Original subtitles

REPORTER: Never, never before have we seen anything like this.

A vile, treacherous attack against the very heart

of the Catholic church.

SOFIA DUBOIS: What are you going to do?

♪ (ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

MAN: Let's kick off the interview.

Are you mad? We're live.

MAN: He is not going to make it.

-Excuse me. -DUBOIS: He has fallen

into a deep depression.

I'm a weak man. And I'm a drug addict.

CARDINAL VOIELLO: Tomas Altbruck and Spalletta

are laundering money,

and you will be dragged into the ensuing scandal.

You do know it's a miracle that you woke up.

The world has not forgotten you. The world loves you.

LENNY BELARDO: And now the time has come

to return to Rome.

Holy Father... I have to tell you something.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

[TV static drones]

[bright tone]

[ambient music]

♪ ♪

- How long do you think he intends to just sit there?

[birds chirping]

- Until we are convinced it was him.

- Have you noticed he makes no claim

of responsibility for the attack?

That's unprecedented on their part.

- Okay, you convinced me.

It was him.

- When you don't have proof, you don't have proof.

- Why did you set Essence on Sofia Dubois?

- Essence is a ghostly figure.

He knows how to point the way.

- Nice move.

You wanted the terrible triad to crash and burn,

but I did instead.

Fortunately, I landed on flowers.

- A temporary and calculated setback.

- The terrible triad will be crushed even more,

and you'll be right back in there.

It's time to take stock, Your Eminence.

- You will have to direct your questions elsewhere.

I am a floriculturist now.

- And I am, at least officially,

propertyless, yet I manage a large part of the world

out of my hotel room.

I'm sure you do the same from your glass house here--

- I don't manage a thing, Bauer.

I merely offer advice now and then.

- Much heeded advice, it would seem.

Your Sofia leaked some photos of the young Brannox

to an English newspaper.

Did you know he was a pathetic punk

who hung around other losers just like himself?

What a scoop.

Let's see where it leads.

- A brilliant move.

The world needs, uh, to feel some tenderness

toward our current pontiff.

- No, the world needs to forget about the other one,

which is why we have to help John Paul III.

He's weak, unresponsive.

- What are you worried about, exactly?

- Exactly what am I...

You don't know.

[chuckles quietly]

You don't know.

Wow.

Okay, the way he acted in that interview...

He was in withdrawal, Voiello.

He's a drug addict.

- Mm, I am unacquainted with addictive behavior,

except regarding Napoli.

- Spalletta's known for years.

That's how he's been blackmailing him.

You are slipping, Voiello.

You are seriously uninformed.

Brannox is a lazy,

self-centered coward.

He let things fall apart,

and now the evil triad has the run of the roost

in business and in perversion--

always and exclusively illegal.

Sooner or later,

some reporter will get a whiff of the stench

and it'll all blow sky high.

We've reached a point of no return, my friend.

We can't keep piling problems

on other problems.

We can't.

But I will need your approval first.

- I need to think about it.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Think fast, please.

We need the Vatican strong again right now.

Probability calculation

and history are both against you.

There will be another attack. You can count on that.

And there will be a proliferation of

sex scandals--dozens more,

given the fact that truth,

for some people, is an ineradicable vice.

I need to go now...

but first let me tell you two more things

that will surprise you.

- Don't you think

you have surprised me enough for one day?

- No.

Number one,

Francis II--

that wasn't us.

We got there too late.

- Falsehood is my own ineradicable vice,

therefore, I would beg you not to inform me

of any covert operations.

- Oh, you'll be interested in this one, all right.

It was Lenny Belardo.

- What are you saying?

- Lenny Belardo, in a coma, inexplicably moves his finger,

and, two seconds later, Francis II is dead.

- [chuckles]

- We read a cross-check on the times.

It was a miracle, Voiello.

- And the second surprise--

another miracle, I suppose?

- Exactly.

Lenny Belardo has woken up...

♪ ♪

And he's coming back.

Ciao, Voiello.

♪ ♪

[instrumental rock version of "All Along the Watchtower"]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[crickets chirping]

- [sighs]

[exhales deeply]

- We prepared a few surprises for you.

Cherry Coke Zero, Your Holiness.

- [speaking foreign language]

- Your favorite drink.

- He used to hide. Now he shows his face.

- Just like you, Your Holiness.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- I'm not gonna tell you who we are,

and neither will your attorney.

I will ask you this only once.

Then I'm gonna count to seven.

