A timely DVD streaming on Netflix: "We Have a Pope" (Habemus Papam)
I saw this gentle Italian comedy in a sneak preview series called Talk Cinema last year. It's about fictional papal election in which a compromise candidate, Cardinal Melville, is elected. Just before he is presented to the cheering crowds, he has a massive panic attack and tells his fellow cardinals that he doesn't want the job. He is impervious to all pleas, so the Cardinals decide to say that the new Pope is overwhelmed with his new duties and wants to spend the week in prayer before revealing himself to the people.
However, the newly elected Pope is so determined not to assume his duties that he puts on civvies, sneaks out of the Vatican, and disappears.
According to the rules, however, the Cardinals cannot leave the Vatican until the new Pope is presented to the people, so they are cooped up there with the Vatican employees and a non-believing newspaper reporter.
The sneak preview audience, which was made up of everything from atheists to devout Catholics, gave overwhelming thumbs up to this film and enjoyed discussing the underlying issues.
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