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The Young Pope


Stargazer

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This is an odd topic, I admit, but bear me out.  If you don't know anything about this series, The Young Pope, starring Jude Law, you might be perplexed.  I haven't actually watched it, but I've caught some scenes/clips from it on YouTube.  

I'm particularly asking if @MiserereNobis or any other Catholics here have seen this TV series, and if so, what do they think of it.

To repeat, I haven't watched any full episodes of this.  I have a suspicion that the series might be misrepresenting the RCC, or even may even be anti-Catholic (because the mainstream media loves to be anti-religion when they can).  But the clips I have seen seem extremely well-written and well-acted; Jude Law comes across as a very intense Pope, and one of my favorites is him (as the Pope) telling the Italian Prime Minister that the PM has to go along with a number of demands because if he doesn't, Pius XIII will re-implement the Non Expedit before the next election, and the PM's party will lose at the polls.  Here's a link to that episode: Non Expedit.  I'm not keen on the premise, of course, since I am convinced it is best to keep church and state separate, but, this is quietly very dramatic.

So, I'm interested in any opinions of this series, especially if you've watched any full episodes or have been following the series.

 

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13 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

I  have to say that I loved that show.

Any particular aspects of it that you enjoyed?  Or particular episodes that caught your fancy?

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1 hour ago, Stargazer said:

This is an odd topic, I admit, but bear me out.  If you don't know anything about this series, The Young Pope, starring Jude Law, you might be perplexed.  I haven't actually watched it, but I've caught some scenes/clips from it on YouTube.  

I'm particularly asking if @MiserereNobis or any other Catholics here have seen this TV series, and if so, what do they think of it.

To repeat, I haven't watched any full episodes of this.  I have a suspicion that the series might be misrepresenting the RCC, or even may even be anti-Catholic (because the mainstream media loves to be anti-religion when they can).  But the clips I have seen seem extremely well-written and well-acted; Jude Law comes across as a very intense Pope, and one of my favorites is him (as the Pope) telling the Italian Prime Minister that the PM has to go along with a number of demands because if he doesn't, Pius XIII will re-implement the Non Expedit before the next election, and the PM's party will lose at the polls.  Here's a link to that episode: Non Expedit.  I'm not keen on the premise, of course, since I am convinced it is best to keep church and state separate, but, this is quietly very dramatic.

So, I'm interested in any opinions of this series, especially if you've watched any full episodes or have been following the series.

 

I just read the Wikipedia . . . is it about a real pope? Or an imaginary one in the near future?

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Confession: I watched it with some Catholic friends a year or so ago.

The premise is that the protege of a conservative cardinal is chosen as a compromise candidate, with the Vatican cardinals thinking he could be controlled. It’s set in the near future.

He ends up being a highly conservative pope. Homosexuals can’t serve as priests. No communion or easy forgiveness for people who’ve had an abortion. He also decides to restore mystery to the Church by being mostly inaccesible.

He’s also hinted to have the powers of a saint throughout, and specifically performs three miracles throughout the series.

I’d actually say the tone of the show isn’t critical at all. You have to understand Italian cinema to kinda get the feel of the show. The Pope is highly conservative, but he’s sympathetic. One of his closest confidants is quietly quite liberal, but is also sympathetic. The Pope struggles with doubt and self-consciouness over his parents abandoning him as a child, but can also demonstrate great faith in God.

He alternates between being incredibly harsh and dogmatic, almost pre-Vatican II or even I in someways, but is capable of compassion and humour in the show. He’s at once a reprehensible authoritarian, but also compelling. He softens his speech and becomes more capable of love throughout, but without compromising his beliefs.

In fact, go through the catholic subreddits and you’ll see many Catholics, even young catholics, thirsting for a Pope who’s bold in their doctrine, uncompromising in their role as holding the keys of the Kingdom, and who doesn’t shy from display the majesty or the mystery of the Church and its doctrine.

It’s hard to describe, but I hope I did it some suggest. It’s not anti anything really. It’s far more a personal story of faith than a commentary on the Catholic Church.

