The popes who got notions of revolution

Jude Law stars as the first US pope in a series with the tagline ‘His religion is revolution’. It recalls many real-life figures who tried to revolutionise the Church, says TP O’Mahony

WITH the The Young Pope up and running on Sky Atlantic, and being promoted with the line “His religion is revolution”, comparisons with Pope Francis or some previous popes are inevitable. It stars Jude Law as Cardinal Lenny Belardo, the first American pope and the youngest to occupy the chair of Peter. He is a chain-smoking, Coca Cola-drinking outsider who takes the name Pius XIII, which will of course misleadingly bring to mind Eugenio Pacelli who, as Pius XII, was pope from 1939 to 1958, and was an austere, autocratic figure.

Diane Keaton plays Sr Mary, who wears a T-shirt to bed that’s emblazoned with the slogan, “I’m a virgin but this is an old shirt”. She believes that Lenny, whom she raised in an orphanage, is destined for greatness.