Pius in my arms.
And at times like this, I feel guilty,
because I should be thinking about my only true friend,
Andrew Dussolier,
dead because of me.
And yet I've already stopped feeling guilty about it.
This enormous burden swept away by...
a tiny morsel of guilt.
How strange the human soul can be.
Isn't that true, Father?
Finally, Father, the world.
Pity.
Compassion.
Forgiveness.
All these Christian virtues
the world no longer attributes to me.
Can they be right?
Am I cruel?
All I know is, everything I do, I do for the love of God.
And that's all.
My penitence, Father?
Do you speak English?
You couldn't have told me before?
You just let me rattle on like an idiot
for the past ten minutes?
"Sister Antonia hides the water
"and she uses it to control the sick and the nuns.
"In exchange for a few glasses of water,
"she demands favors.
"Obscene acts and filth I could never repeat.
"I beg you, please, Father,
only you can help us."
Accipite et bibite
ex eo omnes.
Haec quotiescumque feceritis,
in mei memoriam facietis.
[bell ringing]
[melancholy woodwind tones]
♪ ♪
[melancholy piano music]
♪ ♪
- I have to tell you something, Holy Father.
- Your Eminence, I don't want to hear any more bad news.
- You might not believe it, but for the first time,
I have a piece of good news to give you.
- Let's hear it, then.
- The simple fact that you have announced
your first pastoral visit
and the prospect of your first public appearance
have resulted in a 12% increase in the number of requests
to take part in your next Mass at St. Peter's.
- A morbid curiosity prompted by absence.
Your Eminence, as an orphan,
I'm very familiar with this.
- Holy Father, will you appear here in Africa
for the first time?
- You once asked me who I really am.
Do you remember that?
- Certainly.
- I'm just a man.
That's the answer.
- That's not all.
Your Holiness, you are the Church.
[melancholy piano music]
How wonderful,
and to think that there are still people
who believe that God doesn't exist.
What was that American journalist on the plane
referring to?
- Oh, probably just one of the many slanders
making the rounds about the Holy Father.
Kurtwell and Belardo know each other
because they both worked in New York.
And that's all.
[sighs]
♪ ♪
Oh...
Oh, I--um...
- Forgive me. - No.
- The civil war in this country, practically speaking,
has never stopped.
It's hard to even come up with an estimate
of the number of dead.
The arrival of the Holy Father has been particularly useful
because it at least forced the sides to call a truce.
My fear is that as soon as His Holiness
leaves this land of ours,
the warring bands will go back to slaughtering each other
just like before.
Prince Abadi is a good man.
He's a great philanthropist, generous with us,
and he does what he can to halt the violence,
but without international aid, the task is daunting.
- I'd use my words with care, Mother Antonia.
The U.N. denounces Abadi as a ferocious torturer
and old-school dictator.
That's why there has been no international aid.
- Your Eminence, I've been in this place for many years.
Prince Abadi is a good man.
- The United Nations has been in this place for some time too.
- Prince Abadi is a good man.
- The question here is, what exactly does it mean
to be a good person?
Let's take you, for instance, Sister Antonia.
Are you a good person?
- I believe I am.
- Don't be in such a hurry.
Think carefully.
- I try to live in accordance with Christian values.
- Which ones?
You can use Christian values for all kinds of purposes.
A good person is somebody who puts himself last,
who renounces his own temptations and needs,
working only for the interests of others.
Now, think carefully and answer sincerely,
because I won't put up with even the tiniest lie from you.
Are you a good person?
There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding
concerning the meaning of my visit here to you.
You think I'm here to honor you?
In fact...
I'm here to ascertain your temptations.
Heal yourself, Sister Antonia.
Halitosis is a deformation of the soul.
[glass shatters]
Water problem.
- Ahh!
[screaming]
- [shouting in Swahili]
[upbeat percussive music]
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
[rhythmic clapping, chanting]
♪ ♪
[music stops]
[cheers and applause]
- Ladies and gentlemen,
His Holiness Pius XIII.
- This is the Vicar of Christ,
Pope Pius XIII, speaking to you now.
Brothers and sisters,
I want to be perfectly clear with you.
I visited your country
and I have seen dead bodies lying on the ground,
hunger, blood,
thirst, and poverty.
All these things are the offspring
of the war and violence
that has clutched your land for 12 years now.
I won't say the names of those who are guilty in this.
There are too many of them.
We are all guilty.
We are all guilty of war and death.
Always.
In the same way, we can all be guilty of peace.
Always.
I ask this of you on bended knee.
I'm ready to die for you, if only
you will become guilty of peace.
I always say to the children
who write me from all over the world:
think about all the things you like.
That is God.
Children like all sorts of things,
but none of them have ever written
that what they like is war.
Now look at whoever is next to you.
- ♪ Remember those walls I built ♪
- Look at them with eyes of joy
and remember what Saint Augustine said:
"If you want to see God,
you have the means to do it."