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1 hour ago, halconero said:

Confession: I watched it with some Catholic friends a year or so ago.

.................................. It’s not anti anything really. It’s far more a personal story of faith than a commentary on the Catholic Church.

Here he is speaking to the college of Cardinals.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmbyWGCwX90 .

I'd say that it takes the hard-line view against modernism of the late Father Malachi Martin, who did not at all like Vatican II, and states frankly that two popes were actually poisoned in the 20th century.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np0yqY12_8g .

 

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16 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Any particular aspects of it that you enjoyed?  Or particular episodes that caught your fancy?

It was the whole thing...the connections and the personalities.  I saw two personalities in him and then...still not really know him.  It seems he connected to the church...but his reasons for that are obscure and weird. 

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4 hours ago, Jeanne said:

It was the whole thing...the connections and the personalities.  I saw two personalities in him and then...still not really know him.  It seems he connected to the church...but his reasons for that are obscure and weird. 

Obscure and weird is a good way to put it. In a sense though, that adds to the show, not takes away from it.

16 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Here he is speaking to the college of Cardinals.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmbyWGCwX90 .

I'd say that it takes the hard-line view against modernism of the late Father Malachi Martin, who did not at all like Vatican II, and states frankly that two popes were actually poisoned in the 20th century.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np0yqY12_8g .

 

That was a phenomenal scene. Very well done.

Contrast that scene with these two:

- Pope's Speech in Africa (stop at 3:30, there's some brief nudity after that)

- Pope's Love Letters (Spoiler: first woman wasn't a lover, but a woman whose infertility he healed, on whom it's hinted he had a crush; second woman he never went beyond a youthful crush/attraction)

Like I said, it's a show that does a good job showing one man's contradictory journey in faith. It also shows how a conservative Catholic Church might be both appealing and repugnant, depending on who you are.

 

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3 hours ago, halconero said:

..........................................

Like I said, it's a show that does a good job showing one man's contradictory journey in faith. It also shows how a conservative Catholic Church might be both appealing and repugnant, depending on who you are.

I prefer the far more realistic "Shoes of the Fisherman," which I read in book form before I saw the 1968 film.  The book and film were produced before a Polish pope came on scene -- as if life imitates art.  Anthony Quinn played the part of the Russian pope.

 

Edited by Robert F. Smith
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2 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

I prefer the far more realistic "Shoes of the Fisherman," which I read in book form before I saw the 1968 film.  The book and film were produced before a Polish pope came on scene -- as if life imitates art.  Anthony Quinn played the part of the Russian pope.

 

 Yet this show has the ridiculous idea, being discussed in the thread in general discussions, that the church should sell its property to save the world.  That is the climactic scene. It would be like watching a movie where the new president of the LDS church shows his best quality by getting rid of all of the temples. When I saw the film, I felt that it was propaganda for the “spirit of Vatican II.” Perhaps I should watch it again. But my initial feeling remains. 

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2 hours ago, MiserereNobis said:

 Yet this show has the ridiculous idea, being discussed in the thread in general discussions, that the church should sell its property to save the world.  That is the climactic scene. It would be like watching a movie where the new president of the LDS church shows his best quality by getting rid of all of the temples. When I saw the film, I felt that it was propaganda for the “spirit of Vatican II.” Perhaps I should watch it again. But my initial feeling remains. 

You are probably correct, although the pope in that anticlimax was facing the apocalypse of a desperate and nuclear China.  What I liked about the film was the election process by the conclave of cardinals, followed by a humble, even reticent pope who could say kaddish in Hebrew, and who was advised by a priest very much like Teilhard (played by Oskar Werner).

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I saw the series. It is a journey of the young pope from notions of youth through maturity.  He is a good guy, but too prideful to begin with. As life goes on he moderates his attitudes. He must deal with the politics of the Curia who is initially out to get him, but his basic goodness, in spite of his flaws, deflects the machinations. 

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