Take Me Down to Vatican City: Saving Grace

Saving Grace (1986)
By my count, there have been four films and one TV show with the title Saving Grace. This post is about only one of them.

We are not looking at the 1998 New Zealand film about the woman called Grace who falls in love with a man who claims to be Christ. Nor are we watching the 2000 Craig Fergusen film about a cannabis farmer. Not the 2009 film about the Great Flood of 1951, either.

Nope, we’re looking at the 1986 film Saving Grace because it features a Pope, and I’m happy to report that this, the fifth pope movie of the month, is not deadly dull, making it unlike the others.

Tom Conti plays Pope Leo XIV, a young pope who begins to tire of his job after a year. He’s sick of going to meetings all day long. He’s discouraged by demands that he perform miracles to heal the sick and dying. He is disgusted by requests from the Vatican bank that he works to get people to open savings accounts. He misses his life as a priest, his involvement in people’s lives. Leo gets an idea when a deaf girl named Isabella (Mart Zoffoli) hitchhikes to Vatican City to tell the Pope that her village has no priest.

The Pope takes off his robes, dresses as a poor man, and makes his way toward Isabella's village. As he gets close, he discovers it's under quarantine for smallpox. He hides in the back of a truck delivering food and gets into the village. When he finds Isabella, he tells her to keep it quiet that he's the Pope. Isabella introduces him to her mother, Lucia (Patricia Mauceri), telling her Leo is a man looking for work. Though Lucia tells him there is no work to be found in the village, she agrees to let him rent a room in her home.

Undercover Pope finds some interesting things about the village. The village church has been abandoned, except for a tween-age wannabe mobster, Giuliano (Anthony Evans), who uses the sanctuary for hiding stolen goods. Leo also discovers that the quarantine is a fraud. Villagers are pretending to be sick so the government will ship in free food. The village doesn't have a good source of water for farming, but Leo also finds an unfinished aqueduct that could supply the needed water.

Leo takes on the job of completing the aqueduct and finds there are powerful opponents to the plan --particularly a man named Ciolino (Edward James Olmos) who likes the idea of living off welfare rather than working. Ciolino even gets a crew together to set the aqueduct on fire.

Someone else has noticed the construction project: a shepherd who teases Leo. Oddly, the shepherd recognizes Leo as the Pope. He also used to be a metaphorical shepherd -- the village priest. 

Leo asks why he left the priesthood, “Did you quit, or were you fired?” 

The shepherd says he was fired by God. He felt God didn’t come through for His people.

Meanwhile, back in the Vatican, officials scramble to cover for the missing Pope. To do so, they are less than honest.

Before we get on to evaluating the clergy and church (really the whole point of this blog) I want to say something about the film itself. It was fun. It was a pleasure to spend time with these characters, even the children, which isn’t always the case with child actors. After four weeks of watching Pope films that were long, pretentious, and dull, it was nice to have a film that was entertaining, as movies should be.

So what can we say in favor of Leo XIV?

First of all, nothing can be more Christlike than Leo’s choice to leave the pomp and luxury of the Vatican to go to a village as a common laborer. In Philippians 2 Paul wrote, “Being in the very nature God, [Jesus] did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Leo’s decision to live as a commoner is a wonderful picture of the incarnation.

As a commoner, Leo has his ups and downs. He does a good job of resisting some temptations, but not others. Isabella's mother makes a pass at him, and he resists. When people mock him, he doesn’t say, “Do you know who I am?” But he does resort to violence when Giuliano is attacked. Many would have problems with a Pope who throws a punch.

As for the Church of Rome, it doesn’t come across that well. The cardinals of the Vatican seem to be petty bureaucrats who seem more concerned about appearances than ministry.

I have one other problem with Pope Leo. He returns to the Vatican for Easter Sunday. When he comes to the balcony to preach, he tells the story of his adventures in the village. It 's Easter, Papa. That's the day to tell about the Resurrection, the greatest story ever told, even if your story makes for an entertaining couple of hours.

Still, we're fans of Pope Leo XIV, giving him a Movie Churches rating of 3 out of 4 Steeples.

Take Me Down to Vatican City Month: Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons (2009)

Early in Ron Howard’s Angels and Demons, Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), accompanied by a member of the Vatican police, notices something about the statues they are passing as they walk through the Vatican. The Professor launches into a lecture (because he always launches into lectures) about “the Great Castration” performed by Pope Pius IX who had all the male statues in Vatican City “de-manned.” The officer, Inspector Olivetti, asks, “Are you anti-Catholic, Professor Langdon?” 

He responds, “No. I’m anti-vandalism.”

