'The Pope's Exorcist' Ending Explained: Did Father Gabriele Amorth get possessed by the devil?
Spoilers for 'The Pope's Exorcist'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: “When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is the happiest.” How would you react if words like these came right before the beginning of a movie? You’ll think that the makers are trying to make viewers realize that just like “God,” the “devil” is also present and comes in various forms. What would you do if you are forced to believe in the existence of the devil or lose the person you love the most? These questions take center stage in Julius Avery’s latest horror movie ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ which feels like a new take on the long-time-stuck genre that might not be able to survive in the coming years.
One of the best things about the movie is that it primarily focuses on its characters to tell the story and doesn’t use any vulgar images to shed a light on how bad the situation is. The movie tells the real-life story of Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s former chief exorcist, and the kind of cases he has experienced over his career. He claimed to have done over 160,000 exorcisms in his life and wrote a lot of books as well. In the movie, he is given a task to travel to Spain and help a 12-year-old boy named Henry who has been possessed by the demon, but this demon is much more dangerous than what Father Amorth has ever experienced.
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Desperate times need desperate measures and Father Amorth is ready to do anything. So, how did he manage to save Henry and the entire family from the demon? Let’s take a look.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Ending Explained: Why does the Demon only want to see Father Amorth?
Father Amorth created a name for himself by becoming Chief Exorcist of the Vatican and only The Pope could have summoned him. He was personally in touch with The Pope and would go to any place to solve a case. So, when the little boy was possessed he wanted to talk to the biggest priest in the town and that was Father Amorth.
At first, Amorth was not taking the devil, seriously, but when the devil is able to tell Amorth’s first name during their first meeting, he realizes that his devil is here to do something bigger.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Ending Explained: Who is Rosaria? And why is the demon using her to distract Father Amorth?
As we mentioned before, Father Amorth claimed that he did a lot of exorcisms, but in the movie, it has been shown that there was one case that still haunts him. There was a young woman named Rosaria who was suffering from mental illness. The first time Father Amorth met her, she said, “The Devil f***s me at night.” And when he asked, how did the devil look? She said, “Like you.” She had a small red bird in her hand and ate the head of the bird in front of him.
Father Amorth believed that she is not possessed, but is going through a severe mental illness that can only be cured by a psychiatrist. Father ignored the case and a few days later it was reported that the girl killed herself by jumping off a building. To this day, Amorth believes that this sin still lives with him and he feels guilty about it every day.
There is a rule that before doing an exorcism every priest should confess their sins because the devil will use these sins against them to distract them. They will get distracted and the devil will be able to overpower them.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Ending Explained: What are the sins of Father Esquibel?
Just like Amorth, his accomplice, Father Amorth, also has a sin that has been bothering him. The demon talks about his sin when Amorth and Esquibel were trying to get the demon out of the little boy. As soon as the demon mentions it, Esquibel gets really annoyed and becomes aggressive. Amorth calms him down and takes him out. That’s when Esquibel told him that he fell in love with a girl named Adella and that he was about to leave the priesthood to start a relationship with her. However, he changed his plans and decided to continue with his priestly work, and allowed Adella to continue with her life. He did have lustful thoughts about her, but they never had sex with each other, and the demons use Adella to distract Father Esquibel.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Ending Explained: What did Father Amorth find in the Abbey of San Sebastian in the Middle Ages?
As soon as the Amorth finds the hidden part of the Abbey, he gets to know the demon’s name is Asmodeus. He was one of the 200 angels expelled from the Kingdom of Heaven and fell to Earth. It was assumed that Asmodeus started building a blasphemous temple where strange things started happening. The Church received reports of something demonic happening in the Abbey and sent a group of powerful priests to end all this. They manage to seal the temple and sanctify the land and the building as well.
However, sometime after it was revealed a lot of people started getting possessed and a powerful exorcist named Friar Alonso de Ojeda reached there to end everything. But it seems things didn’t work out as he would have expected them to. According to the findings by Amorth and Esquibel, we get to know that Friar’s exorcism failed and Asmodeus managed to possess him. Things got bad to worse after his possession and a new priest was sent on a suicide mission. He performed an exorcism by being locked in a cage and the abbey was abandoned quickly after that.
Everything was smooth till the time Julia (Alex Essoe) arrived at the Abbey with her daughter Amy (Laurel Marsden) and Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney).
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Ending Explained: What was Asmodeus’ plan?
Asmodeus’ real plan was to possess the Chief Exorcist and annihilate the Vatican. Its intentions were to possess the body of the exorcist, return to Rome, and then use his power to destroy the Pope and the Vatican.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ Ending Explained: How did all conclude?
When Amorth found out that he has sacrifice himself to save the child, he didn’t lose that chance and gave what the demon wanted. He leaves the child’s body and enters Amorth. He tells Father Esquibel to get the entire family out of the city so that they remain safe. Amorth tries fighting the demon, but it proves to be too strong for him. After a bloody battle, the priests manage to send the demon back to hell and save everyone. The Vatican buys the property and seals it so that the demon doesn’t get out of the temple.