HBO’s The Young Pope is a Sacrilegious Panoply of Anti-Catholic Tropes

The Young Pope is a ten episode English-language drama television series, directed by Paolo Sorrentino and featuring Jude Law as Pope Pius XIII, who, at 47, becomes the youngest and first American pope in history. From HBO’s website: "Born Lenny Belardo, [Pope Pius XIII] is a complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor. The first American pope, Pius XIII is a man of great power who is stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers, unconcerned with the implications to his authority." But there is much more.

As the series gradually unfolds, viewers learn that Pius XIII spends more time contemplating himself than he does praying. He smokes, smirks, connives and chides his way through his first days in office. When someone objects to him breaking long held convention, he snaps: "Well, there’s a new Pope now." In truth, "Lenny is an insecure enigma." We discover other things about the new pontiff as well. In one sequence, he states: "I don’t have any sins to confess." The screen then flashes with a rapid series of descriptors: "saint," "sinner," then "unconventional, contradictory, and revolutionary." In another scene he declares: "I am God." The fictional Pius XIII engages in every deadly sin with impunity. It’s enough to make Alexander VI [the most notorious pope in Church history], blush.

In reality, the odds of someone like Lenny Belardo surviving seminary is less than zero. He would never be ordained. In order to accept The Young Pope’s premise, devout Catholics must ignore sacrilege masquerading as entertainment that is anti-Catholic to its core. If one loves the Catholic Church, and knows anything about its history, doctrines, and the Divine Mandate Christ has placed on it, the suspension of disbelief that the show demands of viewers beggars the mind.

The series premiered on October 21, 2016 on Sky Atlantic in Italy and the United Kingdom. If you wish to view a trailer of the program, there are several available online. Premiering stateside on HBO later this month, it is not appropriate for children. This review is offered to provide a "heads up" should you ever be asked or confronted about this show by others, and want to give an informed response.