All language subtitles for Pope The Most Powerful s01e04 A Church Divided.eng

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

male narrator: One of the most
powerful men on Earth

holds a position
that has existed

for nearly 2,000 years.

♪ ♪

As the world changes
and faith evolves,

his authority remains.

What began with one apostle

has become
1.2 billion followers

under one man.

He is the head
of the Catholic Church,

the pope,

and this is his path to power.

♪ ♪

In this episode,
never-before-seen orders

from Pope Leo X
and Henry VIII

sever Protestants
from the Catholic Church...

♪ ♪

And the corruption
of Renaissance popes

push three men
to ignite a revolution

that transforms Christianity
forever.

[bell resounding]

[cheers and applause]

- [speaking Italian]

narrator: In 2016,
Pope Francis kicks off

the 500-year anniversary
of the Reformation...

♪ ♪

A spiritual revolution
that splinters

the once universal
Catholic Church.

- The Reformation,
it's incredibly pivotal

in the development
of Christianity.

- The Reformation
could have been

one of the big tragedies
of Christianity,

but rather,
you get the emergence

of a much more individualized
or personal faith.

- The beginnings
of the Reformation

are all about this pushback

against what is seen
as excess in Rome.

narrator: In the 16th century,
many Catholics are disturbed

by the church's pervasive
materialism and corruption.

As a result, new denominations
of Christianity

begin to form and break ties
with the Vatican.

- The Reformation
is an anonymous bomb

dropped on
the theological landscape.

- All great religions
of the world

which are successful change,

and Christianity
is no exception to that rule.

[dramatic music]

narrator: The umbrella
of modern Christianity

includes
over 800 million Protestants

and 1.2 billion Catholics
worldwide.

♪ ♪

But in the 16th century,

Catholicism is the law
of the land.

- There is a ferment
of devotion,

deep, deep piety in Europe.

Everyone went to church
out of conviction.

♪ ♪

narrator: Almost the entire
population of Europe

devoutly follows
Rome's Catholic doctrine...

and the pope is at
the head of it all.

♪ ♪

- In the 16th century,
there had been a series

of very worldly popes
who loved power.

- All earthly institutions
are flawed,

and the Renaissance popes
got caught up with power.

- It's not surprising
that people who loved power...

took it.

narrator: But as papal power
swells,

so does a culture of greed
and corruption.

The tenets of Christ
begin to fall by the wayside

as popes spend
exorbitant amounts of money

in the name of luxury,
excess, and absolute power.

♪ ♪

- Popes during the Renaissance
bring a sense of majesty

into the papacy
that had not existed before,

even though
we would probably say

that their methods
were a little bit ruthless.

narrator: And in 1513,
Pope Leo X takes

the overindulgence
to new heights.

- Leo X was
an extravagant pope.

♪ ♪

Very interested
in architecture

and the glories
of the city of Rome,

and spent a lot of money
in pursuits of that kind.

- The church has become
one of the key commissioners

of this huge, exciting
cultural explosion

which is the Renaissance.

♪ ♪

narrator: Pope Leo X
throws lavish parties

and hires Raphael
to paint elaborate frescoes

throughout the Vatican.

He spends a small fortune
on the palatial expansion

of St. Peter's Basilica.

- During the Renaissance,
you had lots of art,

lots of patronage,

but in another way,
it's dire for the church

because they were actually
breaking the church.

- That art, that sculpture,

all of that fabulous beauty
has to be paid for.

narrator: Pope Leo X pays
for his opulent lifestyle

by selling positions
within his administration.

- He says, "These offices
will cost this much.

If you want this one,
you'll have to pay this much."

- All kinds of horrible things
are happening in the church.

They're selling
their bishoprics.

They're putting
their illegitimate kids

into offices--
basically embezzlement.

- This is a time
the Catholic Church

is really
pretty profoundly corrupt.

narrator: But the payoffs
are still not enough

to keep up
with Leo's spending.

[gong resounds]

- It's put a strain
on local churches and parishes.

People are giving up lots of
money during this time period,

and they're feeling pressed.

♪ ♪

narrator: Only two years
into Leo X's papacy,

the Vatican is on the verge
of bankruptcy.