By the time I reach seven, I expect an answer.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of suspense,

so I would kindly ask you to let me have an answer

by the time I reach four-- at the very most, five.

I'm not gonna tell you what's gonna happen

if I have to count up to seven for two reasons.

One, even a prisoner has the right to surprise.

Two, I seldom make threats.

Threats are a vulgar tool

in the hands of organized crime,

and we're not criminals.

That's our perception, at least, and perception,

my dear Faisal, is everything.

All the rest is the prerogative of that monotony

simpletons insist on calling reality.

At any rate...

my question is disconcertingly simple.

Was...

it...

you?

One...

Two,

three,

four.

- [grunts]

- As far as I'm concerned,

that's an answer.

- Is he here?

- Who? - The pope.

John Paul III, I mean.

- No, he left. - Where did he go?

- To another Vatican property.

- Eminence, please, might you be a little more precise?

The Vatican owns more than 100,000 properties.

- To a chalet in the Dolomites.

- Have you seen him?

- Who? - Pius XIII.

[soft dramatic music]

- Not yet. - What do you think?

- I was expecting this.

- Catch me if you can.

♪ ♪

- I am aware that you had

a rather privileged relationship with Pius XIII.

I advise you not to renew it.

For the moment, Pius XIII must be kept in isolation,

and it is not necessary

that he have any contact with the cardinals.

That is all, Gutierrez.

How is your toy boy?

- His name is Freddy.

And I think he's fine.

- Did he leave you?

I deduce that he has.

Have you read my most recent circular?

Severe measures will be taken against anyone

engaging in questionable

or unseemly relations.

- I read it and complied.

Did you?

- [speaking Italian]

♪ ♪

- You have a visitor.

- Death does not announce his arrival, so who is it?

- It's a form of life.

Sofia Dubois.

- No.

- I suggest yes.

- Why, Danny?

- Because this is your chance to return

to what you have always been.

- A failure? - No.

A seductive man.

♪ ♪

- How's Voiello?

- Suffering.

Voiello's only concern is for the good of the Church.

- Good for the Church may not coincide

with what is good for me.

- Please, Holy Father, Voiello is good.

It's the others who are bad.

You have to believe me

seeing as how my husband is one of the bad ones.

I'm going to do something

incredibly intimate, Holy Father.

Close your eyes.

- What are you doing?

- Trying to make you feel

like you are back at your castle.

[tender music]

- The thing that I miss about my castle

is the sense of imprisonment--

what others call freedom.

Are you trying to make me look handsome?

- Makeup is not about looking better.

It's about starting anew.

- I can no longer see a beginning.

I utterly embarrassed myself on worldwide tele...

Which is why I had to abandon everything.

♪ ♪

- Look at this.

[chuckles]

- My goodness.

Where did they get these photos?

- Oh, a mystery.

One of the castle servants

must have found it worthwhile to sell them,

but that's not the big news.

- What is the big news is, the Sex Pistols have reunited

and have a plan to do me in.

- [chuckles] No.

The big news is that people like them.

These photographs have revealed the Holy Father's tender side.

- And his ridiculous side

simply glossed over?

- Yes, because we all feel ridiculous.

We have all been embarrassed.

Embarrassment leads not to abandonment, though,

but to unity.

The tangible result--

travel agencies are experiencing

a marked increase in the number of pilgrims requesting

to come to Rome for the Angelus on Sunday.

- Your enthusiasm for life's rather contagious,

but I've no intention

of returning to Rome for the Angelus.

- Why not?

- Because, in point of fact, I'm no longer the pope.

- I think that's something you ought to discuss directly

with Pius XIII.

- Sofia...

Do you know how to ski?

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- What's all this?

- All the mail that children sent to you

while you were in a coma.

The letters from adults we keep in another warehouse.

- Have you read any of them?

- I read all of them.

- Would you read me one that particularly struck you?

♪ ♪

- This is from Nadia...

12 years old, from Auckland.

"Hi, Lenny.

"Ever since you fell asleep,

"my 8-year-old brother Mike

"can't get to sleep without you.

"He's afraid.

"Please wake up, Pope.

Mike needs to rest so he can go to school in the morning."

- Forgive me.

I can't tolerate the thought of children suffering.

I need to see Voiello.

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

[tender music]

♪ ♪

- One day when we were young,

my twin brother, Adam, and I were skiing.

Adam had a bad fall and careened headlong

into a tree.

