Hollywood Flashback: A Title Change Couldn’t Save ‘The Pope Must Die’

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As the actual conclave in Rome is set to begin on May 7th, there has been increased curiosity around films related to the Vatican. The movie “Conclave,” which features Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal dealing with the election of a new pope, saw a significant increase in viewership on Amazon, jumping by 283% the day after Pope Francis passed away. Similarly, Netflix’s “The Two Popes,” a drama from 2019 that explores the relationship between Popes Francis and Benedict XVI, experienced a surge, with viewership rising an impressive 417%.

However, one less-frequently viewed papal movie that’s currently hard to find — it’s absent from major streaming platforms and doesn’t seem to be available on DVD (though you can still find some old VHS tapes for sale on Amazon) — is the 1991 British satire, “The Pope Must Die“, a film that arguably stirred the most controversy regarding the Vatican ever produced.

The movie titled “The Pope Must Die“, directed by Peter Richardson, tells the story of Robbie Coltrane’s character, a simple village priest who unexpectedly becomes Pope — “Dave the First”. However, he soon discovers that the Vatican is riddled with Mafiosa. As he tries to eliminate corruption, the mob plans his assassination, giving the film its title that caused controversy for its U.S. distributor, Miramax. The three major American broadcast networks declined to air advertisements, and many newspapers followed suit due to concerns about the title possibly being seen as a call to violence. In the U.K., posters for this movie were even banned from the London Underground.

Miramax attempted to quell the criticism by changing the title at the last minute to “The Pope Must Diet,” but this strategy proved to be overly ingenious, and wasn’t aided by the fact that the extra “t” in promotional materials was designed as a cross. The movie eventually earned a paltry $200,000 ($469,600 in current terms) in the U.S. Critics were unforgiving, with The Hollywood Reporter‘s review labeling it “erratic, loud, and excessively heavy-handed” and stating, “This mindless buffoonery is likely to be swiftly dismissed, even on the art house circuit.

As a devoted fan, I found myself disheartened by the uproar surrounding Coltrane at the time. I mused, “There are certainly many who misunderstand it.” I even dared to suggest that Pope John Paul II, the popular figure then, might appreciate the artwork: “I believe the pope appears to be quite a cheerful man.

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2025-05-07 22:25