THE TWO POPES, January 12, 2020

Dear Friends at Saint Frances Cabrini and Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish:  Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a recent bulletin column, Father Andrew offered a brief review and endorsement of a new movie, “A Hidden Life.”  I see so few films these days, but following Father Andrew’s lead, I will offer in my column for this week some brief comments on the new movie “The Two Popes,” especially because some of you have asked me about it already.   Customarily, I tend to avoid watching Hollywood movies that deal so directly with the Catholic Church because so often they are disappointingly stereo-typical or inaccurate.  In this instance, I was genuinely curious how lead actor Anthony Hopkins (who I tend to appreciate as an actor) would handle the role of playing Pope Benedict XVI.  So therefore I sat through all of it.

The movie attempts to create a story line out of the unusual turn of events in which we are currently living through, wherein there is a reigning pope and a retired pope.  To do this, the movie grabs at some facts along the way and some lovely Vatican scenery, to create something of a drama in the film over the question of Pope Benedict’s dilemma about choosing to resign. Ultimately the drama is resolved as Benedict comes to a sense of peace about it all, setting the stage as far as Hollywood is concerned for the transition of power to Cardinal Bergoglio, who becomes the new Pope Francis. 

My very short commentary on the film is that, as best I can tell, very little of the scenario or dialogue in it is grounded in actual fact.  I do not think it accurately portrays Pope Francis or Pope Benedict.  It also advances a very simplistic and inaccurate storyline about how both of those men view the nature of the Church.  The acting is entertaining simply for entertainment sake, and in that way it is clever, but it is not the truth of the situation it seeks to depict. 

If you are going to watch it, it is best to view it merely as entertainment, and not as an accurate understanding of reality.  If only it were so easy to neatly and quickly capture the true nature of the Church, and of the complexity of real personalities.  Hollywood is rarely able to do it well, as this film shows yet again.