WWW.MY-SUBS.CO ﻿1
We are under siege.
We have one viable candidate...
Sir John Brannox.
You're really sure he'll be the new pope?
I've got an insider.
She is a beauty.
We have to hurry.
He is studying us.
His life has been burdened
with crippling sorrows.
He's fragile, a piece of porcelain.
Perhaps what you need is a man of steel.
Being pope is a martyrdom.
After Pius XIII, it's a burden.
And after Francis II...
...it's suspect.
Would you accept, Eminence?
Adam!
- Do you know what it is? - John!
- It's a millipede. - Adam!
No, it's God.
John! Adam!
John!
Mum and Dad are looking for us.
- We can't go back now. - Why not?
Because we're watching God, John.
John!
Sir John, they are in a hurry.
I'm not.
"In a higher world, it is otherwise,
but here below, to live is to change,
and to be perfect is to have changed often".
You are a devious one, Danny.
Ensnaring me with the words of my beloved Newman.
We shall only take Valencia...
And the box.
You were right, as always, Danny.
She is splendid.
Oh, it's Meghan Markle, sir.
She does not know what to wear.
What a nuisance.
Tell her I'll phone her later.
That's not enough.
We'll have to go to the higher-ups.
You're throwing me out.
Where are Pius and I supposed to go now, on the street?
I'm not throwing you out, Ester.
The owner is.
Thanks to me, you have been living here rent-free
ever since Peter left you,
but now the owner wants his house back.
He has rights too, doesn't he?
I can start paying rent again.
The Italian Swiss TV is doing a show on Pius XIII's miracles,
and I...
Ester,
you can't live off the odd TV appearance.
You need a steady job.
I'll clean your church. That's a steady job.
But it's only two hours a day, Ester,
not enough to get by on.
I can look for another cleaning job in Rome.
And what will you do with Pius?
Who is going to watch him while you're in Rome?
So what am I supposed to do now?
You need another miracle, Ester.
You've all abandoned me.
Even you, Lenny.
You want me to blow your brains out?
Why don't you get a haircut?
What happened?
♪ The river flows ♪
♪ It flows to the sea ♪
♪ Wherever that river goes ♪
♪ That's where I'll... ♪
Marvelous...
but dated.
Like me.
My favorite famous people are Dennis Hopper,
Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn,
Sharon Stone, and...
Marilyn Manson.
What do you like about them?
They seem free.
- And you like liberty? - You know the answer.
Don't ask such obvious questions.
If you become pope,
liberty is the one outfit you won't be able to wear.
But Will I be able to see you every day?
Don't ask such obvious questions.
You remind me of my favorite actor,
John Malkovich.
Doesn't do much for me.
But the others, if I were to become pope,
might I be able to meet them?
All, except Dennis Hopper.
Mm.
There shouldn't be any problem for the others.
It's considered an honor to meet a pontiff.
Oh, finally.
A sensible reason for aspiring to the papacy.
I found a photograph in my room,
tucked in a drawer,
of you with the queen.
And you're implying what?
That I put it there to impress you?
Ah, I'm getting old,
and old age, perhaps,
pushes us to employ these pathetic little tricks.
But you like the queen?
Enchanting...
because she's pale,
like you.
Hello.
Yes, where the yellow Dior.
Because it plays up the contrast
with your complexion.
No.
No, Meghan, I'm adamant.
Wear the yellow Dior, I said.
Was that Meghan?
Regrettably, yes.
They want to be influencers,
yet they have no idea of color combinations.
She calls me 25 times a day for beauty tips.
She thinks I'm gay.
Well... are you?
Did you hear about the attack in Somalia?
I'm devastated.
Do you find me bombastic?
Not at all.
And yet that is precisely what I am,
bombast being a defect
which I simply cannot seem to control,
like all Anglo-Saxons.
On the news, they said they may have used a boy
to carry out the attack.
I know.
And I am not, in fact, devastated,
nor am I experiencing the least bit of guilt
over my lack of feeling.
Africa's far away.
Perhaps you are committed to suffering
only for those who are close to you.
