God isn't for you Lenny.
God is for men who have no use for freedom.
You're wrong about abortion.
You're spreading a sorrow you don't even understand.
And that's the worst thing a human being can do.
You've made the kind of mistake that should be avoided at all cost:
introducing concepts that taken by themselves are true.
but which when lumped together, constitute a system that's overly rigid.
When it comes to abortion, rigidity is the only option.
there's no getting around it.
It's a crime
forbidden and punished in the book of Exodus, Chapter 21, verses 22-25.
You know that.
"22:
"When men have a fight and injured a pregnant woman
"and she suffers a miscarriage but no further injury
"the guilty one shall be fined
"as much as the woman's husband demands
"and he shall pay in the presence of the judges.
"23: But if injury ensues
"you shall pay life for life.
"24: eye for eye, tooth for tooth
"hand for hand, foot for foot.
"25: burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."
The church has always maintain this tradition and
it is only modern laxity that wishes to turn sins into rights.
Not to encourage them.
No one is actually in favor of abortion - but to
undermine the the principle of authority.
Oh, come on Lenny.
You know these verses are a little more complicated than that:
yes the litigant pays damages in case of an abortion
or suffers death
if the woman dies in the course of losing the baby
but that's not what it is about
this is about compassion.
Empathy.
Bouvier? Are you seriously going to waste my time
with Bouvier's nonsense?
Post-revolutionary France?
Or the bullshit of St. Alphonsus?
It isn't bullshit, Lenny:
that abortion is a "grave moral disorder" is not open for debate;
that's what St. John Paul II said
and those three words
grave, moral and disorder
are based on papal infallibility.
And yet
in 1591
Pope Gregory XIV
with the Sedes Apostolica bull
restricted excommunication to the abortion of an ensouled fetus
introducing a distinction
that argues against lumping together
desperate situations.
I'm sick and tired of distinctions.
Even for St. Thomas Aquinas
and right up until the middle of the nineteenth century
abortion was set to take place only after the ensoulment of the fetus
and that occurs in the third month of pregnancy.
Science is the gift of God
and God taught us that ovulation is spontaneous.
Ask a woman about that:
back when it was still believed that there were two kinds of insemination
- male insemination involving sperm, female insemination involving eggs -
it was considered a sin not to give a woman pleasure.
But then, when it was discovered that ovulation was spontaneous
the cost was several billion female orgasms.
But it made the psychoanalysts rich.
The one profession that involves no work
and a great deal of money that we let slip through our fingers.
I implore you, Lenny
reconsider your position on abortion.
Tough in principle
soft in practice.
Abortion is saying no to life.
Who gives a damn about life?
life is not some stupid centerpiece on the side table of nothingness.
Life is meant to be used
and to be used well, to love and be loved.
And let me remind you what St. Alphonsus said about abortion:
in an abortion
everyone is guilty, except for the woman.
And what if that wasn't only true of abortion?
What if in the things of life
everyone is guilty except for the woman.
Are you talking about your mother?
Who else would I be talking about!
What is happening to me today?
At ten o'clock, Robert Lee, the new chairman of the Tea Party;
at 11:15, a brief meeting with the chancellor of Stanford University.
At one o'clock, lunch with the governor to fine-tune plans for the evening's events.
How long has it been since you've seen your father?
He's no longer my father, he's only my governor. - Don't you miss him?
He doesn't miss me, I don't miss him.
I miss everyone.
But more than anyone else, the person I miss is
Mr. Jack Walser
he was the superintendent of the building where we lived
before the Lord called me to Him.
He had divided the tenants into two categories
the "natives" and the "nomads"
One day
Jack rang our door bell
at ten in the morning
confident that Lucy and I would be at school, but
that day we were in bed sick with a fever
happy to be safe at home.
Through the bedroom door
I saw my mother offer him a cup of coffee, which
Jack drank it standing up
because he didn't want to get the chair wet with his rain-drenched clothes.
No doubt, there was something bad he'd come to say, something important
And then, Mr. Walser announced to my mother
that the landlords had decided to
implement a substantial rent hike with
with a caress.
Yeah.
With a caress
That...
...never really happened.
