PIease pray for me.
Thank you.
Eminence, I hope you reaIize what you have done.
Gaudium magnum. And joyous tidings. We have a pope.
It's the Russian.
KiriI Lakota.
They've eIected a Russian pope.
The CoIIege of CardinaIs have eIected the first non-ItaIian pope...
...since Adrian VI...
...400 years ago.
With the worId in a state of crisis, it is impossibIe at this time to assess...
...what the ramifications might be.
-HoIiness? -Oh, Eminence.
-Today's appointments. -Oh, yes.
Excuse me, my gIasses.
Everybody wants to see the pope.
Bishops, businessmen.
Cinema actors?
I suggest you take it up with the maestro di camera, HoIiness.
Oh, I wiII, I wiII. Today.
No, we have to make some changes, Leone.
Otherwise I-- I wiII never get any work done.
I'm gIad it's your HoIiness and not myseIf.
But I need time to think. And to pray.
I hate the sensation of being managed.
The management of princes.
-It used to be a very speciaI game. -Yes.
You eIected a man to absoIute power and then you had to Iimit his use of it.
Sometimes it's not a bad idea.
On the matter of Father TeIemond...
...he has a briIIiant mind and deep spirituaIity.
I wouId Iike to keep him cIose to me...
...as a personaI adviser.
With respect, HoIiness, I shouId counseI against it.
-Why? -His opinions are suspect.
-They have been under examination. -His opinions may be suspect...
...but the person, we beIieve, is a godIy man.
If Your HoIiness chooses Father TeIemond...
...you wiII be Iending patronage and authority to an unsuitabIe person.
Has there been any imputation against his character or his Iife as a priest?
It is opinions which are suspect, not the man.
That makes the situation very dangerous.
We recognize the risk, but we are disposed to take it.
You wiII convey to the commissioners our desire for a quick verdict...
...on the works of Father TeIemond.
I wiII do that, HoIiness.
But once again, I must emphasize the very reaI danger--
As Your HoIiness decides.
Thank you.
Starvation has again increased in China.
And military action appears imminent.
There is a postscript I want you aII to hear.
A personaI Ietter from Chairman Peng.
''I'm prepared to go to extraordinary Iengths...
...with the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. to avert a horribIe disaster.
But I have to warn you that if the terms are too strenuous...
...or if they do vioIence to the dignity of the Chinese peopIe...
...the situation wiII pass out of my controI...
...into the controI of the army.
I urge you to convince the Western worId of the magnitude of our need...
...and of the risk of war, which confronts us aII. ''
We are at a minute to midnight, tovarich.
If the ants march out of the ant heap...
...there wiII be ruin and misery too horribIe to contempIate.
Next picture, pIease.
Why do you Iaugh?
They Iaugh because this man was a poIiticaI prisoner for 20 years.
So today he has been eIected head of the Vatican City State.
He is spiritual leader of 800 million people.
He can talk with every leader in the West with the strongest voice of all.
The Catholic vote at the ballot box.
You must think of that, you know, tovarich.
Think what it might mean if he spoke the right word...
...at the right time.
His HoIiness is ready.
Your HoIiness?
-Yes? -Mr. Igor Bounin.
Send him in.
Mr. Bounin?
I send you a gift.
Earth from the Ukraine. SunfIower seeds.
Piotr IIych Kamenev.
There is no other message?
''My respects and my compIiments upon your eIection.
The earth is sacred because it is aII we have to stand on.
The seeds are sacred...
...because there is Iife Iocked inside them.
I hope that they may come to fIower in your garden. ''
I have heard your voice before.
We have met.
We have, sir, yes.
-You had another name. -I have many names.
Of course. You sat at some of the interrogations with Kamenev.
Yes, sir, that is correct.
Go on with your message.
''We shaII be at war within two months.
There is no way in which China can--''
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, wiII you pIease repeat that?
''We shaII be at war within two months.
There is no way in which China can come to terms...
...with the capitaIist powers. ''
Go on.
''WouId you commit to a doubIe risk?
To speak to the Western worId on behaIf of the Chinese...
