I have a subscription to Netflix, though I don’t use it much. I keep the subscription because my children watch Netflix. The other night I was scanning through the selection of movies available when I came across the recent Netflix original “The Two Popes”. I heard a lot about the movie and every review was favorable. It had even been nominated for an Oscar. Though I tend to resist watching “religious” movies, I gave in to the temptation and watched the movie. I’m glad I did. It was an excellent film, well written and well-acted
The film is a series of conversations between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (who became Pope Francis) interspersed with flashbacks to fill in relevant background information. There is very little in the way of action scenes, but the story and the ideas are captivating. The movie is told from the point of view of Pope Francis. It is respectful of both popes and does a decent job of giving the viewer a sense of the church today. I tried to go to sleep after watching the move and it was difficult because my mind was buzzing with thoughts sparked by the movie.
Pundits love to view the church through the lens of political conflict and imagine that the tribalism that has infected American politics has also infected the church. That may be the case to a certain degree but the film offered a portrait of two men who loved the church and its people but who had different ways of expressing that love.
Benedict seemed to perceive his role as defender of the faith. He felt that the world had chosen to walk a different path than that offered by Christianity. The faith and its teachings were under attack by many in contemporary society and his duty as Pope was to protect the doctrine and tradition of the church from this assault. This emphasis on institutions and ideas is understandable on the part of Pope Benedict, as he is a notable scholar. This is the perspective that he has operated from almost all his life.
Francis’ vision of the church is that of a field hospital that encounters the wounded and hurting where they are and attempts to bring healing and comfort. It is a means for divine Mercy to touch the lives of people. Christ the servant is embodied in the church. The church must listen to the people, come to understand their needs and respond to those needs. This is a perspective that shaped Francis during his years as a priest and bishop, as his ministry and life experience transformed him into a pastoral leader who empathized with his people and desired to bring healing and hope to them.
The two men disagree significantly on certain points but they both love the church with a deep passion. They express that love through the lens of their life experience; one as a scholar and the other as a pastor. One of the points that the movie makes is that even though there are different visions of what the church can and should be, these different visions do not need to divide us into warring camps. John’s Gospel makes it clear that Christ wanted his disciples to love one another. That is the witness we are to give. The worst scandal in the church is when the church divides itself into warring tribes and pays more attention to differences than to the core gospel values Christ taught and exemplified.
There is one of the flashback scenes in the movie which shows graffiti on a wall that separates a gated community from the rest of a city. The graffiti says, “build bridges, not walls”. This is a message of the movie. It is a constant message of Pope Francis. It is a lesson that we all need to learn.