All language subtitles for Pope The Most Powerful s01e01 The Rise of the Pope.eng

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

male narrator: One of the most
powerful men on earth

holds a position
that has existed

for nearly 2,000 years.

♪ ♪

As the world changes
and faith evolves,

his authority remains.

What began with one apostle

has become
1.2 billion followers

under one man.

He is the head
of the Catholic Church,

the Pope,

and this is his path to power.

♪ ♪

In this episode,

never before seen artifacts

from the earliest days
of Christianity

show how a small group
of rebels

turned an illegal movement

into the largest religion
on the planet,

and how, against all odds...
[crowd screaming]

The papacy endures.

♪ ♪

[bell tolling]

[men singing in Latin]

♪ ♪

- This is something that
has never happened before.

The Vatican, this morning,
publicly displayed

what's believed to be
bone fragments from St. Peter,

an apostle of Jesus Christ,
and the world's first pope.

♪ ♪

narrator: Pope Francis is
the 266th leader

of the Catholic Church.

For the last 2,000 years,

despite
an ever-changing world,

Catholic's have looked
to the Pope

as a beacon of faith,
morality,

and divine guidance.

But who is this figure
that means so much to so many?

And how did he come to be

one of the most powerful men
on Earth?

[suspenseful music]
[bell tolling]

- People look to the Pope
to have something to say

on almost everything.

[crowd cheering]

- I don't think there's
any other religious figure

that people recognize as much
as they recognize the Pope.

♪ ♪

narrator: But before
the Pope had the ear

of 1.2 billion followers
worldwide...

♪ ♪

He was a philosopher,

a leader
of an underground movement,

and an outlaw.

♪ ♪

- Peter was one
of the 12 apostles.

[dramatic music]

He's walked with Jesus,
essentially.

So he's an important figure
for that reason alone.

- In the Gospels,

when the apostles go fishing
in Galilee,

Peter is told,
"You are Peter,"

which means "rock"...

♪ ♪

"And on his rock,
I will build my church,

and I will give to you
the keys

of the kingdom of heaven."

- Peter himself, as the one
who voiced the confession,

becomes a symbol
of the unwavering faith

that Jesus is
the Son of God,

which is then the center
of the Christian Church.

narrator:
Though the word "Pope"

is not used
for hundreds of years,

the foundation
of the sacred office

is entwined in Peter's legacy.

- The Popes are,
if you like,

the inheritors
of the apostolic generation.

- It's this idea
of the papacy being the rock,

a source of permanence
in an age of anxiety,

that people know is steady.

♪ ♪

narrator: Peter preaches
that Jesus Christ died

for the sins of man,

and accepting that truth
is the key to salvation.

Others teach different
variations of that message.

But regardless
of interpretation,

in the first century,
any follower of Christ

is seen as a threat
to the Roman Empire

and hunted for his beliefs.

[indistinct shouting]

- When you think
about the beginning

of the Christian movement,
it's astonishing

that this movement
went anywhere.

People are being arrested,
they're being tortured,

they're being killed in public.

You see competition
between different disciples,

different versions
of the message of Jesus.

♪ ♪

narrator: All of Christ's
followers spread

throughout the Mediterranean
preaching his message,

but they apostles
are the men on earth

who actually walked
with Jesus himself.

- There were
all of these cities

that had healthy
Christian churches in them,

but the only one that actually
had an apostle at its head

was the church in Rome,

which was where Peter
was centered.

♪ ♪

- Rome is a giant empire.

If you're a Christian
and you're saying that

you believe in a man,
Jesus,

who is a king above all kings
and not the Roman king,

you are putting yourself

in opposition
to the Roman Empire.

And that becomes
a really dangerous situation

for early Christians.

narrator: Despite the dangers
facing Christians in Rome,

Peter holds secret gatherings

where he preaches
the word of Christ.

- Rome is a society
which is 75% to 80% slaves.

Slaves are not human,
they can't marry,

they can be bought and sold,
they can be whipped and raped.

♪ ♪

So, suddenly, there's
this movement that's saying

"You're a person with dignity

"who's created
in the image of God,

and that makes you worthwhile."

So that's part of the power
of this Christian movement.

♪ ♪

narrator: Christ's message
strikes a chord

with the most downtrodden
members of Roman society,

and Peter's meetings
become more and more popular.