In order to save the church
from financial ruin,

he charges his clergy
with selling indulgences

throughout all of Europe.

♪ ♪

- Indulgence--
the forgiveness of sins

in return for cash payments.

- Indulgences started
way back in the Crusades,

and the idea was that

you've got these soldiers
fighting for Christ,

and they're likely to
be killed at any moment...

and so what the church did
was to give them

a "get out of purgatory free"
card.

♪ ♪

So the indulgence was a way
of rewarding people

who were doing something good
for God,

but their trouble was
that the system grew,

and very soon,
people were being offered

indulgences for sale.

♪ ♪

narrator: Leo X realizes

not only will the sale
of indulgences

deepen the pockets
of the Catholic Church...

but it will also fund
the expensive construction

of St. Peter's Basilica.

- People go to St. Peter's now,
and they think about,

how did they get
all the money to build this?

Well, they were taxing people
with indulgences.

- The whole thing about
the St. Peter's indulgence

was that it was applicable
to your dead relatives,

so you could get
your relatives

out of purgatory
by paying for an indulgence.

- It's a very seductive idea,
a very successful idea.

narrator: But as word
of the pope's campaign

for indulgence sales
spreads throughout Europe,

it triggers a reaction

from a fundamentalist
professor in Germany.

- Martin Luther heard
about this

and found it obscene.

narrator: Martin Luther,
a 33-year-old friar

deeply devoted to the Bible,

is appalled by the exploitive
nature of indulgences.

- Martin Luther felt
that this was selling

God's salvation for money,

and you can't do that.

- It's the notion
of indulgences

that finally bring
the church down.

narrator: As Vatican culture
sinks deeper

into the pits of corruption,

Martin Luther begins to ignite
an extraordinary revolution.

[dramatic music]

narrator: In 1517,
despite the deep piety

of European Catholics,

materialism and corruption
run rampant

inside the Vatican walls.

But in Germany,
one man decides that it's time

to take a stand
against the sins of the pope.

♪ ♪

- Martin Luther was a member
of an order of friars

called the Order of Hermits
of St. Augustine.

♪ ♪

- Luther was a professor
of scripture.

He'd become a monk
out of fear.

He'd made a vow to St. Anne
during a thunderstorm.

- Early in his career,
Martin Luther was sent off

to Rome by his religious order,

and he was shocked by Rome.

narrator:
A deeply religious scholar,

Martin Luther is horrified
by the hedonism

he sees funded by indulgences.

He is outraged by the fact
that the pope

is exploiting his followers'
fear of damnation

for financial gain.

♪ ♪

- Martin Luther felt
that the God he found

in the works of Augustine
forgave sin

and didn't actually consider
individual sins.

He made a free,
merciful decision

to forgive those
who loved him.

Luther found
that God loved him,

and he wanted to spread
this message of God's love

as well as the message
that you and I,

people like us, human beings,
are all sinful.

There's nothing we can do
about that.

- For Luther,
the sale of indulgences

was exactly the antithesis
of this sense of Christianity

as a liberating mode,
salvation not as free gift

but as something you have to
stump up money for.

♪ ♪

- Martin Luther thought
it was all a sham.

He decided to hold a seminar
about indulgences.

♪ ♪

And he would issue 95 things

to be discussed
in this seminar.

The seminar never happened,
but the Ninety-five Theses,

the 95 ideas to be discussed,
were there.

narrator: Martin Luther sends
his Ninety-five Theses

to the archbishop
of Mainz, Germany,

who then sends it to the pope.

In his theses,

Luther questions
the indulgences

and whether the pope
should have power

over who goes
to heaven or hell.

♪ ♪

- The "Theses" are a series
of technical questions

about whether or not,
for example,

the pope or any priest has
jurisdiction in the afterlife.

There were a lot
of Catholic theologians

who thought the afterlife
was in God's world

and papal authority
was for this world.

[bell resounding]

- It's often said
that he nailed the document

with these 95 theses

to the castle church door
in Wittenberg.

- This was not the first time

that these ideas
had been put out.

Far from it.

But the difference between

1517 and the 14th century

is the printing press.