Both of Langdon's statements prove to be rather questionable. 

This 2009 film is a sequel to 2006's The Da Vinci Code (which we looked at earlier this year). In that film, the Catholic Church is a vile institution that employs assassins and knowingly hides the truth. If everything in the first film was true, then Langdon would have to be demented himself not to be anti-Catholic.

To make things more clear (or perhaps more murky), though the film Angels and Demons is a sequel to The Da Vinci Code, The Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown is a sequel to Angels and Demons, an earlier novel by Dan Brown. It's possible for the protagonist to go through the events of Angels and Demons without hating the Catholic church, but I don’t see how anyone could go through the events of The Da Vinci Code and still have warm fuzzies about the Church.

At the beginning of the film, Langdon is approached by a representative from the Vatican. Langdon thinks it must have something to do with his request to visit the Vatican Archives. He has already written one book about the Illuminati, but his request to visit the Vatican Archives (which he needs to do to write a sequel) has been denied seven times.

Actually, Langdon is being recruited to help with a crisis at the Vatican. The pope has died and the four Cardinals who are the leading papal candidates have been kidnapped and threatened with execution. The Vatican police believe Langdon might be able to help because they believe the Illuminati may be responsible for the crimes.

This, of course, leads to one of Langdon’s impromptu lectures -- this one about the Illuminati. Langdon claims it is an organization formed in the time of Galileo. The church persecuted scientists for teaching “heretical” things, such as a heliocentric solar system, so they formed a secret organization called the Illuminati.

When Langdon arrives at Rome, he learns that someone also stole “anti-matter” from a lab and plans to blow up the Vatican after the four Cardinals are kidnapped. Langdon claims that in order to track down the fiends, he will need to do research in the Vatican Archives, but he is told that he can only do so with papal approval and there is no pope.

Langdon counters that he knows that during the “days of the empty throne,” the time before the conclave elects a pope, papal authority is invested in the “Camelengo.” Langdon goes to see the Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor), who asks Langdon if he believes in God. Langdon answers, “I’m an academic. My mind tells me I will never understand God.” 

Huh. Thomas Aquinas and C.S. Lewis seemed to carry off being both theists and academics.

Anyway, the Camerlengo lets Langdon into the Archives along with the anti-matter scientist, Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer). He just asks them to treat the Archives with respect. Langdon develops the theory that the Cardinals will be executed at four different cathedrals, each representing one of the Four Elements, which the Illuminati honor. (I thought that was strange; the Greek teaching on the elements had a basis in philosophy but not at all in science.)

Langdon believes one of the books in the Archives contains a clue, and he asks Vittoria to copy the information. Instead, Vittoria tears the page out of the book. Which is vandalism. 

Why don't I think Langdon is really anti-vandalism? Langdon just smirks at this. Later in the film, Langdon finds himself trapped in the Archives and to escape, he knocks down bookshelves and wildly fires a gun. He places his own life over securing the archives. He’s a vandal.

But we're not here to cite the hypocrisy of Professor Langdon. How are the church and clergy presented?

Commander Richter (Stellan Skarsgard), the chief of the Vatican police, makes the one good defense of the Roman Catholic Church. When Langdon makes what the commander considers a disparaging remark about the church, Richter lectures, “My church comforts the sick and dying. My church feeds the hungry. What does your church do, Professor?”

The great crowds around the Vatican as the Conclave meets to elect a new Pope indicate that the Catholic Church has a lot of fans in the film.

So how does the clergy come across in the film? We mainly see the Camerlengo. He seems like a good guy initially. He gives the professor what he needs to investigate the crimes. When it looks like the Vatican may blow up, he urges the Conclave to break and go to safely. And what appears to be his most heroic act; when the anti-matter bomb is discovered, the Camerlengo snatches the bomb and all alone takes it up in a helicopter where the bomb can safely explode, and he parachutes safely to the ground.

After that desperate act, it looks like the Camerlengo will win the Papacy by acclamation, even though he's only a priest and not a Cardinal. But then we learn the Big Twist. 

(As they say, spoilers) 

There was no resurgence of the Illuminati. There were no outside conspirators. The Camerlengo has put together the whole diabolic scheme to get himself elected pope, including murdering the previous pope, apparently, so he can oppose science. (His reasoning is never very clear.) 

This is a pretty risky plot. It doesn’t go as planned, because Langdon does manage to save one of the bishops. How could the Camerlengo be so sure he’d survive the anti-matter explosion? Since there had never been such an event before, how can he be so sure anyone could survive the antimatter explosion?

When the Camerlengo’s plan fails, he lights himself on fire (which causes white smoke to billow from the Vatican smokestack).

