The Pope Must Die(t)

A priest discovers that being the leader of the Catholic Church can be hazardous to your health in this satiric comedy. Cardinal Rocco (Alex Rocco) and Monsignor Vitchie (Paul Bartel) are two high-ranking Vatican officials who have been using the church’s business dealings to launder funds for Vittorio Corelli (Herbert Lom), a crime boss involved in illegal arms trading. After the death of the aging and infirm Pope, Rocco and Vitchie plan to nominate a successor who will go along with Corelli’s schemes, but quite by accident, small town priest Giuseppe Albinizi (Robbie Coltrane) is named the new Pontiff. Albinizi is a reluctant spiritual leader who prefers cars, women, and rock & roll to church business, but when he discovers the level of Rocco’s corruption, he has him removed from the Vatican. Rocco and Vitchie are not taking Albinizi’s plans to clean up Vatican finances lying down, and they discover that the new Pope’s has a not-so-little secret. Before he joined the priesthood, Albinizi fathered a son out of wedlock with Veronica Dante (Beverly D’Angelo); the boy grew up to be Joe Don Dante (Balthazar Getty), a rock star who’s romancing Corelli’s daughter. After complaints from Catholic groups in the U.S., the distributors of The Pope Must Die changed the title to The Pope Must Diet., When Pope Pius dies suddenly, the Mafia engineers the election of liberal priest cum car mechanic Father Albinizi as the new Pope. But slowly the new Pope realizes that he has been duped and sets out to expose the corruption., Comedy starring Robbie Coltrane as Dave The First, a former rock ‘n’ roll musician who is inadvertently elected as Pope. Once ensconced in the Vatican, Dave uncovers a plot of financial corruption, bringing him into conflict with nefarious arms dealer Herbert Lom and other various bureaucrats involved in the chicanery., Sharp satirical comedy starring Robbie Coltrane as a lowly country priest who tackles corruption in the Vatican bank and takes on the Mafia when he is mistakenly elected Pope., A rural priest (Robbie Coltrane) is accidentally elected Pontiff. Beverly D’Angelo. Corelli: Herbert Lom. Msgr. Fitchie: Paul Bartel. Paolo: Salvatore Cascio. Joe Don: Balthazar Getty. Cardinal Rocco: Alex Rocco. Father Rookie: Adrian Edmondson. Directed and coauthored by Peter Richardson (who also plays Bish). Originally titled “The Pope Must Die.”