I am aware of the opinion you've formed of me, Gutierrez.
You think I'm a socialite.
Socializing is important.
Think how many remarkable things happened for Jesus
during the Last Supper.
That was a social event.
Were I to come to Rome,
I should like to be your friend as well.
It will be an honor and a pleasure for me.
Then I shall tell you something straightaway,
as a friend.
My parents charted a great ecclesiastical career
for my brother, Adam, but not for me.
They told me every day of my life
that I'd never amount to anything.
Why were they so mean?
Mm...
we're not yet good enough friends
for me to tell you that, Bernardo.
I've only come here to tell you
that I, John Brannox,
may be the next pope of Rome.
I know you always thought that was Adam's destiny,
but it seems it may be mine.
Even though this was the last thing
you would've ever wished for,
you shall be condemned to be proud of me,
you poor old bastards.
God doesn't like you.
All my life,
I have negated myself
in the pathetic attempt to alleviate your suffering,
to no avail!
I became my brother
in the hopes of bringing a smile to your faces
even just once,
to no avail!
But now it all makes sense,
for it has served to make me pope.
Me, not Adam!
I will be pope!
And I will continue to forsake myself,
as I've done for you for all these years,
only now I will be doing it
for all the Catholics in the world!
For that is what love means to me:
forsaking myself.
You're the ones who taught me that,
hating me every day.
And so after living my life in the service
of my mother, my father, my brother
and receiving nothing but contempt,
I shall now live my life
in the service of the Church and its people,
hoping to receive for the first time
an ounce of affection.
I can be pope...
Because I know how to endure suffering.
Others don't.
You're going too slow.
Nearly there.
John. John, I'm done.
Adam, I'm nothing but falsehood and vanity...
the armor I wear to hide the truth.
I only suffer for what is close to me.
How true,
for I only suffer for you, Adam.
I let our family die.
Nothing else matters, nothing touches me,
everything disgusts me,
which is why God does not like me.
God didn't like me either.
Because God's love is not simply given.
You have to earn it, step by step.
You have to grow.
Are you ready to take the first step, John?
Are you ready to grow up?
Please come in. Make yourselves comfortable.
I wanted to see you
in order to tell you something in person.
I have decided to decline your proposal.
I have no intention whatsoever
of being your candidate at the conclave.
May I ask why?
Because despite appearances,
I am not equal to the task.
Your sincerity and humility
will be greatly appreciate by the College of Cardinals
and by the faithful the world over.
God will help you, Sir John.
Only He is equal to the task.
Yes.
I have decided not to choose,
not choosing being the only thing
at which I truly excel.
We are out of time.
We have to get to Rome immediately.
Tomorrow is Pope Francis II's funeral.
The world is waiting.
Voiello, why don't you take a step back
and let Hernández be elected?
It does seem like the most reasonable plan, Eminence.
You could certainly reach an agreement
that satisfies both of you.
Hernández would gladly
reconfirm you as secretary of state
in order to be elected pope.
Hernández covered up
all the sexual abuse in his dioceses.
Did you know that?
No. No, you didn't.
But I did.
I spent my life gathering information.
Hernández will never be pope as long as I live.
Moreover, we have only one candidate.
That is Sir John Brannox,
a piece of fragile porcelain, that's true,
but consequently without sin.
I am not a piece of fragile porcelain.
I am a man of steel who is laden with sins,
but I also possess
unimaginable powers of persuasion.
Now...
look at those two roses.
Do you notice anything?
Flowers are vain.
Sir John, I wanted to say good-bye
and to thank you
for the marvelous hospitality you have shown us.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
When do you leave?
Tomorrow morning, bright and early.
The conclave awaits.
You will forgive me for not attending, won't you?
I'm quite done in, you know.
But of course. It is not a problem.
Besides, your vote would be superfluous.
Fortunately we have unanimously converged
on a new candidate.
Needless to say, we are all greatly relieved.
I'm delighted the matter has been resolved
and that my reticence will not present a problem
for the future of our beloved Church.
Not at all.