...and the Chinese on behaIf of the West?
This wouId entaiI a face-to-face meeting with Chairman Peng.
He has agreed to come if you wiII come. ''
Is that aII?
-There is a IittIe more. -Yes?
''You beIieve you stand in God's shoes.
I must wear my own.
Greetings, Piotr IIych Kamenev. ''
Mr. Bounin...
...how do you interpret the--? The Ietter?
I have no interpretation, sir.
Not even on such important matters?
No, sir. It is a matter between KiriI Lakota...
...and Piotr IIych Kamenev.
And you are to carry back my answer?
If there is one, yes.
-Here. -No, sir, I wiII remember.
Yes, of course.
I am...
...touched by your gift.
How soon wiII you be back in Moscow?
Tonight.
The meeting you suggest...
...is periIous...
...and Ieaves us aII...
...vuInerabIe.
But why the zoo?
Why ever wouId you want to meet me here, of aII pIaces?
WeII, there's-- It's fun! There's kids and animaIs.
-I absoIuteIy hate the zoo. -Hate it?
They used to bring me here for Iong, awfuI, boring waIks when I was a kid...
...and besides, the animaIs depress me.
Let's go somewhere and have a drink.
You're very strange today. Are you gonna run off in a haIf an hour?
No, I'm in no hurry.
Good. Then I'II have a margarita cocktaiI.
-Why a margarita? -I've never had one before.
It sounds marveIous.
DarIing.
Hi, GeIasio.
No, no, no. PIease. Leave them.
Thank you.
GeIasio!
GeIasio.
WouId Your HoIiness Iike something before he retires?
-Coffee, tea, warm miIk? -No, thank you.
GeIasio...
...we are going to be together for a Iong time.
We... .
WeII...
...we shouId get to know each other.
I suppose so, HoIiness.
-Won't you sit down? -No, I--
Oh, no, no. PIease.
WeII, teII me about yourseIf.
-How oId are you? -NearIy 60, HoIiness.
Sixty? No.
-Are you married? -A widower.
-Do you have any chiIdren? -There's a boy and a girI.
They're both grown now and married.
-Where were you born? -Here, in Rome.
-Trastevere. -In Rome?
TeII me about Rome.
What do I say, HoIiness? Rome is... .
Rome is... .
Rome is Rome, HoIiness.
For you, yes. For me, GeIasio, it's...
...an unknown country. Yet, I am bishop of this city.
TeII me...
...what wiII peopIe think of a foreign pope?
They wiII make jokes about it.
But in time, they wiII accept it.
-We Romans have seen everything. -Yes, you have.
TeII me, how does one get in and out of this pIace?
-Vatican City? -Yes.
There are gates.
We aII have a pass.
-And the pope too? -Oh, no.
He's the head of Vatican City.
He can get out where he pIeases and when he pIeases.
Can he indeed?
GeIasio, can you find me a cassock?
-In Your HoIiness' wardrobe. -No. A bIack one, Iike a priest might wear.
And a bIack hat.
I--
I don't know.
I couId try.
Are you aII right?
I'm sorry.
I was in a hurry. I've got an urgent case upstairs.
You aImost had another patient.
-I'm afraid I'm going to Iose this one. -I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?
Yes. Yes, there is.
It's down on the Ieft. There's an aII-night pharmacy.
Take this and get it for me. And bring it up to the second fIoor.
-Number 1 3. -Number 1 3.
It's urgent.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, the doctor said this is urgent.
Just a moment.
That wiII be 3500 Iire.
I'm-- I'm sorry. I forgot about the money.
I can send it to you tomorrow morning.
I couId Ieave you a note.
A note is a piece of paper, Padre.
-WeII, I'II go and see the doctor. -But I trust you.
Thank you. I-- I won't forget.
Where is 1 3, boys?
Doctor.
My Lord Jesus...
...I am your chiId.
-For whatever wrong I've done-- -He doesn't understand, Father.
He is not a Christian. We are mostIy Jews here.
He's comfortabIe now.
-Is there anything I can do? -No.
The dying is easy.
It is the Iiving that defeats us.
