The Pope Must Die (1991) on Netflix
Cardinal Rocco persuades the cardinals to elect the Mafia's man Albini in absentia. A hard-of-hearing priest mishears the name, and parish priest David Albinizi becomes pope.
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- Netflix2.1/5
- IMDb5.1/101,761 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes33%
Trailer
Plot summary
After the previous pope's death, the conclave remains deadlocked for 25 days until Cardinal Rocco talks the cardinals into electing the Mafia's favoured candidate, Albini, in absentia, presenting the absence as work on environmental concerns. Father Rookie, hard of hearing, records the pope-elect as Cardinal Albinizi, so the cardinals make Cardinal David "Dave" Albinizi pope. The man they have chosen is an honest parish priest whose benign interests are cars, women and rock and roll, and who worked in an orphanage where he wanted the children to enjoy the gospel. In the Vatican he gets along with Bish, who coordinates his security, and with the nun who brings his meals. When a journalist asks about the Vatican bank, he demands to see the accounts.
Cast
- Damir Mejovsekas Drunk Cardinal
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Pope Must Die (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Channel 4 canceled Peter Richardson's three-part papal satire after press outcry, prompting him to sever his long relationship with the channel and move his future productions to the BBC.
- London Transport banned the film's posters from the London Underground, and Palace Pictures' Daniel Battsek compromised with a poster that dropped the title and read "Robbie Coltrane in The Pope".
- The film's title was deemed too sensitive to disclose to the Yugoslavians, so it was made under the working title "Sleeping With the Fishes."
- On its US release, CBS, NBC and ABC refused to air television adverts for the film, citing its sacrilegious tone and the offense it would cause viewers, and many newspapers also refused adverts.
- Twelve other US city newspapers ran adverts only after heavy censoring: The Washington Post accepted one reading "The Pope Must. . . .", and The Los Angeles Times asked for changes to captions under the ad's photos.
- When plans for Richardson's series leaked in 1988, The Sunday Times ran "Row over papal satire", and the Catholic Herald, The Universe, The Observer and the Sun linked it to the Catholic Church's boycott of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.
- At the planning stage Alexei Sayle was proposed to star as "Pope Dave the First", with Robbie Coltrane, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French also said to be involved.
