‘The Young Pope’ in the eye of a Vatican expert

“The Young Pope,” starring Jude Law (Pope Pius XIII/ Lenny Belardo), has received various feedback from audiences and breaking ratings record in Italy. Although there are some traditional outlets that were both shocked and offended with Law’s role as the leader of Catholic Church, reviews from a Vatican expert are actually favourable.

Those who have seen the first few episodes of “The Young Pope” in the US and Australia knew that Belardo’s election to power is filled with controversy. He had actually become Pope Pius XIII overnight.

Pope Pius XIII has doubts in his faith in God. He is not even so sure that God exists after his parents abandoned him as a child.

Pope Pius XIII has made the Vatican media out of date and fired the Vatican photographer. He failed to market his image and he is unsurprisingly not popular. As a result, he risks bankrupting the Vatican coffers.

Vatican expert Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, has commented about the show, saying “The Young Pope” pulls back the curtains. Faggioli said the series is honest in putting a plain sight of some uncomfortable facts about Vatican politics. These facts include the cruel career system and the instability of clerical alliance.

As for the media’s role in the Church, the professor said it was actually more influential in the past. “You can see that from the fact that one of the few institutional reforms in the Vatican of Francis is a reorganisation of the media system of the Vatican,” Faggioli told the Hollywood Reporter.

The expert believes that the show is based on deep knowledge of how the Vatican was run in the last century. Faggioli is also the author of “John XXIII: The Medicine of Mercy and Pope Francis: Tradition in Transition.”

The remaining episodes are slated to air Sundays and Mondays at 9PM in HBO in the US. Fans in Australia can catch up with “The Young Pope” through HBO GO. The show debuted on Jan. 15 at 9PM Eastern on HBO.