In 2011 I registered (WGAw) my idea for a TV series. Title: The Vatican. Sub-title: Libido Dominandi.

The Vatican is a story about its infamous libido dominandi, its insatiable lust for power. Think The West Wing meets The Da Vinci Code meets House of Cards … where power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

There is secrecy and blackmail, power and survival, sex and rape, bribery and murder contrasted with brilliance, bravery, humanity and love.

The setting is the near future in Rome in Vatican City–where the Papal office and Roman Curia are located–during the fictional Papacies of Innocent XIV and John XXIV. 

The drama is the classic timeless and relentless struggle between good and evil.

Cast

The Vatican employs a broad ensemble cast to portray the many positions involved in the daily work of the Roman Curia. The Pope, his personal secretary, and the pope’s senior staff and advisors form the core cast. Numerous secondary characters appear to complement storylines that revolve around this core group.

Universe

Each episode of The Vatican contains a story which begins and end within that episode. There are also storylines running over several episodes, the series, and the entire 40 hours of programming. The Vatican mixes compelling discussion of current or recent geopolitical issues with daily human stories and poignant issues facing the pope and his staff. All contemporary Curial government officials in The Vatican universe are fictional. Some officials, such as the Secretary of State, appear more often than others. Many other officials, such as the Italian Prime Minister, world leaders and celebrities and local Roman characters are also featured.

Plot

Pope Innocent XIV’s personal secretary, the handsome Canadian archbishop, dies of AIDS. The story is suppressed by the cunning and machiavellian Cardinal Secretary of State who dominates the Curia and seeks to control the crisis and keep ‘his’ Pope in office. However, the story is leaked to Rome’s International Herald Tribune reporter by a secret Vatican source and the unfolding scandal about the Pope and his lover engulfs the Vatican and forces Innocent XIV’s inevitable resignation and subsequent banishment to a secluded monastery in France.

Crisis!

There follows a papal election. As they gather from around the world to Conclave in the Sistine Chapel the princes of the church realise that everything rests on the choice of the next Pope. To restore the viability of Vatican government, the credibility of the church and the patronage of the People of God, the College of Cardinals come to understand that they must elect ‘a good pope’. They finally do elect a very, very good pope. He takes the name of John. John XXIV.

From this opening scenario emerges the ongoing focal point of the series, the struggle between the two warring factions in the Vatican.The good faction led by the new Pope in the Holy See and the bad faction under the control of the entrenched Secretary of State in the Roman Curia.

The adventures of these two opposing factions in the splendid and sumptuous setting of the Vatican provide the rich and fertile opportunity for the imagination of the writers for this dramatic television series.

Partial List of Main Characters:

• Pope Innocent XIV (Italy) – formerly a French Cardinal, he has been pope for 2 years. He is now forced to resign in disgrace after a scandal with his private secretary. He is banished to a monastery in France.

• Archbishop Louis Ménard (Montreal, Canada) – private secretary to Pope Innocent. He dies of AIDS. First there is a Vatican cover-up which is then leaked. In the ensuing scandal that engulfs the Vatican he is revealed to be the pope’s long-time lover.

• Pope John XXIV (USA) – the new 74-year-old American pope is elected because of his goodness – his humility, credibility, life experience and wisdom. At the time of his election he is the Archbishop of New York and one of its most respected and beloved leaders. His character follows in the tradition of ‘Good Pope John’ XXIII (and the Pope Kyril character in Morris West’s Shoes of the Fisherman). He is the recently created Cardinal Archivist and Librarian of the Vatican Secret Archives, Dr Collier StClair. A DalaiLama/Mandela-like character, StClair is naturally humble and kind, wise, witty, articulate and charismatic.  He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and later a Nobel Peace Laureate. He is loved by the media and admired internationally because of his devotion to the welfare of children and his strong stand against child abuse in the Church which won him no friends in the Vatican. Inspired by Matthew 18 Dr StClair founded the Children of Yeshua, a world movement for the legal protection of children’s rights.  Entering the priesthood much later in life after a distinguished career in Law his PhD in Theology was entitled A Definitive and Comprehensive Two Thousand Year Search for the True Sayings of Yeshua, The Nazarene. He is an outlier. He is the first black pope.

• Cardinal Sylvester Pelucci (Italy) – former head of Holy Office CDF (the Inquisition), Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei. He is the anti-hero; the dashing, formidable, charming, jealous and macchiavelian plotter against the pope. He is now Dean of the College of Cardinals and therefore Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. He is also Cardinal Secretary of State. He is the other most powerful man in the Vatican. He is a Talleyrand/Murdoch/Nixon kind of villain. An old-school global geo-politician he speaks 8 languages and happens to be an organist virtuoso. He smokes Cuban cigars, is also a gourmand and has the best table and cellar in the Vatican. He is a notorious womanizer.