The Cardinal who takes the job of Pope names himself Luke, as the physician represents “science.” He seems like he might be a good guy. But that Camerlengo certainly rates our lowest Movie Churches rating of One Steeple. 

Take Me Down to Vatican City Month: The Cardinal

The Cardinal (1963)
I'm sad to report that though it's Pope Month here at Movie Churches, you never see the Pope (or the Popes) in the 1963 film The Cardinal, though much of the film takes place in the Vatican and the pontiff(s) is(are) referred to (but never by name and you never see them). Since the film begins toward the end of World War I (1917) and goes through the beginning of World War II (1940), three popes, Benedict XV, Pius XI, and Pius XII led the Roman Catholic Church, but we don’t hear those names in the film. It reminds me of films where “The President” is discussed -- but not by name. Or Ben Hur where Jesus is talked about, but we never see His face.

So this is a Pope film without a Pope, but we do get (as you probably guessed from the title) a Cardinal. The film opens with the Cardinal’s commissioning service, and the vast majority of the film is a flashback to events in the life of Steven Fermoyle, the man being commissioned.

The film obviously isn't relying on the suspense of who the Cardinal will be...We know it’s Steve. And there’s no suspense about what will happen to Steve...He’ll become a Cardinal.   

Since we don’t have that suspense, perhaps we’ll be drawn in by the charismatic leading performance of… Tom Tryon. From what I could find, this was Tryon’s one big starring role in a film (though he was the star of The Magical World of Disney’s mini-series about Texas John Slaughter. The theme song went, “Texas John Slaughter made ‘em do what they oughta, and if they didn’t, they died.” That's how they made kids' shows back in the day.)

What did this movie have to offer? 

Director Otto Preminger was known for making movies about bold social issues, and this film takes on a bunch of them. The flashbacks begin with Steve coming back to Boston after studying in the Vatican. He finds his sister, Mona (Carol Lynley), is dating a Jewish man (John Saxon). Through Mona's story,  we face the significant issues of premarital sex, interfaith marriage, and abortion. Dealing with these issues causes Steve to question his faith. He wants to leave the priesthood but is given a leave of absence from the ministry to consider if he wanted to remain a priest.

Then we get an intermission. (Because like the Pope films for the last two weeks, this film was designed as a Roadshow Attraction with an intermission, with intermission music. Because theaters need to sell popcorn.)

Returning from intermission we see Steve in civilian clothes as a high school teacher in Vienna. A beautiful woman, a teacher named Annemarie (Romy Schiender), falls in love with him, not knowing he is a priest. Steve must decide whether to keep his vow of celibacy, which leads Steve to return to the priesthood because God is his true love. He returns to serve in the Vatican, as a liaison for American relations.

Once back in the priesthood, Steve must face two more big issues. The first is racism. A Catholic school in Georgia won’t allow black students in. Steve goes to investigate for himself after an African-American Catholic church is burned. He confronts bigotry while coming to the aid of a young black priest (Ossie Davis). Frankly, I would have liked the film better if this was the only story. though the way it was told seemed anachronistic. The protest signs, “God’s Law is Segregation” and “Keep Our Catholic Schools White” seem to be out of the 1950s and 1960s rather than the 1930s, but I could well be wrong about that. Steve fights to get the Pope to take a stand, but he must work through the Cardinals to present the case.

The final big issue Steve must deal with is Fascism. The Vatican sends him to Vienna again, just after the Anschluss (Nazi Germany’s invasion of Austria). The Austrian Bishop welcomes the German troops with the ringing of church bells. The Austrian people must vote on a plebiscite to determine whether they want to live under German rule. The Vatican orders the Austrian Bishop to remain neutral on the issue, but instead, the Bishop publicly gives a Heil Hitler salute and encourages priests throughout the country to support the Nazis, because he believes Hitler's promise that the Catholic Church in Austria will be left alone. Hitler immediately reneges on his promise after the plebiscite is approved by the Austrian people.

With war approaching, Steve is made a Cardinal. He preaches at his commissioning ceremony, “Freedom is America’s creed and at the heart of the Gospel… Pray for me that I might not falter, and pray for our beloved country.” Steve, the Cardinal, is sent back to America, and the film concludes. So, if you are looking for pro-American clergy, Steve is your guy.

Every week, we rate the clergy and/or church in a film, examining their approach to ministry. So, to begin with, let’s look at how Cardinal Steve approaches those significant social issues tackled in the film.

Pre-marital sex - Steve condemns it as sinful.

