Finally More Circus Maximus: The Young Pope (2016)

Big was the excitement when in 2016 HBO announced a mini-series which would be directed by the Italian Paolo Sorrentino (La grande Bellezza), one of the greats in contemporary arthouse cinema. Curiosity grew when title and topic were announced: „The Young Pope“. And the confusion was perfect when it was revealed who would play this pope: Jude Law.

The news coverage and trailers of the series painted an insufficient picture of what it was all about, somewhat cheaply focusing on that this pope is handsome, drinks Coke Light and smokes. It was just an irrelevant fraction of the truth, because what would be revealed on screen during 10 masterly crafted episodes with Sorrentino’s beautiful, opulent images would be the best TV experience since the Sopranos, and a most complex theological discourse away from the common mystical trash that the producers usually unleash on the viewer.

The series is set in Vatican State: Lenny Belardo (Jude Law) becomes the first American pope in history and chooses the name Pius XIII. for himself, in the tradition of ultraconservative ‘Pius’ popes of the past. He’s young, vital, melting attractive- and the most conservative of them all. Pius XIII. is a man in war with the bending of God’s word and re-establishing the concepts of hell and punishment as opposed to the evangelical reign of salvation and forgiveness.

Being just the second globally powerful catholic American after John F. Kennedy, Belardo defines the core of Christianity’s problem from his American perspective: in his vision of the religion’s future, evangelicals with their unholy alliances and appetite for the apocalypse play no role anymore „From this day forward, everything that was wide open is gonna be closed. Evangelization. We’ve already done it. Ecumenicalism. Been there, done that. Tolerance. Doesn’t live here anymore.“ Dismissed and wiped-out from the discourse, Evangelism is put in its place- Pius XIII. is a man in war with the bending of God’s word and re-establishing the concepts of hell and punishment as opposed to the evangelical reign of salvation and forgiveness. It is a delicious treat for fans of powermaniacs and those bored by the sentimental concepts and discourses of our times. Finally more Circus Maximus!

Belardo is an orphan left behind by Hippie parents and raised by a nun called Mary (Diane Keaton), and it is no coincedence that this pope is a young, vital and goodlooking one who can even perform wonders, strongly evoking parallels to the figure of Jesus. While the Nazarethean leads a humble existence among other prophets in the Jewish and Muslim books, he was raised to the status of a god-like popstar in Christian practice. The masochistic image of the suffering and crying prophet nailed to a cross has become the vanishing point of every church and prayer and replaced God as the highest entity among the Christian Trinity.

Pius XIII is the exact opposite of this post-biblic and iconic Jesus tradition by practising the biblical Old Testament ban on images: pictures of him are not allowed, idol-worshipping is over. There are no press conferences, no interviews, no visual presence at all- nothing but his word. And while the mystery of him naturally grows during his medial absence, it is also allegorically flanking his main message: „Back to the book“. Belardo is doing nothing less than putting the ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christianity’ and calling for exlusive submission to God only. And so it happens that his first public appearance turns into a haunting doomsday where his unapoletic and reproachful words are whip-cracking on the excited masses that have gathered in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica:



What have we forgotten?
We have forgotten God.
(screaming)
You! You have forgotten God.
…
God exists.
And He isn’t interested in us
until we become interested
in Him, in Him exclusively.
Do you understand
what I am saying?
Ex-clu-sive-ly!
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.
…“

The entire speech is a theological spectacle unseen since the exciting Middle Ages- this is not a uniting pope with the usual comfortable emphasis on forgiveness and salvation, but he’s a personified reminder of the extinguished concept of hell „And sin will no longer be forgiven at will.“ In this unforgettable scene of his dooming inaguration speech, director Sorrentino is squandering his mastery with the dark and thunderous atmosphere and music and the haunting decrescendo of the cheerful masses, who are left shell-shocked and silenced by the pope standing in the shadows like the chief-prosecutor on resurrection day. A new era is dawning.

Belardo’s “Back to the book“ necessarily includes other ‘crucial’ changes within the clerical system. Homosexual priests and nuns? Forget it, and so the times of an open secret and structural acceptance is over „Tolerance. Doesn’t live here anymore. It’s been evicted. It vacated the house for the new tenant, who has diametrically opposite tastes in decorating.“ Child abuse in the church? Must be punished and eradicated. Materialism in the church? Unlike chummy evangelical priests in their baggy jeans, Pius XIII. loves his opulent gowns and jewellery in the tradition of true emperor couture, but still he is getting his priorities right and bans all merchandise and capitalism from the institution although they are an extremely important source of revenue.

Spiced with the arrogance and cold cruelty of the ancient emperors, Belardo more than once gives in to the big-gestured humiliation of the effete and lazy clerics around him: this is not a pope in the tradition of those washing and kissing the feet of ordinary people, but Pius XIII. makes his cardinals kneel down and kiss his red Prada shoes to put them in their submissive place and tame the never-ending power game and intrigues behind the scenes. Jude Law is on fire and gives the performance of his life, gleefully delving in his relentless imperatives and wrathful reign, blooming as unrepentant despot with a most nuanced performance.