But that still came close to
brushing against my mother's drab hair
to my hair
and Lucy's
and the hair of our father
lying in a hotel somewhere in the city with his lover in his arms.
Listening to the rain
the way we were.
We "nomads" moved out the apartment at night
so we wouldn't be seen by the...
the "natives".
But at the bottom of the stairs Mr. Walser was waiting
and he shook our hands
one by one
and he said something to me that I've never understood, which is why I still remember it.
He said to me
"Always get a seat at the back of the train
because it's safer.
Why does our Spanish prosecutor not go home to his Pope?
I couldn't say.
What does he do here?
He walks, he drinks, he sleeps
he drinks, he walks, he drinks.
Ah, he's battling against death
which is the least interesting of any of the battles we have ever summoned to fight.
It's too late.
It's too late for what?
For everything, Your Eminence.
Hello, Pete.
Have you five minutes for me?
Sure, Father Gutierrez.
I was just wondering if you'd had a chance to think it over.
Yeah
I've thought it over.
And I decided to not gonna press charges against Archbishop Kurtwell.
Why, why not?
None of the others filed charges, but at least they got plenty of cash.
You didn't even get that.
Have you ever asked yourself why they took the money and I didn't?
No, I haven't. Why didn't you?
Because I have my dignity.
Fine.
So...
...if you have so much dignity
file charges against that man. That man...
...is evil incarnate.
Why are you crying now?
Pete, you know I'm right.
Bernardo. Can I call you Bernardo?
Yes, of course you can.
Forget about me.
Hi Freddy.
Ciao Bernardo.
How is training coming along?
I've been gradually intensifying.
Nice.
Did you think over my proposal?
What proposal?
What do you mean, what proposal?
The idea of you
giving me a hand in nailing Kurtwell.
That worm just drools when he sees you.
Not me.
I drool when I see you, Bernardo.
All you'd have to do is go out with him one night.
You could just stop before things went too far.
And in the meantime I'd find a hiding place and take pictures.
Freddie.
You're my last hope.
Bernardo, you are gonna leave here when you're done.
But I have to spend the rest of my life here, do you understand?
I can't afford to cross a man like Kurtwell.
He's one of the most powerful men in Queens.
You can understand that, right?
Don't resent me for it, Bernardo.
I never resent anyone.
That's my main problem.
Hello Freddy.
What do you want, Freddy?
Just tell me what you want and you'll have it.
I want to become a great tennis player and win the Grand Slam.
Fine.
Then you'll have it.
Get out of here, asshole.
But...
They told me the date.
It's for next week.
It's just one day of the year, Rose
an ordinary date.
They're going to empty me out, Bernardo.
They've given me a 60 percent chance of dying
40 percent chance of living.
And If I refuse
I can't even begin to guess my life expectancy.
But I'm not gonna refuse
because I need to start running in this hotel again
and I can't keep doing it from here
through six silent security monitors.
Isn't it nice to live
silent and flat on your back?
No, it's horrible.
We all deserve the right to start over, Bernardo.
But you know what the funny thing is?
What is it?
How I'll leave this place.
How will you leave?
Through there.
They're going to have to tear out the wall
turn it all into one gigantic window
and out I'll go
dangling in mid-air
lifted by a crane.
It'll be a spectacular sight.
I'll be so ashamed.
I have to go now.
I'm going to write to the Pope.
It sounds so surreal, when you put it that way.
I'd like to put together a press release
categorically denying the rumors about murky relations between you and Kurtwell.
A press release that states loud and clear:
this Pope is blackmail proof.
If, as you say, this Pope is blackmail proof
then there's no need to say so.
That's the point, Holy Father.
On a strictly confidential basis, I need to know myself:
can Kurtwell blackmail you in any way?
Lenny.
You think you're the hinge.
But you're the door.
I love you all!
Where have Esther, Peter, and little Pius gone?
To Ostia.
They live in a house by the beach.
Peter is a private security guard now.
Weren't they happy here?
Holy Father
life in the Vatican is not much fun for young people.
Holy Father
Yes?
Everyone here says that you are
a saint.
Calumny!
Show me where you live.
When you want to
you can come home.
But I haven't accomplished anything with Kurtwell.
Doesn't matter. Come home.
I'll be waiting.