• Lucifer – A good angel who fell out of God’s grace is the only non-fictional historical entity in the cast. Lucifer aka The Devil is not an infinitely powerful being. Although, he was an angel, and thus pure spirit, he is considered a creature nonetheless. Satan’s actions are permitted by divine providence. The evil that surrounds us today, the disorders that plague our society, man’s inconsistency and brokenness, are also the result of Satan’s pervasive and dark action. He has a close working relationship with Cardinal Pelucci who converses with him daily and in those scenes, while not seen directly, is always just out of frame.

• Professoressa Principessa Maria Vittoria di Rivoli dell Monte (‘Vivi’ to close friends) - one of Italy’s greatest minds and most respected academics. She is a thought-leader, a compelling speaker and a philosopher-scientist of the Dennett variety. An eminent but independent Professor of Philosophy at Sapienza University of Rome she also holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from Università degli Studi di Trento. She is elegant and utterly engaging. A refined Roman princess of impeccable style and rank. One of the most amazing characters in all of Rome. A charming hostess, Vivi’s Sunday salons in her splendid palazzo on the Via del Corso are de rigeur for the elite of Roman society. Wine, food, loose lips and salacious gossip.

• Cardinal Gustavo Ivo Batista (Brazil) – Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Bishop of Frascati. Former Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro he is an enigmatic but powerful Vatican player. He is a brilliant thinker and straight-talker of the Dawkins variety. A master strategist. He is respected in the international diplomatic corps as an experienced and honourable player. He is an accomplished musician and was a young friend of Tom Jobim. His global network is the envy of the CIA. He is courted by all. But whose side is he really on? The Pope’s or the Cardinals?

• Susanna O’Rourke, (Italy) – Director of the Holy See Press Office and a former Editor of The Irish Times.

• Dr. Declan FX Sharpe (United States) -  CEO of the Vatican Bank, Istituto per le Opere di Religione – IOR, Councillor of the Order of Malta American Association. Post-graduate degree in Banking and Financial Law, Boston University.

• Mario Cerutti – Prime Minister of Italy, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri.

• Giovanna Maria della Valle – Vivi’s closest friend is a loveable and vivacious humanitarian. Slightly eccentric, she is a devout and kind Neapolitan Catholic who tirelessly and generously supports the Istituto San Gennaro, an orphanage she founded for deaf-mute girls.

• Pierre Luce – Rome’s senior reporter for the International Herald Tribune. Through a secret and reliable source in the Curia this reporter gets the scoop of the decade about the Pope and his personal secretary.

Other characters being developed are:

• the beautiful mistress of Cardinal Pelucci. She is genuinely in love with the handsome villain but has no illusions about his character and schemes.

• Commander of the Papal Security Service. He has long been loyal to Cardinal Pelucci but eventually switches his loyalty to the Pope as he grows to know of his mission and place in history and becomes his loyal and brave protector.

• Private Secretary and de facto Chief of Staff of Pope John XXIV. He is an Australian Monsignor. He is devoted to the Pope but, like many of his generation, is battling a personal crisis of faith. He is a close friend of the  Director of the Vatican Observatory at CastelGondolfo and also close to one of the great characters of the series, the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.

• The assassin.

The Pontifical North American College in Rome is just a block away from the Fontana di Trevi, that fabulous extravagance of cascading papal kitsch which thrusts itself into the willing but helpless attention of tourists and movie directors alike. As he sat alone in the familiar chapel of the college, itself a lavish marble-encrusted treat of no humble proportions,  the elderly bishop from New York was halfway between his prayers and his memories.

Well, here I am back at this comfortable and familiar college, they wanted me to stay in the Vatican but I’m glad I insisted on staying here. There are so many memories. I’ll meet you at the fountain. How many times did I say that to friends and others who were passing through Rome and wanted to meet up with me while I was studying at the Gregorian and staying here. I’ve always loved collegiate life. It’s all so simple really. You sleep, you eat, you attend lectures. You read, you think, you write.  You escape to go meet a friend at the fontana. I’d always go early and have my favourite pastry in the Forno, the old bakery right next to the fountain. Then I’d go out and search through the never-ending whirlpool of tourists that ebbed and flowed around the cascading monument. What a crush, what a challenge but I’d always find my visitor and away we’d go for an espresso and a chat. This college is such an American haven in the Eternal City. The young priests staying here seem more concerned about getting an air conditioner for their room than anything else. Why not?