His head was bleeding profusely,

but all I would have had to have done

was get him off the mountain, and he would've lived,

but I could not.

Are you hurt?

- I was scared.

And I still am.

- How are you? - Much better.

- And me? How am I?

- Much better.

- I was too strung out on the heroin,

so I just sat there

and watched him bleed to death.

I was destroying a family--

my one--by doing nothing.

'Tis by doing nothing that we destroy

those precious jewel boxes that are our families.

After Adam's death, our parents abandoned me.

I respected them for that

and hated them for the rest of my life.

It is burdensome to feel

profoundly alone for a lifetime.

It has been, in fact, a dead life.

And God was not enough, nor was God's wisdom

nor God's grace nor God's presence.

I have not been consoled.

Compassion, I understand. Yes.

- No. - You feel compassion.

- No, that's not the right word.

- In my first address to the cardinals,

I said that the problem is love.

The world suffers from distortions of love,

but I never imagined, until today,

that I would be in the world.

Sick loves cannot be treated, which is why I need to feel

your breath on my face once again.

Right here at the corner of my mouth.

After which, I will be compelled

to keep my distance from you forever.

- In a moment, you will feel it.

[exhales]

- What am I?

- An emeritus pope.

- Like an honorary president.

In general, they don't count.

- That makes two of us, Your Holiness.

- You will always count, Voiello.

Popes will come and go, but you will remain.

You're not gonna ask me anything?

How I woke up?

Why I woke up?

- No, because even you don't know the answer,

and I am a pragmatic man.

In order to come see you, I left Girolamo home alone.

A rather dangerous situation, so if I am here,

it's not for a chitchat

or to reminisce about the good, old days.

- Why did you come?

- For the same reason you asked me here.

For love of the Church and to be operational again.

- We have to lend the Church a hand.

- Exactly. - Good.

Assente?

- Nomen omen.

Assente, in English, means absent.

Let's leave him where he is for the moment.

We can work best behind the scenes, you and I.

- You wrote that dreadful book on this very topic.

"The Man Behind the Scenes."

- 300,000 copies sold,

11 reprintings, Your Holiness.

To label it dreadful

seems rather ungenerous of you.

Let's proceed.

- The real problem is t-- - Is terrorism?

- Exactly.

First Lourdes, then St. Peters.

They're targeting

the most vital centers of Catholicism.

- What do you intend to do?

- I intend to spark a revolution.

- An old obsession of yours.

- They dared violate the Basilica of St. Peter.

Doesn't that seem sufficient cause to you?

How shall I make my return?

- You should begin

with a discreet appearance in the Vatican Gardens.

A visit to the sisters

of the convent of Santa Teresa perhaps.

Someone is bound to see you.

Rumors will start flying.

I will steal a photo of you--

blurry, from a distance--

which I will then leak to the media.

Everyone will get all stirred up.

Sofia Dubois will call a press conference

and deny everything,

but will they believe her?

Not on your life.

Next someone will try

to interview me in the garden.

- You will be elusive, enigmatic,

and the world will be plagued with doubts.

Did he wake up? Did he die?

- Or did he rise from the dead?

- You are very persuasive, Voiello.

[punchy electronic music]

♪ ♪

And now, get back to your friend Girolamo.

- Right away, Your Holiness.

♪ ♪

One last thing, Your Holiness.

When you were in coma,

did you find out anything about Napoli?

Will we win the Serie A? The Champions League, perhaps?

Europa league?

- Yes, I did. I know everything.

♪ ♪

- Do you remember Adam's millipede?

- Mm-hmm.

- He thought it was God, but he was wrong.

It was Satan. Even Adam made mistakes.

I think it is time, Danny,

that we return to Rome.

- So what is it this time?

You would like to say mass? You want a female pope?

- Cardinal Voiello granted our institute

official authorization to welcome orphans.

You revoked that authorization.

- It is well within my jurisdiction.

- But why did you do it?

- The convent of Saint Teresa has long had

a much more important mission--

to serve and assist the pope and the cardinals of the Curia.

- A euphemism for washing and ironing

your underwear and socks for free.

- We are perfectly capable of taking care of the pope,

the cardinals, and orphans all at the same time.

- No.

- We will move ahead regardless

with or without your authorization.

- I highly doubt it. I'm unshakeable.

And, contrary to my predecessor,

I'm not fond of diplomacy or negotiating.

The question is closed.

Any step you take to counter my revocation

will be severely punished.

- You really don't care about orphans...

Do you?