Archbishop, your diocese is currently undertaking numerous projects
aimed and revitalize the neighbourhood. Can you give us more details about that?
Well, we have put a lot of money and time
over the years into this neighbourhood
and I think that through sports, well
we'll be able to make contact with the youth in the area and
and to help instil in them some of the values consistent with Christian life.
Among the many sports projects that your diocese supports
many involved tennis. Why tennis specifically?
Well, I love tennis.
It's been a lifelong passion of mine
and you probably didn't know but this area is very famous for tennis for a long time.
And I think that tennis just offers a chance for excellent instruction of a man soul.
The elements of tennis are concentration, self-worth
and a lot of things that go in to making a great tennis-player.
And you know... It's the responsibility of the Church to help these children to grow up.
Yes, I'd be glad to.
Okay.
What's your name?
David.
David what?
Just David.
Why are you following me?
I used to skate
only on the weekends.
And only with my family.
Then one night we were having dinner
and my daughter
Kate, who was twelve at the time
says that that meal
was like being in a shark tank.
That's what my wife and I had become
a shark tank.
Now
I skate alone
even during the week, but...
it's not the same anymore.
Tanistone
is my last name.
And it was my mother's last name too.
Why are you following me?
Haven't you discovered it yet?
You're the missing link between me and the source of all my problems.
What's going on?
Why are you and the Holy Father so determined to get me?
Because for years you were so determined to get all those innocent children.
That is libellous slander
and I could bring you up on charges tomorrow morning.
You don't have any solid evidence against me.
What else do you want?
What does Pius XIII want from me?
The Holy Father wants from you a statement that resembles the truth.
The truth is I know Lenny Belardo very well.
We shared power in New York for years.
And the truth is that he has always envied me.
He envies me my charisma, because he lacked that quality.
That is the one and only statement that resembles the truth.
Be reasonable, please.
The Pope has no reason to envy a sick old priest
who's devastated by very grave accusations.
Your thesis doesn't hold together.
Let me reveal something to you, Father Gutierrez:
You don't matter.
Not at all. You can stay in Queens until the day I die, and it won't change a thing.
The Pope can't get to the bottom of things with me and he knows it perfectly well.
Because it would lead to pure pandemonium.
I pity you, Gutierrez
you're just a bit player
in a cheap piece of amateur theatricals organized by your Pope.
David?
Is Kurtwell your father?
Do you remember that girl that was skating, this evening?
That was a moment.
Because only you and I saw it, out of the whole world.
I felt close to you.
I sensed that your despair was the same as mine.
That was the moment I thought to myself:
I trust this man.
? Baby I don't know
? Just why I love you so ?
Yes, I thought
here's a good man.
And I'm a good man too, so...
I'll tell that good man the things he wants to know.
Yes.
Kurtwell
is
my father.
But
that's not the point.
The point is
the horror.
? Baby I don't know
? Just why I love you so
? Maybe it's just the way
? That God made me this day ?
I'm not afraid of dying
but because I suffer from vertigo
I'm afraid of being swung out of this place through that hole
and been dangled in mid-air.
Don't worry.
I'll be there to comfort you.
Then I'll go back to Rome.
You're going back to Rome?
Yes. I'm done with my work here.
You come say goodbye to me now.
But I'm not leaving yet.
No, no, you come say goodbye to me now.
Breathe, Bernardo, I'm the one who's going to die.
Rose, please... - Bernado. We're breathing the same air.
All of you, leave now.
No, not you, Lenny.
Tell it to me.
Just this one time.
Let me die knowing I didn't believe in God in vain.
Tell it to me, Lenny.
All right.
Let's go say hello to Billy.
I'd rather not. I'm scared.
But we must. Billy is a friend of yours.
His mother is dying. He needs the comfort you can give him.
Thanks for coming, Sister Mary.
Please.
Billy, your friends are here.
Come, let me get you something.
Sister Mary, can I go see Billy's mother for a minute?
I'd like to pray beside her.
Of course.
Lord, we must talk about Billy's mother now.
We must talk, You and I.
And no one else can hear.
Billy's mother is still alive.
Your mother is still alive too.
And you'll find her.
Now...
at last...
time to die.
