Habemus Papem – Moretti - Piccoli

I ran into an article in the Guardian, a Brit news source, about the mixed reviews of the new movie in Italian – Habemus Papem – (We have a pope.)

Alas, cannot find a video with English subtitles. The storyline is about a newly elected pope with panic/anxiety attacks who requires the services of a shrink.


The best of the best shrink available is played by director Nanni Moretti. I think that the storyline has the pope ending up going to the shrink’s ex-wife, Margherita Buy, for therapy and in the end the pope resigns a job he did not really want and could not handle.


That is a very human theme. (If popes cannot be human, then how could Jesus have been human? Myth reflecting reality or reality reflecting myth?)

Habemus Papam

There is some catholic fanatic jihadist trying to sue director Moretti for blasphemy under terms of the 1929 Lateran Treaty between Mussolini and the Vatican.  The usual stuff. 

Pope film sparks Catholic controversy

Traditionalists say that the film, by the acclaimed Italian director Nanni Moretti, is “an instrument of Satan” and is particularly offensive as it has been released in the approach to Easter.


Bruno Volpe, the Catholic lawyer, has launched suit for defamation against Moretti and the producers under the terms of the Lateran Pact, which extends the same protections to the prestige of the pope as to the Italian president. Mr Volpe said Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), never mentioned the current Pope by name but it was nevertheless clear that it was a parody of Pope Benedict XVI and dishonoured the figure of the Pontiff in general. Salvatore Izzo, a Vatican expert, branded the work disrespectful and boring in an open letter to Avvenire, the Catholic bishops’ newspaper.

No word yet from the Catholic League condemning this film?

I am eagerly awaiting this film’s debut on cable TV with English subtitles. Looks like an interesting flick about a slice of Roman life in and around the Vatican thingy.