The "Ninety-five Theses"
were printed,

and they were
widely distributed.

- Martin Luther had become
a celebrity in all Europe.

He was producing books
and finding a real talent.

He's one of the first great
bestseller writers in print.

- Luther was a master
of popular media.

♪ ♪

[cymbal shimmering]

narrator: Previously,
the printing press

had only been used
to circulate scripture

and official documents.

Martin Luther is the first
to use it

to spread
a subversive message.

- Martin Luther's revolution
was fueled

by the printing press,
and he used it with genius,

but that brought
a real problem.

Now he was the symbol of all
sorts of different discontents,

and he'd aroused passions
which he couldn't control

all through Europe,
and now Europe was split.

narrator: Martin Luther's
statements

against the sale
of indulgences

put him in direct opposition
to Pope Leo X,

who was frantically selling
them to cover his debts.

- Church leaders were now
saying to Luther,

"You must obey the pope,

and to obey,
you must keep quiet."

♪ ♪

And Luther could not
keep quiet.

If you were the enemy
of the church,

that would mean
you could be called a heretic,

so Martin Luther
was putting himself

in very dangerous territory
now.

narrator: Deep within
the Vatican secret archive...

[rustling]

Lies the document that split

the once universal
Catholic Church.

It has never before
been seen on camera.

♪ ♪

On January the 3rd, 1521,

Pope Leo X issues
a papal order

excommunicating
the German preacher.

- All Germany was in uproar,

and this was very bad news

for the overall ruler
of Germany,

the Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V.

narrator: Acutely aware
of the fervor

Luther has ignited in Germany,

Charles V worries
his excommunication

might start a revolt.

[intense orchestral music]

- And what he did
was to summon Martin Luther

to a meeting of the parliament
of the Empire.

It's called a diet,

and it was meeting that year

in the city of Worms.

What the emperor
was going to do

was to order him

to be obedient to the church,

so imagine
this great set piece.

All the great figures
of the Holy Roman Empire

are there--
bishops, princes,

a vast crowd in attendance,

and there the emperor
told Luther

to be obedient to the church.

Luther said he could not
be obedient.

He must be obedient
to the Bible,

the scripture.

♪ ♪

- Rather than being willing
to investigate these ideas,

the Catholic Church took
a turn in the other direction

and erected walls.

Martin Luther is officially
marked as being

outside of the tradition
of the Catholic Church.

It was seen
as an act of disloyalty.

To be Protestant meant that
you weren't loyal to the pope.

narrator: After Luther's
defiance of King Charles

and the pope
at the Diet of Worms,

a hard line is drawn
among Christians.

- The foundation
of the Reformation

is that the church
is the invisible gathering

of all of those
who confess to Christ

in every time
and in every place,

and because this is not
a temporal group of people,

there's no way there can be
a temporal head of it.

[dramatic music]

narrator: Those aligned
with Martin Luther

protest the pope's
divine claim

to leading the Catholic Church

and become known
as Protestants.

They build Lutheran churches

throughout Germany
and Scandinavia,

focusing their teachings
on scripture

instead of loyalty
to the pope.

♪ ♪

- In the past,
when people don't want

to receive Catholicism,

people could be burned
for heresy.

You could be tortured.

You could be imprisoned.

Martin Luther's not
the first person

that challenged the church,
but he's probably

the first person
to live to tell about it.

♪ ♪

narrator: Martin Luther
goes into hiding,

and the Protestant Reformation
continues to grow.

♪ ♪

In 1523, two years
after the Diet of Worms,

a new pope, Clement VII,
is elected.

Unlike Leo X,
Clement VII agrees

with many of Luther's ideas
about reform,

posing a threat
to the wealthy monarchs

who benefit
from church corruption.

♪ ♪

narrator: After Martin Luther
denounces the pope in 1521...

European Christians
are split in two.

[dramatic music]

Lutherans develop their own
church founded on the belief

that salvation is achieved
through faith alone...

♪ ♪

While Catholics continue
to practice obedience

to the Vatican.

But the abandonment
of Catholicism

by half of Europe

presents Pope Clement VII

with a dilemma.

- Clement VII...
must have been sorry

he was ever elected pope,

because his whole reign
was a calamity.