-We shouId go now. -Yes.
Where did you Iearn Hebrew?
Oh, I was a bibIicaI schoIar when I was young.
That doesn't expIain it, does it?
No, it doesn't.
No, I worked with a rabbi in a camp...
...in Siberia.
I've seen you before, haven't I?
Yes, I suppose you have.
Just think of me as a priest you sent to the pharmacist.
What are you doing here Iike this?
Oh, I had to get out.
I just had to get out.
AngeIo!
I wanted to hear aII these noises and watch peopIe Iiving.
Just simpIy Iiving.
AngeIo!
I was hungry for it.
Can you understand that?
I wish I feIt Iife was as appetizing as that.
That man upstairs, was he Iong a patient of yours?
My mind wasn't on him.
ShaII we go?
Yes. Can I carry your bag?
You know, I had 1 1 brothers and sisters.
EIeven of us in two rooms.
I'm sorry, I... .
I don't know your name.
Ruth Faber.
I wonder where AngeIo is.
Do you suppose he's the youngest?
You know, the one in the middIe aIways has it the most difficuIt.
-Dr. Faber, is--? -Why is my marriage Iike this?
Is it wrong for a woman to have a job? Is it because we haven't got chiIdren?
Is it because we both Iive away from our own countries?
Is it because Rome is fuII of temptation and the young girIs are beautifuI?
Oh, so beautifuI.
And the answer to why is my marriage Iike this is just...
...my marriage is Iike this.
You know, sometimes I'd give anything to be that woman.
Shouting for AngeIo, taking care of him.
Making the pasta, hanging out washing on those Iines.
But we seem to be given our roIes.
I'm this sort of wife.
They cast me.
That's his wife.
And what does the man in the Iong robes say to aII that?
The man in the Iong robes wouId have to put it to a pontificaI counciI...
...and study the ramifications.
But the man inside the robes...
...wouId have noticed that in aII you've said...
...you never mentioned the word ''Iove. ''
Do you mean I don't Iove him?
-Or I do? -Oh, I cannot say that. Nobody can.
There is onIy one area to search.
And if Iove is misIaid...
...where did you see it Iast?
And if you can't remember...
...maybe there was no Iove in the first pIace.
Oh, there was.
Then it is misIaid.
And you must find it.
Do you smeII that cooking?
Are you hungry?
When you're one of 1 1 chiIdren, you're aIways hungry.
Do you know a pIace where you couId take an escaped prisoner to eat?
Yes. I know just the pIace.
Good.
Thank you.
-Your HoIiness, the car is here. -Thank you.
WeII... .
You have to go, don't you?
Yes, I suppose I do.
We're aII in prison one way or another.
Yes, and those who understand it suffer most of aII.
Good night.
I... .
I've socks for him...
...and shirts for him and sweaters...
...for him.
I have papers for him, penciIs for him.
And for some unaccountabIe reason...
...an amber cigarette hoIder for him.
You're going home to Mother?
No, I thought that's where you'd gone.
And Iife does have its joIIy compensations, doesn't it?
Just when a man is about to say goodbye to his...
...tiny foIIy.
What does he Iook up and see, but his wife's green and penetrating orbs?
And just as he's figured out a way to handIe that unfortunate situation...
...by buying buckets of champagne, some fIowers...
...a few crown jeweIs and some...
... ''Iet's get together'' cards...
...my teIephone rings...
...and I'm caIIed to Paris.
By another tiny foIIy?
No, by something that makes our marriage probIem seem very smaII indeed.
I'd agree with that.
-Then you've heard the news? -No.
We've aII been caIIed to Paris. Every correspondent in the network.
The red Iight is fIashing aIert. We're supposed to take it IightheartedIy.
DarIing, I--
I wouId at Ieast have tried to persuade you that...
...I was definiteIy caIIing it off with Chiara.
It'II be aII right.
I mean, not just about us.
I know it wiII.
I'II give your regards to Paris.
With this message...
...Kamenev sent me this.
It is fuII of Russian earth and sunfIower seeds.
But it has a meaning.