? And so laughs the colander
? They domesticated and nailed up
? Like a hung haunted beast held boast in his time
? Taxidermed for a mankind to pet
? And so laughs the colander
? So you dip your scarves in iron
? These are troubled times and so
? So you dip your scarves in iron
? These are troubled times and so
Bring me back.
To what do I owe the honor of your presence?
I have orders to accompany you to the Vatican
where you'll be given a fair trial.
We have a flight for Rome tomorrow afternoon.
It'll only be a big waste of time.
For me and for you.
You don't have any solid evidence, you and your Pope.
None.
Only the demented ravings of a lunatic
who goes around with orange hair.
No one will believe you. No one.
We don't just have that testimony.
Really? What else do you think you have?
This is Kurtwell.
Hello, Lenny.
Even though you let it ring and ring
I know that you were waiting for my call.
Do you really want me to come to Rome
to be subjected to a trial and found guilty?
I'm afraid it's absolutely necessary.
Then one second after I land in Rome
you are gonna see all the things I have on you
in all the newspapers of the world.
Go right ahead.
The world would probably like it.
The world is always ready for love.
This is Archbishop Kurtwell. Is this a bad time?
That depends.
I have some confidential information about the Pope.
And I have proof.
To be perfectly frank, it's more than information.
These are ticking time bombs.
In that case, this is a very good time, especially for a journalist.
What's the subject?
I'm not talking about it on the phone.
You see the kind of thing we're talking about here?
Letters that our Pope wrote to his Californian girlfriend over the years.
We have a Pope with a very active emotional life.
Where did you find them?
I took over a position that was previously held by Belardo
and took over his desk.
Belardo made the error of leaving these letters at the back of a drawer.
Did you read them all?
Only the pertinent passages. The steamier ones.
The ones that prove that Belardo has had a woman for years.
You should have read them all, and with care.
In this last one, he states he'll never send these letters to that woman
because he's married to God.
Do you have any evidence that they were ever mailed?
Any envelopes with canceled stamps?
No.
No, I don't.
Well, in that case, my good Archbishop Kurtwell
you don't have any news for me.
No bomb. No scandal.
A stack of love letters that were never mailed isn't news.
It's strictly literature.
Pack the bags. Call the chauffeur.
You no longer have a car.
I put in a request to have it confiscated.
The Cardinal Secretary of State accepted my request.
We're going to take the train to the airport.
On one condition.
What condition?
That we sit in the last car in the train.
It's the safest.
? What I would do to take away this fear of being loved
? Allegiance to the pain
? Now I'm fucked up and I'm missing you
? He'll never be like you
? I would give anything to change this fickle-minded heart
? That loves fake shiny things
? Now I'm fucked up and I'm missing you
? I'll never be like you
? I'm only human. Can't you see?
? I made, I made a mistake
? Please just look me in my face
? Tell me everything's okay
? 'Cause I got it, ooh
? I'll never be like you ?
What is more beautiful, my love?
Love lost or love found?
Don't laugh at me, my love.
I know it, I'm awkward and naive when it comes to love
and I ask questions straight out of a pop song.
This doubt overwhelms me and undermines me, my love.
To find...
Hey Daniel.
...or to lose?
How do I look?
All around me, people don't stop yearning.
Did they lose or did they find? I can't say.
An orphan has no way of knowing.
An orphan lacks a first love.
The love for his mama and papa.
That's the source of his awkwardness, his naiveté.
You said to me, on that deserted beach in California
"you can touch my legs."
But I didn't do it.
There, my love, is love lost.
That's why I never stopped wondering, since that day
where you've been
and where you are now.
And you, shining gleam of my misspent youth
did you lose or did you find?
I don't know. And I'll never know.
I can't even remember your name, my love.
And I don't have the answer.
But this is how I like to imagine it, the answer.
In the end, my love, we have no choice.
We have to find.
All right, love bugs.
Mommy is gonna show you something that you didn't know mommy can do.
? I'm only human. Can't you see?
? I made, I made a mistake
? Please just look me in my face
? Tell me everything's okay
? 'Cause I got it, ooh
? I'll never be like you
? Baby, baby, please believe me
? C'mon, take it easy
? Please don't ever leave me
? Oh, never be like you ?