''The Pope Must Die'' (alternative known title as ''The Pope Must Diet!'' in the United States and Canada) is a 1991 British
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
comedy film directed by
Peter Richardson, who also wrote the screenplay with
Pete Richens derived from elements of an earlier screenplay for a three-part mini-series satirising the Catholic Church, and which had been rejected by
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
. The film stars
Robbie Coltrane
Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 195014 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He was appointe ...
as a low ranking priest who is mistakenly elected
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
, then has to avoid being assassinated by
the Mafia. The film co-stars
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...
,
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie (born 12 February 1934) is a Scottish actress.[Annette Crosbie fi ...](_blank)
,
Herbert Lom
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegan ...
and
Alex Rocco. The film was released by
Palace Pictures with the backing of
Channel 4 Films.
The film was originally planned as a part of a three-part mini-series for
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
, which was cancelled by the station after press outcry. This led Richardson to sever his long relationship with Channel 4 and move his future productions to the BBC. The budget for the film was later approved by
Palace Pictures with the backing of Channel 4 Films.
The production was filmed in 1990 in
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
on a budget of £2.5 million.
The film's subject matter was controversial, which caused the distributors serious difficulties with its promotion,
London Transport refusing to carry advertising for it until the film's posters were censored. In the United States the
Big Three television networks
From the 1950s to the 1980s, during the network era of American television, there were three commercial broadcast television networks – NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, "the Peacock Network"), CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System ...
refused to show commercials for the film, which they said was
sacrilegious and offensive. Many newspapers in the US also censored or refused to carry advertising for the film.
Plot
The death of the previous
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
is followed by a
conclave
A conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to appoint the pope of the Catholic Church. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church.
Concerns around ...
deadlocked for 25 days, until the
Mafia
"Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
's tame
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to
* Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae
***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
Rocco persuades the
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...
to elect ''in absentia'' the Mafia's favoured candidate, Albini (Janez Vajevec), whose absence Rocco passes off as him working tirelessly for environmental concerns.
Fr. Rookie is hard of hearing and records the pope-elect as "Cardinal Albinizi". Cardinal David "Dave" Albinizi is an honest parish priest who becomes Pope and takes the name of Pope David I. He is an unorthodox priest, with a benign interest in cars, women and rock and roll. He had worked in an orphanage, where he took an interest in caring for the children and wished them to enjoy the gospel, as opposed to the curmudgeonly nuns who believed misery is deserved. Inside the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Geography
* Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy
* Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City
* Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome
* Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
, the Pope gets along with Bish, a priest in charge of coordinating his security, and with the nun assigned to bring his meals. He considers abdicating after a failed assassination attempt but is convinced by the nun to stay. After a journalist asks about corruption inside the Vatican bank the Pope demands to see the accounts. Upon the previous pope's death Bish had received a disk about the financial irregularities which he gives to the pope. The Pope discovers the gun-smuggling and stolen merchandise operations, and has Rocco defrocked. Rocco has his mafia backers intensify the efforts to assassinate Pope David.
Looking with the papal chamberlain Monsignor Fitchie for material with which to blackmail the Pope, Cardinal Rocco finds that before joining the priesthood, Albinizi fathered a son with American tourist Veronica Dante. Albinizi joined the priesthood because Veronica did not want to stay with him. Veronica never informed Albinizi of their son, who is now rock star Joe Don Dante, dating Vittorio Corelli's daughter Luccia. Corelli doesn't approve of the relationship and sends thugs to kill Joe. The bomb kills Luccia and seriously wounds Joe. Pope David learns about his son and visits him before Joe dies.