You might ask where exactly the intellectual and theological value can be found within the antics of a despot. The thing is that unlike democracy, the Bible as God’s word not only allows but inhabits the despot, calling for submission and total devotion to one God, a message that must logically be enforced by his earthly representative, the pope. In this regard, The Young Pope can trigger a most exciting examination of literal changes of the original script and structural and conceptional reforms which have led to today’s modern version Christianity. It are no minor changes that have taken place, and it is Pius XIII with his fundamental understanding of faith and religion that is showing them up, a figure fallen out of time that is making you question how and when exactly the word ‘fundamental(ist)’ was given a negative connotation. And it is no coincedence that Belardo is an American pope, descending from the Far West where the most crucial changes have taken place due to its very own evangelical culture. It is an exciting journey through the history of Christianity and modern civilization.

Here we are dealing with a nation that is claiming exceptionalism and chosenness for itself, and did the unspeakable by electing an agent of chaos as their president in 2016, one that would speak in codes to his fellow white supremacists and sometimes bomb his way through a peaceful protest with tear gas, only to pose in a photo-op in front of a church, clumsily holding a bible in his hand while obviously not knowing what to do with it other than posing- he certainly can’t and wouldn’t pray. But not only did they elect him, but his evangelical voters will gloss over all his pathologies and claim that he is a man sent by God, a Chosen One, a nasty prophet that will move them closer towards salvation and the gates of heaven. A shocking turning around of all principles of their book, ignoring and burying one fundamental truth of every scripture: God doesn’t deceive. That is the traditional domain of a lad called Satan. And that is the complex fascination of Pope Belardo, no matter if you’re a catholic or an atheist. He doesn’t deceive, he’s no wolf in sheep’s clothing and no sheep in wolf’s clothing but he is exactly what he is and with an exclusive interest in God and the clear path of the scriptures. „Come save us, Belardo“ you wanna scream these days.

But you don’t have to be necessarily interested in questions of faith to enjoy the clerical magic and profound megalomania of the series. In the end, when offered a time-travel and asked for what your destination should be, and your answer to that is:“Beam me to a particularly wild day in the cruel and powerful reigns of a Caligula or Nero“, then The Young Pope is a must watch for you.

by Saliha Enzenauer

Brother cardinals,
from this day forward,
we’re not in, no matter who’s
knocking on our door.
We’re in, but only for God.
From this day forward,
everything that was wide open
is gonna be closed.
Evangelization.
We’ve already done it.
Ecumenicalism.
Been there, done that.
Tolerance.
Doesn’t live here anymore.
It’s been evicted.
It vacated the housefor the new tenant,who has diametricallyopposite tastes in decorating.
We’ve been reaching out
to others for years now.
It’s time to stop!
We are not going anywhere.
We are here.
Because, what are we?
We are cement.
And cement doesn’t move.
We are cement without windows.
So, we don’t look
to the outside world.
“Only the Church possesses
the charisma of truth”,
said St. Ignatius of Antioch.
And he was right.
We have no reason to look out.
Instead, look over there.
What do you see?
That’s the door.
The only way in.
Small and extremely uncomfortable.
And anyone who wants to know us
has to find out
how to get through that door.
Brother cardinals, we need
to go back to being prohibited.
Inaccessible and mysterious.
That’s the only way we
can once again become desirable.
That is the only way
great loves stories are born.
And I don’t want
any more part-time believers.
I want great love stories.
I want fanatics for God.
Because fanaticism is love.
Everything else
is strictly a surrogate,
and it stays outside the church.
With the attitudes
of the last Papacy,
the church won
for itself great expressions
of fondness from the masses.
It became popular.
Isn’t that wonderful,
you might be thinking!
We received plenty of esteem
and lots of friendship.
I have no idea what to do with the
friendship of the whole wide world.
What I want is absolute love
and total devotion to God.
Could that mean
a Church only for the few?
That’s a hypothesis,
and a hypothesis isn’t
the same as reality.
But even this hypothesis
isn’t so scandalous.
I say: better to have a few
that are reliable
than to have a great many that
are distractible and indifferent.
The public squares
have been jam-packed,
but the hearts
have been emptied of God.
You can’t measure love
with numbers,
you can only measure it
in terms of intensity.
In terms of blind loyalty
to the imperative.
Fix that word firmly in your souls:
Imperative.
From this day forth,
that’s what the Pope wants,
that’s what the Church wants,
that’s what God wants.
And so the liturgy will no longer
be a social engagement,
it will become hard work.
And sin will no longerbe forgiven at will.
I don’t expect any applause
from you.
There will be no expressions
of thanks in this chapel.
None from me
and none from you.
Courtesy and good manners
are not the business of men of God.
What I do expect…
is that you will do
what I have told you to do.
There is nothing outsideyour obedience to Pius XIII.
Nothing except Hell.
A Hell you may
know nothing about…
but I do.
Because I’ve built it,
right behind that door:
Hell.
These past few days,
I’ve had to build Hell for you,
that’s why I’ve come
to you belatedly.
I know you will obey,
because you’ve already figured out
that this pope isn’t
afraid to lose the faithful
if they’re been
even slightly unfaithful,
and that means
this Pope does not negotiate.
On anything or with anyone.
And this Pope
cannot be blackmailed!
From this day forth,
the word “compromise”,
has been banished
from the vocabulary.
I’ve just deleted it.
When Jesus willingly
mounted the cross,
he was not making compromises.
And neither am I.
Amen.