Sudden mood change. I know why I’m here now, sweet Jesus. What should I do? What path should I take? There’s always been this great conundrum in my life in the church. The never-ending contradiction. The alternating switch between the sacred and the profane. Such highs and such lows. Maybe it’s some kind of an addiction. Now they want to give me a red hat. It’s obviously because of the Prize. It’s the last thing I need, of course. The Prize has been punishment enough. Can I refuse? If it was just them it would be so much easier to say No. But, dear Jesus, what if it’s you? How can I ever refuse you? It’s always the same dilemma. Is it you or is it them? Are you both the same? Are they your true servants or your immortal enemies? I hardly ever know. When I was a lawyer there were often contradictions but I never seemed to have much trouble settling them in my mind or in the courtroom. But, now it’s different. I’m always stressed and bothered when I’m here. The Vatican is … what was Churchill’s line … a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Something like that. It’s the game of chess that never ends. When Emperor Claudius established the Roman Civil Service he could never have imagined that it would then evolve into the Roman Curia and would endure for 2000 years! How is it possible? What other human organization has survived for so long? Is it really the Holy Spirit? What else could it be? Be calm. I need some rosary therapy. Hail Mary, full of grace …. Ah, that’s better.

•

Where is he?

He’s in the chapel.

Again? He’s always there. Is he hiding or praying?

Both, I think.

Well, you go and get him. We’ve got half an hour to get there. We can’t keep the Cardinal waiting.

Not The Cardinal, at any rate.

Don’t be impertinent. The walls have ears, even here in the college.

Is the car ready?

Yes.

I’ll go and tell ‘The Good Bishop’.

It’s an awful title? How did he get that horrible nickname? It makes it sound as though bishops, by definition, are bad.

Well … Aren’t they?

Stop it.

I think it was The New York Times. When he got the Peace Prize.

Hhhmph. It would be, wouldn’t it. What a bunch of hypocritical assholes. Murdoch makes even The Cardinal look like a saint.

Erm. The walls. Ears. Remember.

Hurry. Go and get him.

•

 The young Swiss Guard snaps his crisp and enthusiastic salute to the highly recognizable American icon sitting in the back seat of the Vatican limo. Madonna! A Nobel Peace Laureate who is also a black American AND a Catholic bishop. We don’t get a visitor like that every day of the week. He smartly waves the car through the security gate on into the smallest state in the world. It’s just a few buildings, a supermarket and some well-manicured gardens. A tiny population of less than a thousand. No babies born here every day. Not these days at any rate. These are not merely any old buildings, of course. To be fair, the Basilica of Saint Peter is something so much more. And the Secret Archives of the Vatican, wherever they are housed, are a unique and mind-boggling repository of historical value beyond estimation.  The car stops at the papal apartments and, for the very first time, The Bishop is met by The Cardinal.

•

His Grace Collier StClair, Archbishop of New York, Juris Doctor, Doctor of Divinity, Nobel Peace laureate, best-selling author, inspirational speaker and a popular hero who is recognised and loved around the world by the People of God, by the media and by atheists alike. Wise, humble, articulate and amusing he’s become a man for all seasons. Think part Mandela, think part Dalai Lama and think … well … part Jesus, really.

These were the electrifying thoughts firing up in the mind of The Cardinal as he waited impatiently on the steps of the papal apartment for the limousine slowly ferrying this extraordinary man to this important, no historic, meeting. I must get this right. I need this man, the Holy Mother Church needs this man, like no other. This is the man who can make or break us. With him, through him, I can return the Church to its rightful place as the supreme governing power of Europe and indeed the future light of this entire wayward world. I must succeed at winning him over. He must become my man. Or else.

•

Well, this is going to be interesting. I’ve been both dreading this meeting and anticipating it, for a long time. The Bishop shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He’s carried a memory of his time as a Vietnam veteran in the 60s in the form of a dull back pain that asserts itself during times of stress. He squirms a little and stretches in a routine that usually makes it go away.

Although he had been in communication with The Cardinal both directly and indirectly for some years, and had met him publicly on several ad limina occasions this was the first time they would meet, seriously, strategically, and in private. And this was no ordinary man. This was no ordinary Cardinal, for that matter. Think part Medici, think part Talleyrand, think … well … part Berlusconi? No, surely not.  Maybe part Joseph Kennedy of Boston. But with Hollywood looks and European style. A dashing,  charming, jealous macchiavelian who ruled the Roman Curia, and some say the Papacy, with an iron claw in an embroidered velvet glove. A truly formidable and powerful man.

Collier StClair from Atlanta was about to come face to face with His Eminence Cardinal Sylvester Pelucci. Former head of the Inquisition whatever it’s recent rebranding.  Now, Dean of the College of Cardinals and also Cardinal Secretary of State. Second only to the Pope himself and one of the most powerful men in the world. They say he speaks 8 languages. He’s an organist virtuoso. He smokes Cuban cigars, is a gourmand and has the best table and cellar in the Eternal City. The fact that he is a notorious womanizer is the worst kept secret in Rome.