Learning that the Vatican Bank is a tool of the Mafia, Pope David has it dissolved. He is forced to resign when his affair is revealed, and Corelli's candidate Albini is elected Pope. Corelli and Albini move into the papal apartments. Albinizi reunites with Veronica and finds out that the orphanage where he worked has closed. He reads about Albini becoming pope and rushes back to the Vatican and asks Bish for help to stop the coronation. They encounter a dying Cardinal Rocco, shot by Corelli. While Bish continues to the papal apartments, Albinizi hears Rocco's confession (interrupted by a phone call from Rocco's female partner). Albinizi finds Bish tied up, but Bish tells Albinizi to stop the imminent coronation rather than freeing him. Monsignor Fitchie frees Bish as Albinizi rushes to the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...
just before the ceremony ends, and reveals that the man calling himself Albini is actually Corelli in disguise. Corelli declares himself "Pope Vittorio I, Emperor of the Vatican" and draws a gun. He fires a few shots at the ceiling, which collapses onto him. The nun who had served Albinizi as pope is chosen as the first female Pope in history. She announces she will give the Vatican's gold to the world's poor, and gives her blessing for Albinizi to take a bride. Bish officiates at Albinizi and Veronica's wedding. They adopt the children from the orphanage in addition to having children of their own.
Cast
*
Robbie Coltrane
Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 195014 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He was appointe ...
as Father C. David "Dave" Albinizi / The Pope (Pope David I)
*
Alex Rocco as Cardinal Rocco
*
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...
as Father Rookie
*
Paul Bartel
Paul Bartel (August 6, 1938 – May 13, 2000) was an American actor, writer and director. He was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy ''Eating Raoul'', which he co-wrote, starred in and directed.
Bartel appeared in over 90 movies an ...
as Monsignor Fitchie
*
Peter Richardson as Bish
*
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie (born 12 February 1934) is a Scottish actress.[Annette Crosbie fi ...](_blank)
as Mother Superior
*
Herbert Lom
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegan ...
as Vittorio Corelli
*
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo (born November 15, 1951) is an American actress who starred as Ellen Griswold in the '' National Lampoon's Vacation'' films (1983–2015). She has appeared in over 60 films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for ...
as Veronica Dante
* Khedija Sassi as Luccia Corelli
*
Balthazar Getty as Joe Don Dante
* Mirta Zecevic as unnamed nun/The Popess
* Janez Vajevec as Father Albini
*
Salvatore Cascio as Paulo
* Tibor Belicza as Priest in Secretariat
*
John Sessions as Dino
Production
Development
In 1988, Richardson pitched a proposal for a three-part mini-series to
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
's Commissioning Editor for Entertainment,
Seamus Cassidy. The script, co-written with
Pete Richens was based around the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of
Pope John Paul I
Pope John Paul I (born Albino Luciani; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal h ...
and "God's Banker"
Roberto Calvi. At the planning stages
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th g ...
was proposed to star as 'Pope Dave the First' and Robbie Coltrane,
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer, and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School ...
and
Dawn French
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian and writer. She is known for writing and starring on the BBC sketch comedy series '' French and Saunders'' (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Sa ...
were also said to be involved. ''The Observer'' reported "The programmes would have been in the form of a parody of an American mini-series, which portrayed a modern-day Pope and his rule across two continents."
The budget was said to be tabled at £1.5 million.
Plans for the series were discovered by the press, and on 28 August 1988 ''The Sunday Times'' ran a short article entitled "Row over papal satire".
The story was taken up by ''
Catholic Herald
The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...
'', ''
The Universe'', ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' and the ''
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
'', linking the project to the furore over
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
's ''
The Last Temptation of Christ'' which at the time had been boycotted by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. Cassidy took soundings from senior colleagues including Chief Executive
Michael Grade
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...
, and Director of Programmes,
Liz Forgan
Dame Elizabeth Anne Lucy Forgan, DBE (born 31 August 1944) is an English journalist, and radio and television executive.
Early life
Forgan was educated at Benenden School, Kent, and St Hugh's College, Oxford, then an all-female college.
She in ...
. Spokespeople from Channel 4 at first defended the production, denying it would be blasphemous, but when they came under increasing scrutiny they cancelled the project after advice from their lawyers. Instead they decided to commission one of Richardson's pet projects, a sequel to the "Five Go Mad..." Comic Strip films, entitled, "Five Go To Hell".
This project had originally been shelved due to the poor
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...
takings of Richardson's previous film ''
Eat The Rich''. However ''Five Go To Hell'' to date has never been filmed.
