Quotes

Dialogue

O'Malley: Well, Eminence, I'd say this is a pretty fair vision of hell. Lawrence: Well, don't be blasphemous, Ray. Hell arrives tomorrow when we bring in the Cardinals.

Dialogue

Lawrence: The other night, you were kind enough to say that you had voted for me. Now, I don't know if you've continued to do so, but if you have, then I must repeat my plea to you to stop. Benitez: Why? Lawrence: Well, firstly, I lack the spiritual depth to be Pope. Secondly, I couldn't possibly win. A long, drawn-out Conclave would be seen by the media as proof that the Church is in crisis. Benitez: You have come to ask me to vote for Cardinal Tremblay? Lawrence: Yes, I have, and to urge your supporters to do the same. Benitez: Cardinal Tremblay already spoke to me about this. Lawrence: Oh, well, I'm sure he has. Benitez: You want me to vote for a man you see as ambitious? Lawrence: I do not want to see Tedesco as Pope. He would take your church back to... to an earlier era. Benitez: I'm sorry, but I cannot vote for a man unless I deem him the most worthy to be Pope. And for me, that is not Tremblay. It's you. Lawrence: [yelling] I don't want your vote! Benitez: Nevertheless... you h

Dialogue

Bellini: I could never become Pope on those circumstances. A stolen document, the smearing of a brother cardinal. I'd be the Richard Nixon of Popes. Lawrence: Then stay clear of this; leave it to me. I'm willing to handle the consequences. Bellini: You know who's gonna benefit most from this? Tedesco. The whole basis of his candidacy is that the Holy Father led the church to disaster by his attempts at reform. If you reveal this report, it isn't Tremblay's reputation that's going to suffer; it's the Church's. Accusing the Curia of institutional corruption... Lawrence: I thought we were here to serve God, not the Curia. Bellini: Oh, don't be naive!

Dialogue

Tremblay: You should be careful, Thomas. Your own ambition has not gone unnoticed. This might be seen as a tactic to blacken the name of a rival. Lawrence: Well that's a despicable accusation. Tremblay: Is it? I wonder, if you really are so reluctant to have the chalice passed to you. I shall pretend this conversation never took place. [walks away] Lawrence: [agitated] But it HAS taken place!

Dialogue

Tremblay: You are responsible for this, I believe. Lawrence: : No, Eminence. You are. Tremblay: This report is entirely mendacious. It would never have seen the light of day if you had not broken into the Holy Father's to remove it! Lawrence: If the report is mendacious, then why did the Holy Father in his last official act as Pope ask you to resign? Tremblay: He did no such thing. As Monsignor Morales, who was at the meeting... Lawrence: And yet Archbishop Wozniak insists the Holy Father... Tremblay: The Holy Father, may his name be numbered among the high priests, was a sick man toward the end of his life, as those of us who saw him regularly can attest.