If we cannot find a way to make peace among the peopIes...
...then the earth wiII be bIackened.
And there wiII be no fIowers anymore, for any of us.
How wouId you answer Kamenev, if you stood in the shoes of the fisherman?
I wouId wait, HoIiness.
We've had no time to study the consequences of such a meeting.
-We have had no time. -Because there is no time.
Very weII, my friends.
You teII me what to do.
DeIay, HoIiness.
DeIay onIy Iong enough to consider what you gambIe.
And turn my back and wash my hands, Iike Pontius PiIate?
I cannot wash my hands of the worId, and neither can you.
My brothers, if this is the Iast sound made by the Iast Iiving man...
...it must be shouted Ioud and cIear.
Life...
...is a gift of God.
Do you beIieve that Jesus Christ is God?
Oh, yes.
That he died and rose from the dead?
Yes.
To what end? For what purpose?
In the oId days we used to say, ''He came to redeem and save us. ''
Or, as the good nuns put it, ''to buy us back from the deviI...
...and get us into heaven. ''
But you don't put it that way.
I'm afraid I don't beIieve it that way.
How do you beIieve it, Father?
I beIieve that man is born in bondage.
To what, Father?
To his own history.
And Christ, the Savior?
How does he buy man out of this bondage?
The death of Christ was the act...
...by which man was redeemed.
I'm concerned now...
...how does the act of redemption continue through us...
...in this very troubIed century?
How do you see that, Father?
This is cruciaI.
I know.
Let me try to expIain...
...carefuIIy.
I have no son. But if I had, what couId I offer him?
OnIy tomorrow.
I wiII die soon, perhaps.
What is offered to me?
UnIess I know the answer to that question...
...I'm Ieft without hope.
Christ died, he rose from the dead...
...he went into heaven, out of this worId.
But if he's not stiII here...
...with us in this worId...
...we are truIy Iost.
So...
...now we come to the cIassic question.
What think you...
...of Christ?
Excuse me, Eminence, couId you ask the question again?
What think you of Christ, Father?
Who is he?
He is the point to which aII of evoIution is tending.
He is the point at which the whoIe universe must arrive...
...as the spokes of a wheeI arrive at the center.
He is the universe, summed up.
He is the Cosmic Christ.
Father TeIemond...
...it is written in the scripture:
''Jesus Christ. Yesterday, today and the same forever. ''
Are you not creating another Christ of your own?
I am not creating him.
I'm reveaIing a face of him we have not yet seen.
Do you have a private reveIation, Father?
Perhaps I have, Eminence.
If I have, it is no merit of mine.
Indeed, it is a torment for me.
I cannot renounce this Christ whom I see...
...any more than I can renounce him who hangs on the cross.
You put us in great troubIe.
Much that you have said and written...
...is of extraordinary depth and beauty.
Much of it is stiII uncIear.
And, as you have seen, puzzIing to us.
It wouId heIp if you gave us one cIear statement...
...of what you beIieve.
I beIieve in a personaI God.
I beIieve in Christ. I beIieve in the Spirit.
But if by some periIous, internaI revoIution...
...I Iost my faith in God...
...in Christ and in the Spirit...
...I think I stiII wouId beIieve in the worId.
Yes, I do beIieve in the worId.
In the goodness of the worId, in the vaIues of the worId.
That, in the finaI anaIysis, is the first and the Iast thing in which I beIieve.
This faith I Iive by.
And it is to this faith that at the moment of death...
...mastering aII doubts...
...I shaII surrender myseIf.
lt is the opinion of the commissioners, therefore...
... that the works of Father Telemond...
...present ambiguities and even grave errors...
...in phiIosophicaI and theoIogicaI matters which offend CathoIic doctrine.
They recommend that Reverend Father TeIemond shouId be prohibited...
...from teaching or pubIishing the dubious opinions above mentioned...
...untiI a fuII and formaI examination...
...has been made.
Didn't the Second Vatican CounciI affirm in the cIearest terms...
...the Iiberty of man's conscience and the right...
...of free research?
WeII, yes, HoIiness.
But with great respect...
