The Two Popes

The Pope, or, the Big Kahuna, if you’re speaking official church Latin. When it comes to the Catholic Church, the biggest single religious denomination on the planet, the buck stops at the man in the white zucchetto. Traditionally considered God’s chief deputy on Earth, the Pope is basically the king priest of the Catholics, and pontiffs throughout history have wielded immense power in both religious and secular arenas. Recently, however, the church seems to have decided that maybe elevating the Pope to the role of shadow emperor to every Catholic-practicing government on Earth might not be what you call Biblically legitimate, and (ideally) modern prelates have been less concerned with suppressing the French Revolution than with matters of Catholic orthodoxy. Controversy still attends the office, however, especially after the Vatican Leak Scandal, directly following which Pope Benedict the One Millionth shocked the world by resigning, leaving the Vatican to be taken by reform-minded Pope Francis the Six Thousandth. Don’t get too bogged down in the clerical politics, though, this is all just the backdrop for The Two Popes, a 2019 film directed by Fernando Meirelles. TTP imagines what it might be like to be a fly on the wall for a hypothetical meeting between Benny and Frank, two men with very different visions for the direction of the church, before Ben’s resignation. Such a fly may have observed a moving, thought-provoking debate about theology and doctrine grounded by a pair of spiffing performances from two legendary actors, at least if the wall it was on was opposite today’s movie! Grab your sword of the spirit and a Bible then, and peace be with us all in the episode!