♪ ♪

Inevitably,
he catches the eye

of one of the cruelest
and most sadistic rulers

in Roman history,

Emperor Nero.

[suspenseful music]

In the summer of 64 A.D.,

a raging fire burns Rome
for six days,

destroying 2/3 of the city.

- People say that
Emperor Nero started the fire

so he could advance
his own building projects.

♪ ♪

- Some of Rome
needed to catch on fire

so that he could build
the kinds of temples

and things that he wanted
to honor himself.

♪ ♪

narrator: Rumors that Nero
started the fire himself

begin to fly,

and he needs a scapegoat.

- People are already asking
a lot of questions

about his sanity,

his capacity to rule,
and so on.

He looks around
for a bunch of people

that other people don't like...

- And the most convenient
people to blame it on

were the Christians.

- Nero says,
"These are the people

who are--they're the problem."

They're the ones
who set the place on fire.

Let's do terrible things
to them.

[indistinct shouting]

♪ ♪

narrator: Nero orders
his soldiers to round up

as many Christians
as they can find.

- Nero had them hung to poles

and burned alive
in his gardens.

- He had some of them
torn up by wild animals.

♪ ♪

narrator:
It isn't long before Peter

is swept up in the raids.

♪ ♪

He is convicted
of insurrection

and sentenced
to die on the cross.

[dramatic music]

- He is crucified upside down,

which is a really horrible way
to die.

He says that
he does not want to die

the same way that
his Lord and Savior dies.

He wants to die upside down

because he's not worthy do die

in the same way
that Jesus dies.

♪ ♪

narrator: Peter's death
is a devastating loss

to the early
Christian community.

♪ ♪

But dying in the name
of his God makes him a martyr

and secures his legacy
as the first true leader

of the church
that will one day become

the most powerful force
on the planet.

History names Peter,

the first Pope.

[dramatic music]

male narrator:
After Peter's violent death,

Christians realized they must
organize their movement

if they have
any hope of survival

in the face of Roman tyranny.

♪ ♪

- They thought, rather like
the American revolutionaries,

as one of them said,
"We all have to hang together

or we shall surely
all hang separately."

- They created an agreement
with a set of rules.

♪ ♪

narrator: Deep within
the private library

of the Greek Patriarch
in Jerusalem lives

the 2,000-year-old document
that outlines

the first cohesive guidelines
of Christianity.

It's called the "Didache."

♪ ♪

narrator: This sacred text
was lost until 1883

when a Greek translation from
the 11th century was found.

Out of fear of theft
or desecration,

it has never before
been seen on camera

until now.

♪ ♪

- You don't have
a Bible back then.

How do you transmit the faith?

How do you tell them
how to behave?

How do you tell them
what to do in a service?

The "Didache" does
all of that for you.

narrator: But outlining the
rules is only the first step.

Christians also need
an infrastructure

to enforce those behaviors.

♪ ♪

- We tend to think
about Christianity

as being all these basilicas
around the world,

but before that, what you had
were basically house churches.

And if you had a series
of small house churches,

you needed somebody
to be over that.

- Christians were trying to
set up an organized community

so that people would recognize

who the members
of that church were.

A kind of hierarchy sort
of modeled on the Roman army.

- "Bishop of" means
the most senior churchman

in that particular city.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Because Rome is the capital

and the center of the empire,

the Bishop of Rome becomes the
leader of the other bishops,

a position that will
eventually become known

as Pope.

♪ ♪

In the 200 years
after Peter's crucifixion,

bishops and their followers
continue to be persecuted

and executed
by Roman emperors...

until an unlikely hero
emerges.

♪ ♪

- Constantine was
a great military commander,

and when it was his turn
to become a junior emperor,

he decided
to fight his competition.

narrator: Constantine,
the pagan commander

of Rome's western army,

declares war
on the commander of the east

to decide who will be
sole emperor of Rome.

♪ ♪

On the day before the battle,

he has a startling vision.

- He looks up and he sees
a sign of the cross.

♪ ♪

- And he thought it was
a promise from Jesus

that he would win the battle.

[men shouting]

♪ ♪

narrator: Constantine
does win the battle,

and the new emperor is
forever changed by his vision.

♪ ♪

- He decides
he's gonna be a Christian.

♪ ♪

narrator:
One of his first official acts

as the first
Christian Emperor of Rome

is to issue
the Edict of Milan.