After the controversy, Richardson took the Comic Strip Presents to the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, reportedly because
Alan Yentob
Alan Yentob (11 March 1947 – 24 May 2025) was an English television executive and presenter. He held senior roles at the BBC, including head of music and arts, controller of BBC1 and BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadca ...
was more accommodating to his ideas. He began work on another series of Comic Strip films for the channel. Two parts of the mini series were heavily re-written and appeared as episodes of the 1990 Comic Strip series, as ''Oxford'' and ''Spaghetti Hoops'' (which featured the story of Roberto Calvi). The remainder of the material was also rewritten and submitted to
Palace Pictures, who produced the film with the backing of Channel 4. A production budget of £2.5 million was approved.
Filming
Filming began in late 1990.
and took place on location in
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
, where John Ebden, the production designer, constructed
studio sets of the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...
and other
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Geography
* Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy
* Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City
* Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome
* Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
landmarks.
The title of the film was deemed too sensitive to be disclosed to the Yugoslavians; its working title was "Sleeping With the Fishes."
[
]
Release
The film opened on 21 June 1991 in 170 screens across the United Kingdom. It took £534,614 in its opening week and went on to earn over £1.1 million ($1,737,740) on its UK release.
It was released in the U.S. on 2 September 1991 on a limited release across 169 screens, taking $264,147 on opening week and grossing $582,510. The film also had limited distribution in Germany where it grossed DEM 367,603 ($224,520). The film struggled to make back its £2.5 million budget, grossing $2,544,770 overall (approximately £1.7 million).
Marketing
Daniel Battsek (then managing director of Palace Pictures, which produced the film) experienced trouble over the film's promotion, when London Transport banned the movie's posters from the London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
. 'At first they said the theme of the film was liable to cause offense," said Battsek. "When I explained the story, they admitted it was the title. We compromised with a poster saying "Robbie Coltrane in The Pope."' The film also caused controversy when it opened in the Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
that August.[ The film encountered more serious problems with promotion on its US release, with many newspapers refusing to include adverts, and ]CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
and ABC refusing to air television adverts for the film. Reasons cited for this were the sacrilegious tone of the film and advertising and the possible offence this would cause to readers and audiences. A CBS spokesperson said "The decision was made because the title and content would be offensive to a significant portion of our audience." whilst NBC responded "We feel (our viewers) would be seriously offended due to the ads' sacrilegious nature"
12 other cities newspapers accepted advertising only after the content had been heavily censored. ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' accepted an advert that read "The Pope Must. . . ." The ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' requested changes in certain captions under photos in the ad. The ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' and ''Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers ...
'' and ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' were among the few newspapers which accepted advertising without alterations.
"There is a separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...
in this country. My question is, on what grounds have they banned these ads? It seems curious that all three (networks) are taking the same tack," said Russell Schwartz, Miramax
Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...
executive vice president. "Obviously they can do what they want, they are private institutions. It just raises some interesting issues as to why, when it comes to religion, the response is so unilateral."[
]
Critical reception
On its limited release in the United States, the film received mixed reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
of the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' wrote "The movie's basic comic approach is disrespect for the church, which almost by definition cannot be funny. To deflate a comic character, it has to first be inflated, and ''The Pope Must Die'' makes the crucial error of denying its characters dignity - so that there's no reason for us to laugh when it's taken away from them." Although he conceded "Robbie Coltrane is a British comic actor of genuine talent, but he seems under a compulsion to make bad comedies about the Catholic church" Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' was more enthusiastic, writing "The film is irreverent, boisterous and enjoyable even when the gags hang fire." He also praised Coltrane's performance, saying he "is very good, but the performance is somewhat restrained by the screenplay's demand that the character ultimately be heroic. In this kind of comedy, rascality gets most of the laughs."[ The ''Time Out'' film guide article says "There are many good laughs, albeit of a rather simple-minded nature, but even by its own ludicrous standards the plot unravels helplessly towards the end" and called the film "A pontiff's egg." (a play on the phrase a curate's egg). The film has a 33% (rotten) rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on six reviews.]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope Must Die, The
1991 comedy films
British comedy films
The Comic Strip
Films about Catholic priests
Films about fictional popes
Films critical of the Catholic Church
Films produced by Elizabeth Karlsen
Films scored by Anne Dudley
Films set in Rome
Films set in Vatican City
Films shot in Italy
Mafia comedy films
Palace Pictures films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
1990s British films
Sacrilege
Censored films