The Holy Spirit has illumined us once again,
and the Church will continue on its way.
Good-bye, Voiello.
It's a great pleasure meeting you.
The pleasure was mine, Sir John.
Eminence?
I was...
I was wondering, pure curiosity on my part,
what is the name of the cardinal
upon whom you've all unanimously converged?
Count Francois De Bougainville.
- Norman nobility. - Exactly.
Good-bye, Sir John.
Uh, just a minute.
Just a minute.
Valencia suffers from car sickness.
You won't mind awfully if he rides in front?
Whenever you are unsure which choice to make,
if you wish, I am here to help you.
Agreed.
By the way, Eminence,
last night, I was looking
for the name Francois De Bougainville
in the current pontifical yearbook,
but it wasn't there.
Why not?
Because he died... six years ago.
What a rascal you are.
What will Meghan do without me?
Is your son the birthday boy?
Yes.
Pius.
Will you forgive me for...
having come without a present?
Of course.
When my wi... wife was alive, this never would have happened.
I've heard.
I'm sorry.
It was God's will.
What do you do?
Mine is an...
ancient useless profession.
I repair watches.
Why useless?
Because no one repairs anything anymore.
They just replace everything.
Not everything is replaceable, though.
Might I ask you a favor?
- Sure. - Would you be so kind
as to keep an eye on my son, Marcellino?
I need to leave for a moment.
Where are you going?
I need to see the sunset.
Do you remember me, Holy Father?
I do, yes.
You were enthusiastic and ambitious.
I haven't changed.
I knew you would come.
How did you know?
Because we are so alone, Ester.
Thank you, brothers and sisters.
I look upon you,
and I see a hidden grace,
which is a truth.
That is what you are.
You look upon me,
and you see a fragile old man with a beard.
That is what I am.
Now you're thinking,
"So this is the pope, the new bishop of Rome.
He must know so much".
No. That is not true.
I do not know.
That is why I want to learn.
Let us learn together, brothers and sisters,
me here in my new home
and you together with your families.
We must never forget
the beauty and strength of family.
Whenever we cannot manage to see the beauty,
it is because the truth has been hidden.
Well, then let us uncover that truth,
place it on the kitchen table,
and your family will grow stronger.
That is who you are.
And let us strive to eliminate prejudices.
Those who harbor prejudices
do not know the facts.
That is not who you are.
Let us grow in the tenderness of our intimacy
and in the intimacy of our tenderness.
That is who you are.
And do not think,
brothers and sisters,
we must not think,
the Church must not think
it needs only to protect the fragile.
Our mission is to recognize,
preserve, and value fragility,
that fragility which hides in the opaque cold of night
or in the crystalline cold of midday.
Wherever there is fragility,
there is the Church.
That is who we are.
We are a truth.
I ran back to my shop
and I found the perfect gift for Pius
in the bottom of a drawer.
A client forgot it a year ago.
You shouldn't have.
And yet, deep down,
I sensed that I should.
Look what a fabulous gift I have for you.
Two fifth-row tickets
for the musical on the last judgment
at the Sistina.
A musical at the Sistine Chapel?
No, at the Theater Sistina.
Father, we are cloistered nuns.
How silly of me.
I keep forgetting that you can't leave the premises.
So you didn't come to ask about the musical?
We came because Sister Lisette's mother has cancer.
Stage IV.
Her dying wish is to go to Lourdes with her daughter.
The sisters took up a collection,
but we only have 90 euro.
We need 200 more.
Absolutely.
This is a question of the highest priority.
But... but...
I want to honest with you, though.
The Vatican, as you certainly know,
is in the midst of a profound financial crisis
and all the offices have been ordered
to rein in their, what shall we say,
extravagant expenses.
Does this seem like
an extravagant expense to you?
An extravagant expense is...
is the new Bentley that Cardinal Spalletta
is driving around in.
I shall personally see to your request
as soon as possible, sisters.
I don't believe him, one word.
That's it, Holy Father. We are done.
What, no nudes?
Have you lost your minds?
The cardinals are on their way to the Sistine Chapel.