...I submit that what a phiIosopher may pubIish without harm...
...bears a different coIor when it is written by a papaI adviser.
Eminence...
...you have our thanks.
How is this news to be conveyed to Father TeIemond?
We shaII teII him ourseIves.
You have our Ieave to go.
This is a grief for Your HoIiness. I know it.
-I wish I couId share-- -Our grief is private to ourseIves.
Now, we wouId Iike to be aIone.
David.
It's worse than I thought.
-David, perhaps in time-- -There's no time, HoIiness.
At night, I hear the knocking on the gate.
AII of a sudden the work is undone.
This is the moment...
...you've aIways been afraid of.
But I am with you.
I am your friend. I am your brother--
But I'm condemned to absoIute siIence, HoIiness!
This was deIivered in your name.
PIease teII me what I must do.
I wiII give you an order.
You wiII rest.
You wiII submit to medicaI care...
...and you wiII be siIent.
David...
...it is the terror of Iife.
No one can carry another man's burden.
It is the terror of the Church too. I hate her!
And stiII I can't Ieave her.
I Iove her.
And stiII I can't Iive in her in peace.
By your Ieave, HoIiness.
My friends.
Thank you for coming, Eminence.
Your Eminence. How are you?
I don't have much time.
But pIease counciI me and question me without fear or reserve.
May I ask the reason for Your HoIiness' somewhat unusuaI dress?
It's easier to feeI aIike if we Iook aIike.
WiII HoIiness make a statement at or after the meeting?
I wiII make no statement other than courtesies...
...untiI I have returned to Rome and have consuIted with you aII.
Has the president of the United States been informed of your visit?
Yes. So have aII the European and Asian heads of state.
Not aII approve, but aII, I beIieve, wish us weII.
What, in fact, does Your HoIiness hope to gain...
...from a private meeting with two Marxist Ieaders?
The understanding of things which are driving them and the worId into war.
Their confidence in me as an honest spokesman in this time of crisis.
Any more questions?
Thank you. GeIasio?
You wiII be the guardians of the Church whiIe I am gone.
I'm suddenIy very aIone.
-We are with you, HoIiness. -Thank you.
We do not aII agree, but we are aII with Peter.
And we offer you our prayer for your journey.
Our Father who art in heaven...
...haIIowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.
Thy wiII be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Piotr IIych.
For a whiIe, I did not think you wouId come.
-Why not? -I've no rights over you...
...and you have no reason to trust me.
I'm not sure I can heIp. I'm wiIIing to try.
You are changed.
I do not feeI changed.
There was a pride in you once. More, an arrogance...
...as if you carried truth in a private purse...
...and no one couId dispute it with you.
When I hated you, and I did, it was because of that.
I have Iearned what I am.
A Iow man who sits too high for his gifts.
Let me warn you:
With Peng, we cannot be too Iow.
If we are, he wiII despise us.
If we are too high, he wiII reject us out of hand.
He Iives by face. He dare not Iose it, then.
Does Peng understand that we are as much at risk as he is?
And I don't think we are.
We are the affIuent ones. He has 800 miIIion peopIe.
There is famine over three provinces...
...and it wiII soon spread over the whoIe Iand.
God heIp us in what we do now.
If he's where he can hear us, I hope he wiII.
Chairman Peng of the PeopIe's RepubIic of China.
WeIcome, comrade.
Chairman, His HoIiness, Pope KiriI I.
Mr. Chairman.
ShaII we be comfortabIe?
-WouId you care--? -No, thank you.
I have agreed to meet him.
I am not convinced that he can do anything for us.
I have onIy a voice, but it reaches many peopIe.
I am prepared to raise it.
To what ends?
To feed the Chinese peopIe. First, to prevent a war.
And the price?
On my part, none.
But the capitaIists wiII exact a price.
Comrade Kamenev, who is aIready haIf a capitaIist, has a price too.
I cannot say what they wiII exact.
I can onIy say what you shouId not be asked to pay.
I wiII teII you what we wiII not pay.
We wiII not destroy what the revoIution has accompIished.
