Summary
- The Pope's Exorcist is a horror movie based on the true story of Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's chief exorcist in the late 1980s.
- The Pope during the events of the movie was Pope John Paul II, though he is never mentioned by name in the film.
- While there is no evidence that Pope John Paul II was physically possessed, Father Amorth believed that the Devil worked through people to harm the Pope.
Horror movie The Pope's Exorcist takes place in the late 1980s, leading to questions about who the real Pope was at the time of the movie's events. The events of the movie certainly lean toward the fantastical: Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's chief exorcist, is sent to observe and dispatch a demon that has taken possession of a young boy named Henry. Along the way, he discovers that the Vatican has been keeping dark secrets about one. One of the Vatican's own exorcists himself was possessed in the past, an event that the Church has worked to cover up.
Despite Hollywood somewhat exaggerating the story for narrative effect, Father Gabriele Amorth is a real person and the movie is based on true events. Indeed, The Pope's Exorcist was inspired by Amorth's personal memoir of his years as the Pope's personal exorcist. Considering Amorth's close, real-life relationship with the Pope at the time, it's fair to ask which Pope it was who worked with him.
John Paul II Was The Real Pope During The Pope's Exorcist's 1987 Timeline
As it turns out, the beloved Pope John Paul II was the Pope at the time of the events of The Pope's Exorcist. Unless a viewer had a great grasp of papal history while watching the movie, they're to be forgiven for not knowing who the Pope is–he is never mentioned by name in The Pope's Exorcist, only being referred to as "the Pope" throughout the movie. Those who only Pope John Paul II as the benevolent and gentle spiritual leader that he was may be surprised to learn he had his own demonic attack dog at the ready in the form of Father Amorth.
Did A Demon Really Try To Possess Pope John Paul II? Father Gabriele Amorth's Claims Explained
In The Pope's Exorcist, the Pope falls gravely ill after he reads Father Amorth's case notes from the ongoing possession of Henry. In the third act of The Pope's Exorcist, Henry's demon, Asmodeus, is finally successfully exorcised and the Pope miraculously recovers, heavily indicating that the Pope, too, was possessed. With so much of the movie taken from Amorth's own notes and other elements being completely embellished, it's hard to separate fact from fiction, including the Pope's purported possession. It certainly doesn't help that Amorth, who was known to be quite outspoken and to occasionally make controversial statements.
One of these statements has since become infamous and, depending on how it's read, could be seen as him confirming that the Pope himself was possessed at one point. In a 2010 interview with ABC News, when asked if the Devil could infiltrate even Vatican City, Amorth said, "He has tried already. He did it in 1981 by attacking John Paul II by working with those who armed Ali Agca. And also now with the attack on Christmas Eve night when the crazy woman pushed down Benedict XVI...The devil resides in the Vatican." That's a bold statement.
Amorth didn't mean that Pope John Paul II was physically possessed, however; rather, he viewed it as the Devil working through people by possessing them and then sending them into Vatican City to harm the Pope. Those events, at least, are part of the historical record. Professional Turkish assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in May 1981; the Pope was critically wounded in the attempt. The second incident didn't happen to Pope John Paul II, but to his successor, Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 when a woman jumped a barricade during Christmas Mass and tried to attack him. While Pope John Paul II and others have certainly been attacked, the writers of The Pope's Exorcist used a healthy dose of artistic liberty when penning the storyline of the Pope being directly possessed.
Source: ABC News