- Someone else can care about them.

I have no intention of seeing a herd of screaming children

grazing in the Vatican Gardens.

I detest both children and orphans.

- [speaking Italian]

[quiet sobbing]

[tender music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- [sobbing]

First they took Faisal.

And now they're going to take my baby away too.

- How did it go?

- Splendidly.

- I detest both children and orphans.

[phone beeps]

- [speaking Italian]

[birds chirping]

- My condolences, Eminence.

I heard a friend of yours passed away.

- My only friend. Thank you.

- My mentor Cardinal Newman wrote that the specific duty

of the Christian is to oppose the world.

However, I cannot do it alone, but with you at my side,

I can try.

- On two conditions.

One, with your permission,

I will eliminate Guicciardini,

Spalletta, and Tomas Altbruck,

and no government will take

anything from the Church.

You will risk nothing.

Your private life

will remain private.

You are the pope,

and no one blackmails the pope.

No one touches the pope.

No one questions the pope--

not as long as I am here to protect him,

which is why, Holy Father,

I was the longest standing secretary of state

in the history of the Church.

- And the second condition?

- You must do me a favor.

If you do, I will return as your secretary of state.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[phone vibrates]

♪ ♪

- Hello, my dear.

Might you have half a minute for me?

♪ ♪

[bells tolling]

[melancholic choral music]

- ♪ Requiem aeternam ♪

♪ Dona eis ♪

♪ Domine ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Et lux ♪

♪ Perpetua ♪

♪ Luceat ♪

♪ Eis ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Et lux perpetua ♪

♪ Luceat eis ♪

- [speaking Latin]

all: Amen.

- "Love your neighbor as yourself," Jesus says.

I only have one neighbor-- you, Girolamo.

I am not very good at speaking in front of so many people.

With Girolamo, I spent many a simple, serene hour.

We didn't need to do grandiose things

in order to be happy.

We didn't need to make grand speeches

because between friends silence is golden.

Why did I ask you all here today in memory of Girolamo?

To repair an injustice.

Because I am the only one who had the great, good fortune

of spending time with him.

I intend to right that wrong,

which means I need to tell you who Girolamo is.

[tender music]

Girolamo is the word that suffers.

Girolamo is grace.

Girolamo is goodness and virtue.

Girolamo--I say this for all of you

who were not fortunate enough to know him--

is kind and cheerful,

joyous and full of life.

You are probably wondering,

what does Girolamo like to do?

Girolamo loves to talk,

but he also likes to listen and to give me advice.

He likes to watch TV

and to listen to the radio together with me.

Girolamo loves to run and dance,

to walk and sing and pray.

He loves to swim at the sunset

and flirt with girls...

Because Girolamo is a good-looking boy,

and he loves to give them flowers.

Because Girolamo loves kindness...

Girolamo is everything we are not...

Which is why we have gathered here today

to celebrate him--

because we are not like him

and because we would like to be,

which is why we contemplate and adore him--

because Girolamo knows how to love

and how to be a true friend,

which is why his friends have come here today

and why they are so many.

Girolamo is a moral guide, which is why the leaders

of his country are all here today.

Girolamo,

my brothers and sisters,

is a saint,

which is why the pope himself

wanted to say mass today.

Girolamo is the word that suffers.

Girolamo is the word that loves.

And I thank God

for giving me the extraordinary opportunity

to be his best friend.

Thank you, Girolamo.

You and only you who knew intimately

the anguish of suffering,

the beauty of sacrifice,

and the power of love.

I will never forget you, Girolamo.

Never.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- [speaking Italian]

[thunder rumbling]

- [giggles]

[dramatic chamber music]

♪ ♪

- I brought you something.

- [gasps]

[speaking Italian]

- Go ahead.

Scroll through them.

Ah, there must be a video

of the evening somewhere as well.

We filmed it all with a camera hidden

among all these expensive bottles.

- What do you want, Essence?

- Ah, just one thing, one thing, one thing.

Times three.

Your resignations.

You as minister of the economy.

You, Altbruck...

as head of the Vatican financial structure.

And you, Spalletta...

Will be defrocked

[whispers] in two hours.

- In exchange for what?

- In exchange for nothing.

- Who the hell are you?

- Oh, for you, I'm God.

I am the one who can save your asses

by letting these photos simply sit on my phone,

or I can drown you in shit by posting them

and turning them over to the magistrate.

Now, in order to avoid any misunderstanding,

let me remind you that my friend here is a minor.