We wiII not submit to miIitary threats or coIoniaI expIoitation.
But you shouId withdraw your own miIitary threats...
...to the nations of Southeast Asia.
Let Americans give us a chance to trade...
...with the rice bowI countries as we've done for centuries.
Let Russia remove the threat of these missiIes aimed at our production centers.
Troops and tanks aIong a thousand miIes of border.
Let the Americans puII out of the miIitary coIonies in ThaiIand and Vietnam.
No one can do aII these things at once. In stages, it's possibIe.
Important thing is that we make a start together.
Russia is prepared to match every move you make to reduce miIitary tension...
...and give you what credits she can to buy in other markets.
The markets we need are cIosed to us.
I am prepared to pIead and negotiate for them to be opened.
Words are cheap.
Mr. Chairman, what is your revoIution buiIt on?
What is Russia's revoIution buiIt on?
One man, who spent most of his Iife in the British Museum...
...who was buried in a tiny cemetery in EngIand.
KarI Marx never carried a gun, he never fought on the barricades.
AII he had was words.
Words and an idea, which in 60 years has changed the face of the earth.
And you think you can do it again?
I want to try.
But I have no chance to succeed if you throw my words back in my teeth...
...the moment they are spoken.
I need your cooperation in what I do.
So I give it.
You'II faiI. What then?
We are back in the jungIe!
I didn't mean that.
I mean this:
His HoIiness, KiriI I, goes back to Rome.
He makes a great speech.
Writes Ietters, sends out messages.
They are ignored. Very poIiteIy, of course.
Now, what has he Iost? Nothing.
What has he gained? Much.
He is a nobIe man. A peacemaker...
...who unhappiIy faiIed to make peace.
Mr. Chairman, you came because you thought I might be abIe to do something.
Now, what is it?
Pay some of the price that we have to pay.
What do you expect him to pay? How?
When I came here today, I put my head on the executioner's bIock.
When I go back across that border, it might weII be chopped off.
That's my risk. What is yours?
Thank you for coming so Iate at night.
What can I do for you, HoIiness?
I need your heIp.
I wiII do anything I can to be heIpfuI.
Thank you.
Won't you sit down.
I... .
I just want to think out Ioud.
I mean, first of aII, I want to say how... .
How sorry I am about...
...what I had to do.
HoIiness, I accepted the verdict of the commission...
...as an act of obedience.
Of course, I cannot abandon...
...my personaI search for the truth, for you or for anyone.
-I wouId be untrue to myseIf. -I understand.
But pIease know now...
...I accept your decision without reserve.
Without any resentment, with a cIear conscience...
...and with a humbIe heart.
Your HoIiness shouId not feeI any burden from me.
I'm truIy gratefuI.
That is a magnificent gift.
David...
...I'm feeIing Iost.
I'm troubIed by the whoIe idea of my coronation.
Why?
I am not prepared to be crowned with the pomp of a prince...
...whiIe hungry men Iive in the shadow of death.
Because in the emotion of the moment...
...I may have done wrong to accept the eIection.
You are Peter.
There is one consoIation.
As pope, I cannot preach error...
...no matter what foIIy I may commit.
The Church wiII survive.
GeIasio!
GeIasio.
GeIasio!
Eminence.
We had asked to be Ieft aIone.
I came to offer...
...my sympathy to Your HoIiness on the death of Father TeIemond.
I feeI guiIty.
You have no cause to feeI that.
I cannot dismiss it, HoIiness.
I have a confession to make.
Then I suggest you make it to your confessor.
I am so in distress, HoIiness. You are a priest.
You are right.
I was jeaIous of David TeIemond.
I did what was right...
...but my intention was not right when I did it.
Why were you jeaIous of him?
Because of you, HoIiness.
Because I needed, but couId not have, what you gave him.
Intimacy. Trust.
Affection.
And because I am an oId man that has served the Church a Iong time...
...and thought I deserved better.
I was wrong.
None of us deserves anything...
...but the promised wage for the worker in the vineyard.
Eminence...
...I, too, have sinned.
I kept you at a distance...
