The Two Popes

The Two Popes is a 2019 biographical drama film. Set in the Vatican City in the aftermath of the Vatican peaks scandal, it follows Pope Benedict XVI as he attempts to convince Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to reconsider his decision to resign as an Archbishop as he confides his own intentions to abdicate the papacy. Lead actors Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce both received nominations for Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Bafta Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

Directed by Fernando Meirelles. Written by Anthony McCarten, based on his play "The Pope".

• When no one is to blame, everyone is to blame.

• We have spent these last years disciplining anyone who disagrees with our line on divorce, on birth control, on being gay. While our planet was being destroyed, while inequality grew like a cancer. We worried whether it was alright to speak the Mass in Latin, whether girls should be allowed to be altar servers. We built walls around us, and all the time, all the time, the real danger was inside. Inside with us.

Cardinal Bergoglio: We knew there were priests, bishops, great men of the church who preyed on children. And what did we do?

Pope Benedict: We are addressing this.

Cardinal Bergoglio: We heard their confession, then moved them on to another parish where they could start all over again.

Pope Benedict: We believed if they confessed...

Cardinal Bergoglio: Oh, we believed it was better if nine children suffered than if nine million lost their faith because of a scandal?

Pope Benedict: No, of course not. That is grotesque.

Cardinal Bergoglio: A bishop! A bishop said that to me!

Pope Benedict: Uh-huh, and how did you answer him?

Cardinal Bergoglio: I told him to remove the priest from his ministry and initiate a canonical trial. Straight away. I didn't believe a few magic words from the priest would make everything all right again.

Pope Benedict: Magic words? Is that how you describe the sacrament?

Cardinal Bergoglio: Confession cleans the sinner's soul. It does not help the victim. Sin is a... a wound, not a stain. It needs to be healed, to be treated.

Pope Benedict: You know, always, in the past, whenever a pope, or Holy Father, would eat, at every meal, always at his side, would be three Jesuit brothers, and... they were his food tasters. I think the lack of Jesuits has probably poisoned more than one Holy Father.

Cardinal Bergoglio: Perhaps I should take a bite out of your slice, huh? Just to be on the safe side.

Pope Benedict: No. No. That's mine. That's my pizza.

• Inspired by true events.

• The Two Popes quotes at the Internet Movie Database