Can Russell Crowe Save the World?

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Pope’s Exorcist.

The Big Picture

• The Pope’s Exorcist follows Father Gabriele Amorth as he helps a traumatized American family with a possessed son, facing demons and religious lore.
• Past traumas play a significant role, as Amorth and the demon both suffer from guilt and haunted memories that they must confront.
• The demon’s name, Asmodeus, is discovered in the Catacombs of the Abbey, leading to a final showdown where Amorth sacrifices himself to save the family.

The Pope’s Exorcist is based on the life and writings of Father Gabriele Amorth, who is portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film. Amorth was an Italian Catholic Priest who served as the Pope-appointed exorcist for the Vatican in the 1980s. He documented the thousands of exorcists he performed in a series of books including An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories, which the film is directly based on. The film follows Amorth as he tries to help a traumatized American family living in Spain, as their young son, Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), is possessed by a malevolent demon. A lot goes down throughout the film, from demons jumping bodies to a bunch of religious lore. If you found yourself caught up in the chaos of the finale and need some clarification of the details, Collider is here! This is everything that went down at the end of The Pope’s Exorcist.

What Is ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ About?

Julia (The Haunting of Bly Manor‘s Alex Essoe) is a single mom, having lost her husband just a year ago in a car accident that saw him impaled, witnessed by their young son Henry, who has not spoken since the traumatic event. Amy (Laurel Marsden) is the rebellious teenage sister who would rather die than move to Spain. They are moving to San Sebastian Abbey, a derelict castle that has been left to the family by the deceased husband (it’s been in his family for generations — the details are blurry). They only intend to stay long enough to flip the house and sell it. Easy, right? It takes no time at all before the family realizes that there is more to the Abbey than they anticipated. When a construction worker is unexplainably injured, the entire crew evacuates in fear.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Father Gabriele Amorth. After performing an exorcism that included animal sacrifice, he is pulled up by the Vatican, who question his traditionalist methods. It’s clear that Amorth is a proud man of faith, and he is not willing to bend his beliefs or methods to anyone. He claims that his methods are effective in both genuine exorcisms and cases of extreme psychosis. The mention of a past case is painful for everyone in the room, foreshadowing a major plot point to come. Father Sullivan (Ryan O’Grady), who looks about 14, is outraged by Amorth’s defiance and reminds him who he answers to, but Amorth storms out before being excused, as he will only be questioned by the Pope himself (Franco Nero).

Henry, who has been mute for a year, starts to say absurd, sexual things to his mother. The 11-year-old now has a monstrous, older (and British) voice, and after he claws his own face, she rushes him to the hospital, but his vitals say he’s fine. Julia calls on the help of the local priest, Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto, who is no stranger to the horror genre). However, Esquibel is not the priest the demon requires — he wants someone higher up! Amorth is encouraged by the Pope to aid this family, and so he boards his little Vespa to try and help this hopeless family.

Past Trauma Is a Powerful Demon in ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’

Amorth gets more than he’s bargained for as this demon’s evil goes deeper, all the way to the Vatican. The demon inside Henry knows Amorth’s name and taunts him about his past traumas. Amorth explores more of San Sebastian Abbey and concludes that this is no ordinary case. A pretty obvious metaphor that the film sticks close to is that these satanic demons represent one’s figurative demons from the past. Amorth cannot let go of a young woman named Rosaria (Bianca Bardoe). Rosaria claimed to be possessed but Amorth saw through it and left her to take care of herself since she was “just” mentally ill. Rosaria then jumped to her death from a tower right in front of Amorth, and he still can’t forgive himself as he feels he failed a devout parishioner. Esquibel fell in love with a woman and ultimately chose his love for God over her, but still feels the guilt of momentarily betraying God and the vows he took. Henry, too, is haunted by the past, unable to speak after watching his father get impaled. The priests conclude that past trauma forms a breeding ground for demons and so, they must lean into hope, faith, and prayer to defeat the demon. They also need to learn its name as that is what gives them the power to destroy it.

Who Is Asmodeus?

In the Catacombs of the Abbey, the priests try to find material or clues that can help them defeat the demon. They find artifacts from the Spanish Inquisition and skeletons of members of the Vatican who sacrificed themselves to try to contain the malevolent demon that has escaped. They stumble upon the skeleton of Friar Alonso de Ojeda, one of the most famous exorcist cases and who aided Queen Isabella during the Inquisition. They find out from his journals that he was once possessed by a demon so evil, he encased himself in the underground of the Abbey so as to protect the rest of the world from the spirit’s relentless evil. Father Esquibel deduces that that’s why the demon called for Amorth — it wanted as powerful a host as possible to possess. Both the priests go into the underground of the Abbey where they finally find the demon’s name, “Asmodeus.” They share a powerful conversation where they admit to the pasts that haunt them, and Amorth instructs Esquibel on the Latin phrases that he must remember to defeat the demon.

How Do Amorth and Esquibel Defeat Asmodeus?

Back up in Henry’s room, Amorth tells Julia that she must call for her son, as a mother’s love will help defeat such evil. Henry looks more and more like Satan himself, and when all hope seems to be lost, Henry is rid of the demon… Psych! The demon seems to have split itself in two and is possessing both Amy and Henry at the same time. Amy turns into a human spider and starts crawling all over the floor and ceiling. The demon then gets both Julia and Esquibel in a chokehold. Amorth realizes what he needs to do in order to save his new bestie and the terrified family, and so he sacrifices himself. He tells Esquibel to escape with the family.

Amorth tries his damndest to stop the demon from taking over his body, but it ain’t looking too good! He goes back to the catacombs to destroy himself and the demon, putting an end to its tyrannical reign forever. And then, out of absolutely nowhere, the Virgin Mary, in her iconic white and blue look, rises from the scary-ass pool of water in the middle of the ground. Just when you think she’s here to save the day, she quickly turns into a monstrous spirit. Esquibel returns to aid his friend, but it’s looking like the demon has taken over. But then he remembers the Latin phrases Gabriele taught him earlier! As Asmodeus becomes weaker due to the Latin prayers, it reincarnates as the women of both priests’ past. Rosaria, as a maniacal killer, attacks Amorth, and Esquibel’s former love appears naked and covered in blood head to toe. The men defeat them in the end, and Asmodeus is finally destroyed.

Will There Be a Sequel to ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’?

The two men travel to the Vatican where they are commended by the Pope for their courage. We also find out that Julia, Amy, and Henry safely returned to the US and Henry is all better! One of the few allies Gabriele had at the Vatican, Bishop Lumumba (Cornell John), has gotten a promotion. Lumumba takes them on a tour and explains that San Sebastian Abbey was one of the sites where 200 angels fell from heaven and turned into demons, explaining the inception of Asmodeus. The film ends with a hint at a possible sequel, and with a sequel already greenlit, it seems we’re going to get more Pope’s Exorcist in the future. Will the new priest besties become a Vatican-certified Holmes and Watson team? Let’s hope not, as the film was absolutely awful!

The Pope’s Exorcist is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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