FOK!forum / Filosofie & Levensbeschouwing / [TV series] The Young Pope & The New Pope
naatje_1donderdag 14 mei 2020 @ 01:41
Ik wil graag een topic wijden aan de series The Young Pope en The New Pope (wat een vervolg is op de eerstgenoemde) om specifiek in te gaan op de religieuze gedachten die erin naar voren komen.

The Young Pope (TV Series 2016) - IMDb heeft als premisse dat er een jonge paus gekozen is, Pius XIII a.k.a. Lenny Belardo, die een zekere heilige status heeft en vrij conservatief en orthodox is in de leer. We krijgen een inkijkje in de intriges van het Vaticaan en worden gepresenteerd met een kardinale House of Cards. De serie schuwt niet om te praten over God, na te denken over wat God betekent en wat het betekent om religieus te zijn op een orthodoxe katholieke manier in de 21e eeuw.

De culminatie van de gedachten van deze paus vinden we in een toespraak die hij houdt in de vijfde aflevering van de serie, een toespraak die mij vrij protestants aandeed voor een katholiek.

SPOILER: Young Pope s01e05 speech in front of the cardinals
"Knock knock!"
"Knock knock!"

We're not in.

Brother cardinals, from this day forward, we're not in, no matter who's knocking on our door.
We're in, but only for God.
From this day forward, everything that was wide open is gonna be closed.
Evangelization. We've already done it.
Ecumenicalism. Been there, done that.
Tolerance. Doesn't live here anymore.
It's been evicted. It vacated the house for the new tenant, who has diametrically opposite tastes in decorating.
We've been reaching out to others for years now.
It's time to stop! We are not going anywhere. We are here.
Because, what are we?
We are cement. And cement doesn't move. We are cement without windows.
So, we don't look to the outside world.
"Only the Church possesses the charisma of truth", said St. Ignatius of Antioch.
And he was right. We have no reason to look out.
Instead, look over there. What do you see? That's the door. The only way in.
Small and extremely uncomfortable.
And anyone who wants to know us has to find out how to get through that door.

Brother cardinals, we need to go back to being prohibited.
Inaccessible and mysterious.
That's the only way we can once again become desirable.
That is the only way great loves stories are born.
And I don't want any more part-time believers.
I want great love stories. I want fanatics for God. Because fanaticism is love.
Everything else is strictly a surrogate, and it stays outside the church.
With the attitudes of the last Papacy, the church won for itself great expressions of fondness from the masses. It became popular.
Isn't that wonderful, you might be thinking!
We received plenty of esteem and lots of friendship.
I have no idea what to do with the friendship of the whole wide world.
What I want is absolute love and total devotion to God.
Could that mean a Church only for the few?
That's a hypothesis, and a hypothesis isn't the same as reality.
But even this hypothesis isn't so scandalous.
I say: better to have a few that are reliable than to have a great many that are distractible and indifferent.
The public squares have been jam-packed, but the hearts have been emptied of God.
You can't measure love with numbers, you can only measure it in terms of intensity.
In terms of blind loyalty to the imperative.
Fix that word firmly in your souls: Imperative.

From this day forth, that's what the Pope wants, that's what the Church wants, that's what God wants.
And so the liturgy will no longer be a social engagement, it will become hard work.
And sin will no longer be forgiven at will.
I don't expect any applause from you.
There will be no expressions of thanks in this chapel.
None from me and none from you.
Courtesy and good manners are not the business of men of God.
What I do expect... is that you will do what I have told you to do.
There is nothing outside your obedience to Pius XIII.
Nothing except Hell.
A Hell you may know nothing about... but I do.
Because I've built it, right behind that door:
Hell.

These past few days, I've had to build Hell for you,that's why I've come to you belatedly.
I know you will obey, because you've already figured out that this pope isn't afraid to lose the faithful if they're been even slightly unfaithful, and that means this Pope does not negotiate.
On anything or with anyone.
And this Pope cannot be blackmailed!
From this day forth, the word "compromise", has been banished from the vocabulary.
I've just deleted it.
When Jesus willingly mounted the cross, he was not making compromises. And neither am I.

Amen.

Ik vond de gedachten die in deze toespraak naar voren komen vrij intrigerend: wat is de taak van de kerk? Moet de kerk meegaan met het volk of zich juist houden bij haar kern? Wat is de kerk waard als de pleinen vol staan met alleen maar zondaars?

Dit thema komt ook terug in The New Pope (TV Series 2019– ) - IMDb waarin de paus van het eerste seizoen enigszins van het toneel is verdwenen, maar zijn herinnering nog rondwaard in de wereld en een nieuwe paus de harten moet gaan winnen van de idolaten van Pius XIII. Waar laatstgenoemde zeker heilig genoemd kan worden, kan dit niet gezegd worden van de rij pausen waar we in deze serie mee worden geconfronteerd. De nieuwe paus is juist meer wereldlijk dan passend binnen het rijk van God.

Je zou hier het verschil kunnen zien tussen de vorige paus Benedictus en de huidige paus Fransiscus. Eerstgenoemde is streng in de leer, terwijl Fransiscus meer een man van het volk is. Dit wordt overigens goed vertolkt in The Two Popes (2019) - IMDb die ook zeker de moeite waard is.

Ik zou hier nog meer kunnen vertellen en theoretiseren over deze series, maar ik ben benieuwd wat jullie gedachten zijn.
naatje_1donderdag 18 juni 2020 @ 18:26
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