- He was
chronically indecisive.

He would go to bed for days
with headaches and stomachaches

rather than make
a serious decision.

narrator: Not only
is Pope Clement VII

faced with a church

that Martin Luther
has splintered,

but he is also caught
in the middle

of territory disputes
between kings.

- The papacy functions
politically as one element

in the cockpit of Europe,
where, all around it,

dynastic politics
are being worked out.

narrator: In 1527,
the Vatican is still aligned

with the King of Germany,
Charles V,

who stood with Pope Leo X
against Luther

just six years earlier.

♪ ♪

- Charles V was
a very unusual person.

He was the King of Germany.

He ruled the north of Italy.

He was the Holy Roman Emperor,

but he had also inherited
the rule of Spain,

so he had more power
than, at this point,

any temporal monarch
had ever had at any point.

He was a very alarming monarch
to many people.

- He wants Italy
at the same time

that the French want Italy.

narrator: In an attempt
to balance the power

in Europe,
Pope Clement VII abandons

his alliance with Charles

and makes a secret treaty
with France

called the League of Cognac.

- As if the pope
hadn't got enough problems

by the late 1520s,
he found himself at war

with the greatest Catholic
in Europe...

Charles V,

the very man
who'd challenged Luther.

- There is one ruler,
the King of France,

who's behind the pope,

and then the King of Germany
is against the pope,

so there's this war
between the church and Germany,

but it's really between
the King of Germany

and the King of France.

- Now Charles V invaded Italy
and invaded Rome.

♪ ♪

Rome was sacked
by the imperial troops,

many of whom were Lutherans
and hated the pope,

and so for weeks on end,
Rome faced terror.

It's the most extraordinary
irony that it was a Catholic

who did as much harm
to the pope as a Protestant.

narrator: In May of 1527,

the German army storms
the churches, monasteries,

and palaces in Rome.

♪ ♪

By the end of that spring,

more than 8,000 Romans
are slaughtered.

♪ ♪

Horrified by the carnage...

Pope Clement VII flees
the Vatican and seeks safety.

♪ ♪

- He gets away
by sneaking out of the city.

♪ ♪

narrator: The pope hides out
in a castle outside of Rome

for five weeks,
but eventually,

the German army
surrounds his refuge.

♪ ♪

Clement VII is forced
to surrender

to King Charles V.

- There was certainly no
intention of killing the pope.

Why would you do that
to the Holy Father?

But what the emperor wanted
was to make the pope helpless,

and he did so.

And now the emperor had him
at his mercy.

narrator: After Clement VII
yields

significant papal territory
to Charles V,

he retreats
to a deserted palace

in Orvieto, Italy.

Church business
slowly resumes...

until the pope
finds himself clashing

with another powerful monarch
in a feud

that will change the reach

of the Catholic Church
forever.

[dramatic music]

narrator: After King Charles
of Germany

attacks Rome in 1527...

[men shouting]

The city is in ruins.

- After that,
it took half a century

to rebuild Rome.

narrator:
Though Rome is destroyed

and half of Europe
has abandoned Catholicism

for Lutheranism,
the pope is determined

to strengthen what's left
of the Catholic empire.

But despite his best efforts

to revive
the splintering church,

another threat to papal power
brews in England.

- Henry VIII was a fascinating,

extremely complicated
individual.

- Henry VIII had
the biggest ego

in the kingdom of England.

[fanciful orchestral music]

He was also a clever man,
talented,

good-looking
when he was young,

and like many teenagers,

he never quite coped
with growing up.

narrator: Henry VIII
has ruled England

since he was 18 years old,

and as a young,
charismatic monarch...

he is used to getting
what he wants.

- Henry was married
to the daughter

of Ferdinand and Isabella
of Spain.

- The wife was
a Spanish princess.

narrator: Henry VIII's
marriage

to Catherine of Aragon

is the foundation of many

important
political alliances...

but despite the advantages
attached to their union,

Henry finds his marriage
to Catherine problematic.

- They'd been together
for 20 years,

and she had managed to produce
one living daughter.