And, finally...

A little warning--

if any of you dare try and blackmail the Holy Father,

I will simply--

Jesus Christ, Bauer, how silly of you.

[chuckles]

I was just about to issue a threat.

Okay, here's what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna count to seven,

and then it'll be up to you to decide.

In theory, of course, not in practice.

In practice, I will decide because I am God.

Just don't let word get around.

It's a sensitive issue.

- Ha.

- Ha.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- You see, Lisette, what you've been saying

is that society is progressing,

and the Church must keep pace with society.

But we are not champions of progress.

We are champions of faith.

We have a duty to be different, which is why we live

with privations and sacrifices

while beyond these walls, life is comfort and pleasure.

At times these privations and sacrifices

seem incomprehensible...

Wrong to us.

They are neither.

In truth, they are mysterious,

and we have a duty to be mysterious as well.

This is our strength.

Out there, society is predictable,

and whatever is predictable is also puerile.

Am I saying that everything must remain exactly as it is?

Not at all.

But you, sisters,

are already different and mysterious.

The priests, on the other hand, have moved too close

to civil society.

So it is not a matter of extending to you sisters

the rights and privileges of the priests,

but rather extending to the priests

the duties and the privations of you nuns.

This is the only equality

that is truly feasible in the Church.

The priests must do your laundry

just as you do theirs.

[chuckles]

They must look within themselves

to find your grace...

Your generosity...

Your intelligence....

And your love.

Your righteousness will become their righteousness.

That's not to say that their sins

will become your sins.

Which of you is without sin?

Fine.

Whoever is without sin...

shall cast the first stone.

♪ ♪

This would be

a psychologically mature relationship,

as you would call it,

between men and women, Lisette.

- Tomorrow at noon, I want that photo everywhere.

- Fine.

- Are you happy we did in that idiot ex-husband of yours?

- Up to a point, but he will go unpunished for what he did.

- True punishment is served not in prison, Sofia,

but in one's soul.

Sir John must make up his mind to meet Pius XIII.

- I agree.

- And you will help to convince him.

- No, not me.

- Fine, I'll convince him then.

♪ ♪

- [speaking Italian]

- [speaking foreign language]

- [speaking foreign language]

- The Catholic world is in total turmoil.

A photograph has just been released...

- [speaking Japanese]

- [speaking Portuguese]

[indistinct chatter]

[electronic music]

♪ ♪

- "What Is To Be Done?" As Lenin used to ask.

- I have two ideas.

The first, an official denial

so as to calm agitated souls.

We can release a statement.

That picture of Lenny Belardo

is nothing but an old photograph.

- That will convince no one.

- True, but it will insinuate doubt,

and doubt is a weapon.

- And your second idea?

- To reinforce you, Holy Father.

- How?

- With the golden opportunity that you are being offered--

your Angelus.

The popularity of those photos of you as a punk

leads us to believe that hordes of people will come on Sunday.

Regardless, Holy Father,

even though it is not our habit,

we have to make a decision about the future.

- What do you mean?

- We cannot confine Pius XIII to an apartment his whole life.

- What do you recommend we do?

- That is a decision only you and Pius XIII can decide.

- But how?

- By meeting.

[Flock of Dimes' "Semaphore"]

- ♪ If simple habit had a tale to tell ♪

♪ And if the wires could reveal themselves ♪

♪ We could begin to trace the ins and outs ♪

♪ The horizon of our length ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Come to my door ♪

♪ Won't you liven me up with color? ♪

♪ Put your pen and paper away ♪

♪ I have no need for you to guess my age ♪

♪ But I cannot need you more ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ Too far gone for the semaphore ♪

♪ Too far gone ♪

♪ For the semaphore ♪

♪ ♪

♪ It is the quiet voice ♪

♪ That says it best ♪

♪ There is no certainty ♪

♪ To preciousness ♪

♪ We have a friend ♪

♪ Who holds us in his grasp ♪

♪ And someday he'll be gone ♪

♪ ♪

[bright tone]

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

SIR JOHN BRANNOX: Are you a charlatan?

Are you the devil?

Are you God?

Doesn't matter. I am the pope.

(CROWD CHEERS)

♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪

LENNY BELARDO: I can create a billion fanatics in a week.

This is called... power.

BRANNOX: There is no place for you here!

BELARDO: He can carry on dreaming his delirious dreams.

God is by our side because he knows me.

And I know him!

(CROWD CHEERS)

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