...because I couId not toIerate your opposition.
I... .
I cIung to him because... .
I am gIad you came.
Leone...
...how does a man ever know if his actions are for himseIf or for God?
You don't know.
You have a duty to act.
But you have no right to expect approvaI...
...or even a successfuI outcome.
So in the end, my friend...
...we are aIone?
Yes.
I have seen three men sit in this room.
You are the Iast I shaII see.
Each of them, in his turn...
...came to where you stand now.
The moment of soIitude.
I have to teII you there is no remedy for it.
You are here untiI the day you die.
And the Ionger you Iive...
...the IoneIier you wiII become.
You wiII use this man and that for the work of the Church.
But when the work is done...
...or the man has proved unequaI to it, you wiII Iet him go and find another.
You want Iove.
You need it, as I do.
Even though I am oId.
You may have it for a IittIe whiIe...
...but you wiII Iose it again.
Like it or not, you are condemned to a soIitary piIgrimage...
...from the day of your eIection untiI the day of your death.
This is a CaIvary, HoIiness.
And you have just begun...
...to cIimb.
''Accept this tripIe tiara...
...for you are the Vicar of our Savior, Jesus Christ. ''
These are the words with which KiriI I wiII be crowned pope today.
I'm aIone here now.
But by midday, the piazza and aII the approaches to it...
...wiII be jammed with nearIy 500,000 peopIe.
For many, the eIaborate ceremony, the biggest on earth...
...wiII seem antique and obsoIete.
For others, it wiII be a symboI of continuity.
Two thousand years of the Christian message.
From Peter the fisherman to KiriI I.
You gave me absoIute power.
You must submit to my use of it.
-You are bound to prudence, HoIiness. -We are bound to charity first.
-Your HoIiness is proposing the incredibIe-- -The impossibIe.
The church has to function as a society in the 20th century.
-That's true. -For that, it needs financiaI resources.
-Christ never said that. -HoIiness, you took an oath...
...not to renounce any power or possession...
...necessary to the survivaI of the Church.
The onIy thing necessary to the Church is the spirit of God.
What you propose is an affront to aII your predecessors.
They used the Iight they had, I used that which has been given to me.
Are you sure it is a Iight, HoIiness, and not an iIIusion?
I beIieve it is a Iight.
I am obIiged in conscience to say it, HoIiness.
You're doing a reckIess and a dangerous thing.
If the rest of you agree with His Eminence...
...I am prepared to abdicate...
...now.
WeII?
No.
This is Peter.
And I stand...
...with him.
CIosest to the ceremony wiII be the senior churchmen...
...from the Vatican itseIf.
Next, the archbishops, the bishops, the monsignore...
...and nuns from every part of the gIobe representing their order or their country.
To be invited inside if you're not a churchman...
...you wouId probabIy have to be a papaI prince...
...a monarch from another Iand...
...a member of the ItaIian government, a generaI or a senior dipIomat.
UnIess, of course, you do it the oId Roman way...
...which is to know somebody who knows somebody...
...who has an in.
Our Lord Jesus Christ...
...whose Vicar I am...
...was crowned with thorns.
I stand before you bareheaded...
...because I am your servant.
PIease.
Though I speak with the tongues of men, and of angeIs...
...and have not charity...
...I am become a sounding brass...
...or a tinkIing cymbaI.
Though I have aII faith...
...so that I couId remove mountains...
...and have not charity...
...I am nothing.
We are...
...in a time of crisis.
l cannot change the world...
...l cannot change what history has already written.
I...
...can onIy change myseIf.
And begin with unsure hands to write a new chapter.
I am the custodian of the weaIth of the Church.
I pIedge it now.
AII our money...
...aII our hoIdings in Iand...
...buiIdings and great works of art...
...for the reIief of our hungry brothers.
And if to honor this pIedge...
...the Church must strip itseIf down to poverty...
...so be it.
l will not alter this pledge.
l will not reduce it.
And now...
...I beg the great of the worId...
...and the smaII of the worId...
...to share out of their abundance...
...with those who have nothing.
SubtitIes by A.A.K IRAQ