He’s going to offer me a Cardinal’s hat. I’m about to step into the lair of the spider. I will need all my wit and wisdom and that will hardly be enough. Sweet Jesus, you are my protection. I hope, I trust, you will be all I will need. What else is there?

•

Welcome my dear brother to the home of your Father on Earth and in Heaven. Welcome to your home. His Holiness commands me to give you the warmest wishes from his heart and may I add my own delight at the opportunity to embrace you and to meet with you, intimately, at last. The tall red prince of the Church  warmly and sincerely embraced the purple bishop like a true prodigal brother who’s come in from the cold, home at last, and held him and then released him after just the right amount of time. They both stood on the steps, in silence for a short while, gazing at each other with deep and respectful curiosity. For both men knew that this was just the beginning.

•

Crisis!

After a most refreshing espresso accompanied by some small pastries that were probably the best he had ever tasted and a limoncello to ‘calm our nerves’ the conversation progressed elegantly but inexorably from interesting and current Vatican gossip to the real reason that drew these two men together. The church was about to face one of the most shattering of all the crises it had ever faced in 2000 years. This was going to be a threat to its very survival. In a time of 24/7 news reporting, social commentary and global communication that was completely and utterly outside the control of the Vatican. Twitter, what the hell was that! The Cardinal had visibly shuddered. My brother, I am bereft and inconsolable to have to tell you that tomorrow the Pope of Rome, the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father himself is going to resign. Not only will this be the first time in 500 years but Pope Innocent will not only resign but he will do so in disgrace. Madonna!

*******************************

In the conclave that follows Pope John XXIV is elected by the College of Cardinals who carefully and deliberately choose the 74-year-old American pope because of his goodness – his humility, credibility, life experience and wisdom. He follows in the tradition of ‘Good Pope John’ XXIII (and the Pope Kyril character in Morris West’s Shoes of the Fisherman). He is the recently created Cardinal Archivist and Librarian of the Vatican Secret Archives, Dr Collier StClair. A DalaiLama/Mandela-like character, StClair is naturally humble and kind, wise, witty, articulate and charismatic. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and later a Nobel Peace Laureate. He is loved by the media and admired internationally because of his devotion to the welfare of children and his strong stand against child abuse in the Church which won him no friends in the Vatican. Inspired by Matthew 18 Dr StClair founded the Children of Yeshua, a world movement for the legal protection of children’s rights. Entering the priesthood much later in life after a distinguished career in Law his PhD in Theology was entitled A Definitive and Comprehensive Two Thousand Year Search for the True Sayings of Yeshua, The Nazarene. He is an outlier. He is the first black pope.

What to do?

I had been planning a provocative story about a fictional pope who resigns and then it happens. The real pope resigns. Life trumps art.

The shocking story of a papal resignation is suddenly no longer a shock at all. Benedict has resigned and the world still spins on its axis. Life goes on. What was unimaginable is now front-page news.

I must say this was both a thrill and a thwart at the same time.

It was a thrill because people who knew my story, mostly friends and colleagues, were now saying: Hey, your story predicted that. Wow! How did you know a pope would resign? Well, I had been working on it for a while and circulated it to about a hundred people and had even shopped it around to movie and TV producers in Sydney and Los Angeles.

By 2011 I had officially registered The Vatican, Libido Dominandi with the Writers Guild of America in Hollywood (WGAw). It was true I was first. But so what? If I were to publish now, to the wider audience, it would just look like an obvious copy of the 2013 fact. Nothing original or shocking about that at all.

So I decided to put the research I had done to work and I wrote an article on Benedict's resignation for Crikey. That's the article reproduced word-for-word in the previous chapter. No. It was not the chapter I was planning for my fictional story about the resignation of Pope Innocent XIV. That story seemed no longer relevant. Tame even. Yes. My fictional story was laced with scandal. Sex. Vatican sex. Betrayal and power plays. But the shock was gone. It was no longer fresh and exciting. Reality had well and truly overtaken art.

After the resignation, I turned my attention to the coming papal election.

In my fictional story the scandal that rocked the church, the world, and which led to the resignation of the tainted pope had now cleared the way for a new pope--a good pope.

The logic of the fictional story was that the factions of the College of Cardinals had come together and were forced to agree that a church so badly compromised could only be saved by the very careful choice of the next pope.

A good pope. A man of integrity. A pastoral pope. One who could capture the imagination of all people, in and out of the church. In my imagination, that voting strategy had led to the election of the good Pope John XXIV, a black American, Bishop of Atlanta.

Well, that was then but this is now, I thought to myself in April 2013, as the Red Hats from around the world were heading for Rome to elect a new real pope in real life. I wonder what they will do?

The first article I wrote on the Resignation for Crikey was very well received. So, the editor now asked me to write a second article on the Election.

And, that's how I became a Vaticanologist!