Inter-faith marriage - Steve is okay with it, as long as the non-Catholic spouse agrees to not interfere with the faith of Catholic spouse, or have anything to do with the religious education of the children (so standard Catholic take)

Abortion - Steve, as the family member making the medical decision, doesn’t okay an abortion for his sister’s health (sister dies, baby is saved).

Celibacy for priests - He’s for it

Fascism - He’s against it.

Racism - Stands with Scripture in opposition to it.

So, Steve’s positions on these various issues are reasonably consistent with the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in the first half of the 20th Century.

What I found troublesome was Steve’s take on salvation. We see him teaching a Sunday School class of middle schoolers. Two boys approach Steve, asking him to settle a bet. “Joe says only Catholics can go to heaven. Why can’t Protestants go to heaven?”

Steve asks the class what they think. Someone calls out, “Because they ain’t Catholics.” The class murmurs agreement. And Steve tells them, “You’re all wrong. The Catholic Church teaches anyone: Catholic, Protestant, Mohammedan, Jew, who does God’s will according to his conscience will go to heaven.” There is a problem with this, which comes from the Apostle Paul quoting the Psalmist in Romans 3 talking about Jews and Gentiles:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Paul goes on to say, “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.” (You could fairly replace this with ‘There is no difference between Catholic and Protestant.’) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

So while Steve is talking about salvation through people’s conscience, Paul says that's hopeless, and salvation comes only through the grace of Jesus. This brings Steve down a full Steeple in the Movie Churches rating system. But since he's anti-Ku Klux Klan and anti-Hitler (half of which might have been bold stands in 1963), we’re giving Cardinal Steve three out of four steeples.

Take Me Down to Vatican City Month: The Agony and the Ecstasy

The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
I was ordained in the Evangelical Free Church, and I’ve got to admit I have no idea of the name of the current president of the denomination. (Kevin Kompelian. Okay; thanks, Google.) I currently attend a Presbyterian Church (P.C.U.S.A.) and have never given thought about who is the denomination’s president. (Kathy Luekert. Gee, thanks Alexa, but that’s not really the point here.) Whereas most every person who pays attention to media of any kind, even if that person has never set foot in a Catholic Church, knows the name of the Pope. (Yes, Siri, Pope Francis. Everybody knew that. That was kinda my whole point here.)

Whether he wants to be or not, the Pope is a power player in the political world and popular media. This is rarely true for any other religious or denominational leader, and that’s why we’re going to take a whole month to look at films that feature the Pope and the power center of the city/state of the Vatican. After all, I couldn’t find a single film about the President of the Evangelical Free Church of America (not even a documentary.)

We're kicking off Pope Month with Julius II, a pontiff from history, in director Carol Reed’s 1965  spectacular, The Agony and the Ecstasy. Julie really isn’t the big draw for this film, which tells the story of Michelangelo’s painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. People want the story of Mikey, not Julie, though both are played by big stars (Rex Harrison plays Julius II and Charleton Heston as Michelangelo).  Still, the story (adapted from Irving Stone’s novel) of the film is about the battle between two large personalities. According to the film, Michelangelo didn’t want to do the work, partly because he considered himself a sculptor rather than a painter, but the Pope badgered him to do the work throughout the project.

Of course, here at Movie Churches, we're here to evaluate clergy and churches, not art, but we can't help bringing art up for this movie. But to the point: what kind of clergyman was this Pope Julius II?

One of the first things we hear about him is that he’s “more of a warrior than a Pope.” We first see him in a full suit of armor (literal armor, not the full armor of God of Ephesians 5.) The film takes place during the War of the League of Cambrai, which began with the Papal State joining France to war against the Republic of Venice. The war eventually became the Papal State with Venice battling France (with various European nations pitching in between 1508 and 1516.)

This identity for the Pope is a problem for me. It makes me think Julius II wasn’t wearing a WWJD bracelet. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight… My kingdom is not of this world.” Julius II is all about the fighting.

He fights continually with Michelangelo. They fight over what project to work on (the artist wants to continue working on Julius’ tomb when Julius asks him to paint the Sistine Chapel. Julius wanted the chapel to have a tableau of the Apostles and Michelangelo wants to paint… something else. And they argue over money.

Whenever Michelangelo raises the issue of money, the Pope says he shouldn’t discuss such things in the presence of the pontiff. When a price is negotiated, Julius always stipulates that rent will be deducted from payment (rent for housing the Pope provides). At times Julius demands Mike pay the rent, even though the Pope hasn't paid the artist. (To be fair, the Pope is often strapped for cash because he needs money to fight his wars. And when he's really short on cash, he sells more appointments in the church. To help fund the chapel, he promotes five men to Cardinal rather than four.)