[dramatic music]

- He was very sensitive
to the fact

that he hadn't got a son
to take over when he died,

and that was fatal
in the politics

of a kingdom at the time.

narrator: Not only does
Henry want a son

that his wife cannot give him,

but he also has a mistress
that he'd like to marry.

- If you want to marry
somebody else,

there is no divorce.

You need the pope
to annul your marriage.

- He wants the pope to say
that he can marry Anne Boleyn.

- He needs a declaration
that his marriage

to Catherine was never valid.

♪ ♪

narrator: The Vatican archives
contain the letter

Henry VIII sent
to Pope Clement VII

requesting the annulment
of his marriage

to Catherine of Aragon
in 1530.

His request is signed
by 81 members of Parliament.

♪ ♪

But the pope's response
is complicated

by his political alliances.

- The Pope was effectively
the prisoner

of the Emperor Charles V,

who, as it happens,
was the nephew

of Queen Catherine of England.

narrator: Clement VII
does not want to jeopardize

his fragile truce
with Charles V

by agreeing
to his aunt's annulment...

but King Henry threatens
to withdraw all of England

from the Catholic Church
if he does not get his way.

- So on the one hand,

there was the King of England
saying,

"Declare my marriage null,

"or the church will suffer
for it,

"because the stream of money
from England

to the papacy will be cut off,"

and on the other hand

was the Emperor Charles V,
who says,

"If you divorce my auntie,
you will suffer for it."

narrator: Pope Clement
is in a precarious position

and finds himself
paralyzed with indecision,

but King Henry VIII
is not known for his patience.

♪ ♪

- Clement used various
little tricks,

delaying tactics,

and the thing just dragged on
and on and on.

Henry finally just got
fed up with it and said,

"I'm just doing this
on my own."

narrator: In the decade after
Martin Luther's revolution,

a school of thought
circulates around Europe,

doubting the pope's
divine right to power.

- Henry VIII availed himself
of this very strong current

of Reformation thought
that said

the pope is not the head
of the Christian church.

The Christian church
is invisible.

The Christian church
is all believers everywhere,

and the pope has no particular
claim to be the leader.

He took
that Reformation thought,

and then he entirely
corrupted it by saying,

"The Pope is not the leader
of the Christian church, I am."

♪ ♪

Which was not at all what
the Reformers had in mind.

- Henry VIII says,
"I'm gonna do

"an act of supremacy,
and I'm gonna declare myself

over the church."

♪ ♪

- Henry says, "I'm not a king,
I'm an emperor,

and emperors are accountable
to nobody."

narrator: In 1534,
four years after

Henry VIII's initial request
for an annulment,

he denounces the papacy,

removing himself
and his country

from the jurisdiction
of the Catholic Church.

He proclaims himself
the leader of a new church...

the Church of England.

- Henry says, "I decide

that I'm not married
to Catherine."

- He divorces
his nice Catholic wife,

he marries Anne Boleyn,

and now he's the head
of a church.

♪ ♪

So he can take down
Catholic priests.

He can put down people
who don't follow

his particular faith,
the Anglican faith,

and as a result,
it ends up destroying

the Catholic Church
for a time in England.

- He tore the kingdom apart
with his break from Rome.

- We have wars of religion
within England.

We have wars of religion
between France and England,

with France being more loyal
to the pope,

England more loyal to Henry.

The entire religious landscape
becomes weaponized.

♪ ♪

- And then Henry VIII begins
to take the church's wealth.

narrator: As head
of the Church of England,

Henry VIII seizes property

that belongs
to the Catholic Church.

- He begins to strip
all the altars in England.

He takes that wealth
for himself.

narrator: He dissolves
the monasteries and convents,

stripping over 12,000 monks,

nuns, and priests
of their homes and assets.

- Henry's very puzzling
in terms of religion.

- Henry VIII
had the alliances.

He had the wealth to be able
to disregard the pope...

♪ ♪

To be able to say,
"No, I don't care

if you put my entire country
under interdict,"

meaning that everybody's
excommunicated.

"This makes no difference
to me."

