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The Young Pope

2016 Italian-Spanish-American-British-French television miniseries

The Young Pope is an English-language Italian drama television series created and directed by Paolo Sorrentino for Sky Atlantic, HBO, and Canal+. The series, staring Jude Law and Diane Keaton, follows the papacy of Pius XIII, born Lenny Belardo, a young cardinal from New York, Lenny Belardo who becomes pope of the Catholic Church when the leading contenders of the Papal conclave fail to win election. Installed as a compromise candidate, Belardo takes the name of Pius XIII and immediately proceeds to challenge the established traditions and practices of the Vatican.

Season 1

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Episode 1

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Pope Pius XIII: Ciao, Rome! Ciao, world! Ciao! What have we forgotten? What have we forgotten? We have forgotten you! Let me be very clear: I'm here for one very simple reason. To not forget anyone. God does not leave anyone behind. That is what He told me when I decided to serve Him. And it is what I say to you now. I serve God. I serve you! We've forgotten the women and children, who will change this world with their love and their kindness. And with their marvelous, divine disposition to play. Play is the only authentic means we have to make us feel in harmony with life. And to be in harmony with God, we have to be in harmony with life. We don't have a choice: we must be in harmony with God! And what else have we forgotten? We have forgotten to masturbate! To use contraceptives, to get abortions, to celebrate gay marriages, to allow priests to love each other, and even to get married. We've forgotten that we can decide to die if you detest living, we've forgotten to have sexual relations for purposes other than procreation without feeling guilty! To divorce, to let nuns say mass, to make babies in all the ways science has discovered and will continue to discover. In short, my dear, dear children, not only have we forgotten to play, we have forgotten to be happy. And there is only one road that leads to happiness. And that road is called freedom.
Pope Pius XIII: God... my conscience does not accuse me because you do not believe I am capable of repenting. And therefore, I do not believe in you. I don't believe you're capable of saving me from myself.
Don Tommaso Viglietti: Holy father... what are you saying?
Pope Pius XIII: I'm saying that I don't believe in God, Tommaso.

Episode 2

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Pope Pius XIII: What have we forgotten? We have forgotten God! You! You have forgotten God! I want to be very clear with you. You have to be closer to God than to each other. I am closer to God than I am to you. You need to know I will never be close to you, because everyone is alone before God. I have nothing to say to those who have even the slightest doubt about God. All I can do is remind them of my scorn and their wretchedness. I don’t have to prove that God exists. It is up to you to prove that he doesn’t. Are you capable of proving that God does not exist? If you aren’t able to prove it that means God does exist. God exists. And he isn’t interested in us until we become interested in him—in him exclusively. You understand what I’m saying? Exclusively! Twenty-four hours a day your hearts and minds filled only with God, there’s no room for anything else, no room for free will, no room for liberty, no room for emancipation. “Free yourself from God,” I’ve heard people say, “liberate yourself from God.” But the pain of liberation is unbearable, sharp enough to kill. Without God, you’re as good as dead: dead, abandoned strays wandering the streets.

Episode 7

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Andrew: When are you gonna grow up?
Lenny Belardo: Never. A priest never grows up because he can never become a father. He'll always be a son.

Episode 8

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Pope Pius XIII: 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 twenty, 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 lowlife 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. Amen.
Pope Pius XIII: Are you a good person?
Sister Antonia: I believe I am.
Pope Pius XIII: Don't be in such a hurry. Think carefully.
Sister Antonia: I try to live in accordance with Christian values.
Pope Pius XIII: 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?
[A long beat.]
Pope Pius XIII: 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.
Pope Pius XIII: 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. Look at them with eyes of joy and remember what St. Augustine said: "If you want to see God, you have the means to do it. God is love. " I, on the other hand, won't speak to you about God until there is peace. Because God is peace. And peace is God. Give me peace, and I'll give you God. You don't know how wonderful peace is. You have no idea how disconcerting peace can be. But I know. Because I saw it when I was eight years old, on the banks of a river in Colorado. Peace.

Episode 9

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Lenny Belardo: What is more beautiful, my love? Love lost or love found? Don’t laugh at me, my love. I know it, I’m awkward and naïve, when it comes to love and I ask questions straight out of a pop song. This doubt overwhelms me and undermines me, my love. To find or to lose? All around me, people don’t stop yearning. Did they lose or did they find? I can’t say. An orphan has no way of knowing. An orphan lacks a first love. The love for his mama and papa. That’s the source of his awkwardness, his naïveté. You said to me, on that deserted beach in California: “You can touch my legs”. But I didn’t do it. There, my love, is love lost.
That’s why I never stop wondering since: where you’ve been? And where you are now? And you, shining gleam of my misspend youth, did you lose or did you find? I don’t know. And I will never know. I can’t even remember your name, my love. And I don’t have the answer. But this is how I like to imagine it, the answer. In the end, my love, we have no choice. We have to find.

Episode 10

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Pope Pius XIII: I beg of you -- confide in me... the wisest thing you have ever learned.
Pope Julius II: In the end, more than God, it is necessary to believe in yourself, Lenny.
Pope Pius XIII: Uh... Have you got something... a little better? Wh- Tha- That's a banal... platitude.
Pope Julius II: If only you knew how true a banal platitude can be, my dear colleague. After all, look at us; we are power, and power is a banal platitude.
Pope Pius XIII: When they asked her: "Who is God?" "God is a line that opens", replied the Blessed Juana, she was just fourteen years old, and no one understood what it was she was trying to say. And then, all the children asked the dying Blessed Juana dozens of questions: are we dead or are we alive? Are we tired or are we vigorous? Are we healthy or are we sick? Are we good or are we bad? Do we still have time or has it run out? Are we young or are we old? Are we clean or are we dirty? Are we fools or are we smart? Are we true or are we false? Are we rich or are we poor? Are we kings or are we servants? Are we good or are we beautiful? Are we warm or are we cold? Are we happy or are we blind? Are we disappointed or are we joyful? Are we lost or are we found? Are we men or are we women? "It doesn't matter", replied the Blessed Juana as she lay dying at the age of just eighteen. And she added, on the verge of death, with tears in her eyes: "God does not allow Himself to be seen. God does not shout. God does not whisper. God does not write. God does not hear. God does not chat. God does not comfort us." And all the children asked her: "Who is God?" And Juana replied: "God smiles". And only then did everyone understand. And now, I beg all of you, smile.
Pope Pius XIII: One day, I will die. And I will finally... be able to embrace you all... one by one. Yes, I will! I have faith that I will.

Cast

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