Nonetheless, Julius does appreciate Michelangelo’s work. He is impressed by the portrait of God as thoughtful and loving, not vengeful. He says, “What you have painted here, my son, is not a portrait of God. It’s proof of faith.”

Michelangelo responds, “I hadn’t thought that faith needed proof.” 

The Pope replied, “Not if you’re a saint or an artist. I am merely a pope.”

He also defends the nudity in Michelangelo’s art against some of the cardinals' charges of obscenity. The artist proclaims that the human body is a creation of God, and there is no need for shame, “Shame is a gift from the cardinals”.

When the Pope believes he is dying, he calls Michelangelo to his bedside and commands him to finish his work. The Pope recovers, and the work is finished.

Years later, when the Pope truly faces death, Julius has many regrets. “You make a better priest than I do, Michelangelo. Yet I have tried to serve Him in the only way I know how… It’s a terrible thing to strive for a lifetime and come to the final realization that you have failed.”

From our perspective, Julius II wasn’t a total failure. He not only urged the work of the Sistine Chapel, but also construction on St. Peter’s Basilica. The great art and architecture of this period have led many to the worship of God. Julius considers the best thing he did was commissioning the work of Michelangelo. Speaking to the artist, Julius says, “I take no credit. I was moved by another hand. As easily and skillfully as you move your brush. Strange how He works His will. Let us share pride in having been made His instruments.”

So when it comes to our Movie Churches ratings, Pope Julius II earns a meager 2 Steeples. (And though we don’t rate church buildings, if we could we’d give the Sistine Chapel more than our 4 Steeple rating.)

 

Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)

Just so you know, I prefer the church with the more naked Jesus. There are three churches in director Franco Zeffirelli's film about St. Francis, if you include the Vatican. And as I said, the less clothing encumbered church is definitely the best.

"Brother Sun, Sister Moon" was released in 1972, which puts it in the heart of the sixties (which, of course, are best calculated as beginning in 1963 at JFK's assassination to Nixon's resignation in 1974), the hippie era. The story of Francis of Assisi returning from war and renouncing his father's materialism for a life of nature, peace and spirituality certainly was tailor made for the Flower and Jesus People. From what I can tell, Zeffirelli doesn't stray too far from the story of the saint who was born in 1181 (or 1182) and died at the age of 44 in 1226. Francis' life also fits well in this month's theme of Rebel Youths (even if his rebellion was of a more positive brand than most).

As always though, we are here to evaluate the churches found in the film, not the film itself.

The first church we encounter in the film is the church of Assisi, attended by Francis' father, Pietro. Pietro is quite distressed that Francis doesn't initially return to church when he returns from the war. Pietro has a chummy relationship with the priests in the church, apparently supplying the clergy with silk for their fine robes from his prosperous textile works.

The crucifix above the altar in the church depicts Jesus wearing a crown of jewels and fine robes. This is a little off from the Biblical testimony that has Jesus on the cross wearing a crown of thorns and no clothes at all, but I'm sure if you're wearing a really sweet silk robe as a member of the clergy, having your wall Jesus with an equally sweet robe makes for more comfortable worship.

Also in this church, the clergy and the rich have the good seats in the front of the sanctuary and the poor stand in the back. All of this is in direct contradiction of James 2 which says the rich should not be shown favoritism. Francis, upon returning to the church, recognizes its hypocrisy. He renounces his father's wealth, ridding himself of everything from his earthly father including the clothes he was wearing (this streaking was the main thing I remembered from seeing the film as a teen). The naked Francis says he is born again. A priest tries to cover him with a fine robe, but Francis shares the robe with a poor man.

Francis begins a new order of brothers who take vows of poverty and chastity and seek to serve the poor. They rebuild a church in ruins, St. Mary of the Angels. This church ministers to the poor, who are given honor and affection. The crucifix in this church displays a Jesus whose garb is more Biblically accurate.

When Francis and his brothers encounter persecution, they decide to go to Rome to seek the blessing of Pope Innocent III for their order. On entering the Vatican, Francis encounters wealth more opulent than even his rich father possessed, but Francis doesn't judge, at this time being submissive to the authority of the church.

When Francis first approaches the Pope, he reads from a formal, legal request for recognition of his order that has been prepared for him. He abandons the reading and then goes to reciting the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is greeted by cries of "Blasphemy!" by some in the room.

But the Pope is moved by the words of Christ spoken through Francis, giving him blessing and even kissing his feet. (One should have expected the Pope to do the right thing, as he is played by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ratings for the three Movie Churches:

Francis' father's church - one steeple

The Holy Father's church - two steeples

Francis's church - four steeples