Essentially, he stripped away

the authority of the papacy

and, originally, at least,
kept almost everything else,

simply establishing
a new church

with a different head,
and that authority

was what he was
most interested in,

who was at the head of it.

narrator: In the face
of spiritual revolutionaries

and power-hungry monarchs,

the once almighty pope
sees the power of the office

dwindle for the first time
in nearly 800 years.

By the middle
of the 16th century,

it looks as if the reign
of the Roman Catholic Church

is finally coming to an end.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

narrator: By the end of Pope
Clement VII's reign in 1534,

the once all-powerful
Catholic Church

is beginning to splinter.

The new pope, Paul III,

inherits a papacy
swelling with uncertainties.

- Just at the moment
when the church

seemed in real trouble,

a particular champion
came along.

♪ ♪

And called himself Ignatius.

Ignatius Loyola.

♪ ♪

- They were a group
of French, Spanish,

and Portuguese students
at the University of Paris.

They came under the influence
of Ignatius.

♪ ♪

narrator:
At the University of Paris,

Ignatius and his followers
initiate a new way of praying

based on meditation.

♪ ♪

In the past,
Catholic prayer had consisted

of standard recitations,

but Ignatius promotes
a more personalized practice.

♪ ♪

- He had developed a way
of praying and focusing

that was very attractive
to these young men,

so they all came together,
and they took vows together.

- They called this society
the Society of Jesus,

later known as the Jesuits.

♪ ♪

narrator: Like Martin Luther,
Ignatius and the Jesuits

believe that every man,
not just clergy,

should have an individual
relationship with God.

But unlike Martin Luther,

they do not pose
a direct threat to the church.

- He had a lot in common
with Luther.

Ignatius was a man
who believed

that a direct communication
with God

was not only possible

but was absolutely essential
for the soul to prosper.

Too often, I think
we tend to break down

Catholic and Protestant,

especially during
the Reformation, into,

Catholics thought
that people needed a mediator

between God and man,
and Protestants say,

"No, you can speak
directly to God."

Ignatius was a Catholic
who believed

that the direct experience
of God

was one of the most
important experiences

that the church
could steer you towards.

- They begin trying
to rehabilitate fallen women,

sex workers.

[man shouting indistinctly]

They show great concern
for the poor.

Eventually, they go to Rome

with this new idea
for a new order,

and they place themselves
at the disposition of the pope.

♪ ♪

narrator: Ignatius presents
the Jesuits' ideas

to Pope Paul III
as a means of Catholic reform,

but in 1540,
few had challenged

the Catholic Church
and remained

in the good graces
of the pope.

- The church hierarchy
was feeling its way forward.

This was an unknown,
new development.

It was a new threat.

Even though Luther's thought
was condemned,

within the Catholic Church,
there was also this recognition

that yes, there were reforms
that needed to be made.

- The Pope allowed them
to become

a formal religious order.

♪ ♪

narrator:
In an unprecedented act,

Pope Paul III endorses
Ignatius's challenges

to the church.

♪ ♪

He permits the Jesuit order
to flourish

within Catholicism.

♪ ♪

- Ignatius knew how to play
the Vatican's politics.

The Society's always carefully
cherished its independence

and done so and protected
that independence

by talking about its loyalty
to the pope.

- They become the largest
religious order in the church.

♪ ♪

narrator: The Jesuits make
a name for themselves

by shifting their focus...
to universal education.

- The Jesuits focus
on education

for all classes of society.

♪ ♪

- They provided
a first-class education,

and people rushed
to get that education.

That's what spread the Catholic
faith back into areas

where Protestantism
had made great strides.

- Ignatius had 16 more years
to live,

and during that period,
the Jesuits mushroomed.

They took in more and more
and more people.

- They began to spread out
through the new world

and also into Japan
and India and other places.

♪ ♪

narrator: Inspired
by the Jesuits,

Pope Paul III calls
for Catholic unity

to fight against
the ever-growing

Protestant movement.

♪ ♪

- There's tremendous turmoil
that is going on

in the church,
and so this becomes a time

in which the church
has to look to rebuild,

and how does the church
rebuild?

What do they do?

How do they bring
themselves together?

♪ ♪

narrator: In 1545,
the pope assembles

the Council of Trent

to reexamine
the Catholic institution.

A counter-reformation is born.