The pope is going to address them.
We want to talk with Voiello.
I've already spoken with him.
Why didn't you tell us? What were you waiting for?
I was waiting for the right time.
And when might that be?
When it is the right time.
- Voiello! - Voiello!
It frightens me to think what I am for you,
but what I am with you consoles me.
For you, I am the bishop of Rome.
With you, I am a Christian.
Welcome, brother cardinals.
We only have one problem.
I don't know of any other.
The problem is love.
You will come to me and you will say,
"Holy Father, idolatry has taken root
in the form of a cult devoted to Pius XIII.
There are worrisome currents of terrorism
at work within Islam,
depressing business concerns weighing on the Curia,
aberrations of sexual behavior,
crises of work and ethics,
men who murder women,
women who murder their children".
You will come to me and you will tell me
all the suffering the world, and I will say to you:
they are all hysterias of love,
distortions of our ability to love.
The problem, brothers, is love.
The question, then, is,
"How are we to love?"
This is my way:
with tenderness, without passion.
Passion is the eternal enemy
of humility.
Christian humility, which is frugal,
is just and is necessary.
Love is an abstraction like intelligence,
like happiness.
Every time our judgment is beclouded
by the ardent passions that consume us,
we give love a dangerous concreteness,
a scandalous concreteness,
an illegal concreteness.
In short,
we are causing pain
to ourselves
and to others.
Replace that concrete love with tenderness.
Or else, my beloved brothers,
to my deep regret,
I shall be forced to replace you.
God does not want that.
Only God knows how right and necessary it is
for our Church to remain united.
Jesus explained to us what love is,
but we do not have His equilibrium nor His wisdom,
but we must try, my brothers, together.
I can be a father to you,
but you must know
that fathers are to be obeyed
even when they make mistakes.
My beloved cardinals,
perhaps we cannot fully express our faith,
but we can express our tenderness.
It is our hope and our ambition.
Where will you go?
Don Mario is going to let us sleep in the sacristy
for a few days.
After that, I have no idea.
Why can't we come and stay with you?
Because it would be...
an unbearable trauma for little Marcellino.
He still has not gotten over the loss of his mother,
and now he would suddenly find himself...
Okay, I get it. I get it.
I might have...
a way of resolving things.
What are you saying?
Well...
a while back,
in my old parish
- in Santa Marinella... - Mm-hmm.
I met a lady.
Very distinguished. She's a lawyer.
Anyway, we became friends.
She is very wealthy,
but she has a problem.
What sort of problem?
Her son...
he has serious physical deformities.
What sort of deformities?
I really don't know exactly.
She never takes him out in public.
She keeps him holed up in her villa,
confined to a room.
Maybe she is ashamed of him.
Why are you telling me this?
Because she has money.
And money is what you need.
And she's looking for a caregiver?
Okay, here I am.
No, Ester. Sorry.
She's not looking for a caregiver.
No, well...
what is she looking for, then?
Well...
She would like to...
lavishly reward an act of generosity
which a pretty girl could do for her poor son.
Her son is 20,
and for obvious reasons, he has never been with a woman.
I'm sorry, Ester.
Let's forget about it and never mention it again, right?
Sorry.
Go to sleep, my baby.
Go to sleep.
What would I have to do, exactly?
Would it be enough if I let him see me naked?
No.
He sees naked women all day long on the Internet.
No, that wouldn't be enough.
How much would his mother be willing to pay?
I don't know.
15,000, maybe 20,000.
She is very rich.
No, that would be prostitution.
It's a sin.
No, it is not a sin
because this is not prostitution.
It is an act of Christian charity.
No, it's a sin.
Then his future is worth more than your sin.
Well, Father, what do you think?
I think you are a lucky woman, Ester.
This is the second miracle God has granted you.
What's your name?
Faisal. You?
Caterina.
I wish to pay a visit to Pius XIII.
Beautiful.
Dangerous.
Francis II's death...
What do you make of it?
Making inquiries...
... is the last thing that you want to do.
Is this the way the real world works?
Yes, this is how it works.