- ♪ I found a way to let you in ♪
♪ But I never really had a doubt ♪
- "God is love."
I, on the other hand,
won't speak to you about God until there's peace.
Because God is peace.
And peace is God.
- ♪ It's a risk that I'm takin' ♪
- Give me peace...
- ♪ I ain't never gonna shut you out ♪
- And I'll give you God.
- ♪ Everywhere I'm looking now ♪
- You don't know how wonderful peace is.
You have no idea of how disconcerting peace can be.
- ♪ You know you're my saving grace ♪
♪ You're everything I need and more ♪
- But I know.
- ♪ It's written ♪
♪ All over your face ♪
- Because I saw it when I was eight years old
on the banks of a river in Colorado.
Peace.
- [vocalizing]
[soft music]
♪ ♪
♪ I can see your halo ♪
♪ Halo ♪
♪ Hit me like a ray of sun ♪
♪ Burning through my darkest night ♪
♪ You're the only one that I want ♪
♪ And I'm addicted to your light ♪
♪ I swore I'd never fall again ♪
♪ But this don't even feel like falling ♪
♪ Gravity can't forget ♪
♪ To pull me back to the ground again ♪
♪ It's like I've been awakened ♪
♪ Every rule I had you break it ♪
♪ It's a risk that I'm takin' ♪
♪ I ain't never gonna shut you out ♪
♪ Everywhere I'm looking now ♪
♪ I'm surrounded by your embrace ♪
♪ Baby, I can see your halo ♪
- It was beautiful.
- Yeah, I know.
Those dancers gave a wonderful performance.
- No, Holy Father. I'm talking about your speech.
It was beautiful.
- ♪ Pray it won't fade away ♪
♪ Halo, halo ♪
♪ Halo ♪
- Holy Father,
weather conditions in Rome are critical.
We're going to have to land in Naples.
- I would never dare to contradict you.
Naples it is.
- [chuckles]
- May I, uh, touch? - No.
♪ ♪
- ♪ I can feel your halo ♪
♪ I can see your halo ♪
♪ I can feel your halo ♪
♪ I can see your halo ♪
- I need to stop at the next gas station.
- Certainly, Your Holiness.
[static crackles]
- [whistles]
[brakes hissing]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- O Lord,
let us look each other right in the eyes.
We can no longer put off this matter.
We now need to speak about Sister Antonia.
♪ ♪
[bottle clinks]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Ah.
[gasps]
[wind whooshing]
[no audible dialogue]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
[crying]
♪ ♪
[crying]
[gasping]
[groans]
♪ ♪
- [breathing heavily]
♪ ♪
[heavy breathing continues]
[heavy breathing stops]
[bright tone]
SOFIA: I'd like to put together a press release
that states that this pope is blackmail-proof.
ARCHBISHOP KURTWELL: The truth is...
I know Lenny Belardo very well.
You're gonna see all the things I have on you
in all the newspapers of the world.
(ANGRILY) Who gives a damn?
CARDINAL GUTIERREZ: Why are you following me?
(MUSIC INTENSIFYING)
(MUSIC FADES)
The pope is experiencing a moment of weakness.
If you need to have him sign a document
that gets our church back on course,
this would be the right time to do it.
I've done my part, now you need to do yours.
CARDINAL VOIELLO: What exactly have you done?
They are here.
PAOLO SORRENTINO: Sister Mary deceives Lenny
because she is afraid that Lenny is losing the church.
So Sister Mary decides to put a mise en scene
where Lenny finds again his parents.
This is useful to distract Lenny
and to bring again the church
in the right way.
It's not them.
Expel these impostors
from my home... immediately.
SORRENTINO: It was interesting to do a pope that's an orphan.
The condition of an orphan forces an orphan to be
a child also when he grows up.
LENNY BELARDO: A priest never grows up
because he can never become a father.
He'll always be a son.
So there is a war inside him
between the need to be a child
and at the same time, there is the need to be
an adult because he has to lead the people.
From a rational point of view,
Sister Mary believes Lenny's not a good pope.
But at the same time,
she knows that he has a sort of a power
to do miracles.
For this reason, she also believes
that he must be the pope.
You are a saint.
SORRENTINO: Lenny, he has a sense of guilt.
Also, he decides to be more open-minded.
The way he's leading the church,
he's not so sure that the faithful will go back.
So he follows the advice of the other people.
Sofia says, "Let's go to Africa,"
something that at the beginning was impossible to think for him.
But at the end of that episode,
he decides to pray God about Sister Antonia.
We don't understand if he's asking God
to kill Sister Antonia, or another kind of thing.
We can no longer put off this matter.
I think it's important to keep this ambiguity.
Because when we pray, we share our secrets
just with God,
and not with an audience.
So I think that's important that the audience
doesn't understand very well what's--what's going on.