- A council is called to start
to do reforms in the church

that they believe must be done

in order to hold on
to the church

and the ways in which they can
push back against Luther

and these other
Reformation movements.

- Paul III,
he's a great reforming pope.

He makes a series
of magnificent appointments

to the cardinalate,
and these men become

the leaders of the renewal
of Catholicism

in the mid-16th century...
and they're his men.

♪ ♪

narrator: A transformation
begins.

In 1567,
the sale of indulgences

is outlawed,
and a culture of change

and growth is initiated
in the church...

setting the stage
for the first Jesuit pope

and perhaps the greatest
reformer of the modern era,

Pope Francis.

[cheers and applause]

[dramatic music]

narrator: Nearly 600 years
after the Reformation

ignites in Europe,

Pope Francis becomes
the first Jesuit pope...

a leader
who calls on Christians

to be missionaries of hope.

♪ ♪

- A Jesuit is the last person
you would ever think

was gonna become pope.

♪ ♪

- Right from the start,
the Society of Jesus

set its face against any member
of the society becoming pope.

- They are not supposed to
seek ecclesiastical benefits.

They should not want to be
bishops or cardinals

or things like that.

- Why now,
for the very first time

in the church's history,
a Jesuit pope?

♪ ♪

narrator: The unprecedented
election of a Jesuit pope

signifies a real shift

in the nature
of the 2,000-year-old office.

♪ ♪

- Pope Francis
positions himself

not just the leader
of the Catholic Church

and the papacy
but as a moral leader.

- The Jesuits are
the great success story

of the Catholic reform.

Jesuits are flexible thinkers.

They understand that there are
different sides to a question.

They tend to be more lenient
in their moral judgments.

They tend to be
more encouraging.

So the impact of having
a Jesuit pope is interesting.

- It almost suggests
the Society felt that,

"Jesuits to the rescue."

The church was in trouble,

and so they'd send
one of their own in.

narrator: Pope Francis's
election in 2013

comes during a turbulent time
for Catholicism.

The Vatican faces scrutiny

for sexual and financial
scandals,

while both church
and seminary attendance

are on the decline
the world over.

- Change happens
in the Catholic Church

in a way
that it doesn't happen

in other places.

It never happens directly.

Emphasis gets changed.

Certain things are dropped
from attention,

and they pivot.

- Pope Francis asked me

to take on this job in Culture

about a year and a half ago,

and he spoke to me
about what he wanted me to do.

♪ ♪

Pope Francis said,

"Look, there are things
changing in our world.

"There are things emerging
that have potential

to shape our future
very differently."

He said, "I want you
to get out there.

"I want you to meet the people

who are forging
the future of the world."

♪ ♪

narrator: The changes
initiated

during the Reformation
have become

part of the fabric
of modern Christianity.

♪ ♪

More than 900 million
Protestants around the world

can trace
their spiritual roots

back to the revolution
started in the 1500s.

- The shattering of the unity
of Christendom was a tragedy,

but it also, of course,

created a new kind of urgency

for Catholic reform.

♪ ♪

narrator: After 2,000 years
of threats,

transformations,
and revolutionaries,

the pope still maintains
a following

of 1.2 billion people
around the world.

The capacity of the Catholic
Church to accept change

has been central
to its ability

to remain relevant.

♪ ♪

- Reforming helped
to bring about

a renewal of the papacy

and of the wider church.

- We can see
how the papacy first changes,

but secondarily,
how it has to change

with the time that it's in.

Where there might have been
a time

that, you know,
"Science is bad,

and it's all terrible,"

Pope Francis has been able
to speak

about things
like homosexuality,

the environment,
in ways in which

other popes have not.

We're now in a time
where somebody

like Pope Francis is saying,

"Climate change is real.

We need to take care
of the earth."

So I think
that's a tremendous way

to sort of look at the papacy

to see how it has to develop
over time,

not just about the faith,

but about the world
in which its dealing with.

[dramatic music]

narrator: As long as
the church has existed,

the world around it
has been in flux...

♪ ♪

But throughout centuries
of change and challenges...

♪ ♪

The pope still remains

one of the most powerful men
on earth.

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