“Mercy is the dynamite that blows down walls,” declares Pope Francis. Francis is known for shepherding his flock and declaring, “I am a sinner,” although he was accused of being too soft on the military junta of Argentina’s Dirty War-era during which up to 30,000 citizens disappeared and are assumed dead.īenedict plays classical piano and writes papers, although you won’t hear him blame the Church’s sexual abuse scandal on homosexuals and the Swinging ’60s, as he did in a famous letter. “Leave ’em burning and then you’re gone,” indeed.īenedict is the theological scholar and fearsome “watchdog of the faith.” As Cardinal Ratzinger, he was the fierce opponent of “liberation” theologians. We see pomp and spectacle and hear (what?) ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” in the background.
How could the film not be fun to watch with these two old wizards, Hopkins and Pryce, casting their spells and summoning choruses of angels and demons in debates in each other’s defenses. “The Two Popes” speaks in multiple tongues, many with subtitles.
No one has resigned the papacy, we are informed, since Gregory XII in 1415. We are reminded that Plato believed the best leaders were those who did not want to lead. Pope Emeritus Benedict, meanwhile, evicts 12 nuns and lives nearby in the palatial Mater Ecclisiae Monastery with its elaborate gardens, where he and Francis enjoy meetings. He also refuses to wear the more ostentatious finery of the papacy. When Francis, the first pontiff from “the Americas,” is announced as pope (“habemus papam” in Latin), he chooses not to live in the Apostolic Palace, but to reside in the less splendid Vatican Guest House. Peter’s Square, and more liberal Argentine Bergoglio are presented as opposite ends of the papal spectrum, liberal and conservative, united by their desire to make the world a better place and be better popes. How the thrice Academy Award-nominated Anthony McCarten wrote “The Two Popes” and managed not to tread into more controversial territory in his depiction of private conversations between Pope Benedict XVI aka Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins) and Pope Francis aka Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) is the true miracle of “The Two Popes.” Pope Benedict announced his retirement in 2013, paving the way for Bergoglio, who had come in second in the voting that had made Benedict pope in 2005 in scenes we see dramatized at the beginning of the film.Ĭonservative, Bavaria-born Ratzinger, who is referred to as “the Nazi” by a sore-losing spectator in St. In English, Latin, Italian and Spanish with subtitles.
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