This not only
makes Christianity legal,

but favored.

- This is the big one.

For the first time,
a Roman emperor decided

to ally with the church.

That meant,
the whole of the known world

was at the disposal
of the church.

♪ ♪

narrator: As Constantine
moves Christianity

from outlaw to exulted,

church and state
become intertwined.

- Constantine saw
in Christianity

a way of uniting the empire,

a new ideology

that would give everybody
the same God,

the same moral values.

- Constantine,
by legalizing Christianity,

opened up a space
where the Bishop of Rome

could become
a permanent fixture

on both the spiritual
and the political scene.

- What Constantine did
is take the bishops

who had been
previously persecuted

and make them his agents.

He treated them like members
of his administration.

So now he would take
the Bishop of Egypt,

the Bishop of Jerusalem,
and the Bishop of Athens,

and state power would go
through them.

- Bishops
become important people

in the local community.

If people have disputes
with each other,

they are likely to go
to a bishop get it sorted out.

- You had to go to him
to get the food supply.

That made him
enormously wealthy

and enormously influential.

narrator:
Constantine gives Romans

a political
and financial incentive

to convert to Christianity.

He gives Christians tax breaks

and makes churches tax exempt.

- Constantine is
the reason why churches

are now in the U.S.
tax free entities.

Constantine is the reason why

churches have
this special status.

- From the time of Constantine,

the church had been
the ally of the emperor

and the church became
the ally of rulers

as rulers became Christian.

There was no feeling that
there should be a separation

between church and state.

Church and state work together.

♪ ♪

narrator:
To honor his newfound faith,

Constantine commissions
spectacular building projects

in Christ's name
throughout the empire.

♪ ♪

Among the most famous of them,

the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre

in Jerusalem.

- The Church
of the Holy Sepulchre

is one of the holiest places
in Christendom.

The slab on the floor is place

where they say Jesus was
originally buried.

narrator: But almost as soon
as Christians are free

from Roman persecution,

they begin fighting
with each other.

[indistinct shouting]

- Biggest problem
during this time was doctrine.

In some people's eyes,
Jesus was born of a woman,

he can't be divine,

and there's big questions
about whether--

is Jesus a human,
is he divine, is he both?

- You would think, "Wow,
this is kind of hair splitting

doctrinal difference here,"
but there w--

you know, some people were
willing to kill you for that.

See?
So...

Christians...

willing to kill
other Christians

for those differences.

narrator: To unite the empire,

Constantine
must gather his bishops

under one church

or risk having the
Christian Empire he's built

come crashing down.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

male narrator:
Under Constantine

and the Bishop of Rome,

Christianity has gone
from an outlawed sect

to the ruling force
of the Western world.

- Constantine was both
the head of the state

and he was
the head of the church.

He was still a Roman
and in the old Roman religion

the emperor was also
the chief priest.

Constantine definitely took
that approach to his faith

rather than, you know,
what we would now think of

as more of
a separation of powers.

narrator:
But despite Christianity's

new political advantage,

after centuries
of being persecuted

for not believing
in the Roman gods,

Christians are now
killing each other

over disputes
in church doctrine.

♪ ♪

- Constantine needed a way
to bind this empire together.

He conquered it,
but it was crumbling.

♪ ♪

- He was angry and said,
"Look,

these things you're quarreling
about are just trivial.

I stopped the persecutions,
you should be grateful."

So he called a council
to unify the church.

♪ ♪

- The Council of Nicaea
is the first time you bring

all of the bishops together

and have them start
to talk to each other.

narrator:
The Council marks

the first meeting
of senior church leaders.

The foundation of the Pope's
college of cardinals today.

- The bishops
were commissioned to write

what a Christian
should believe.

- Constantine manages
to get the bishops to agree

on one singular
statement of faith

still used
to unify Christians today,

the Nicene Creed.

- The Creed says,
"We believe in Jesus Christ,

the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,"

and the Council decides
that Jesus is fully human

and fully divine.

- Constantine declared,
"If you sign it,

"you're a Christian
and you're part of us,

"and if you don't,
you're excommunicated,

you're out.
You'll probably go to hell."

So this became
the battling cry

for Catholics
throughout the world.

♪ ♪

narrator: With the church
unified after Nicaea,

Constantine looks
to further stabilize

the religious foundation
of his empire.

♪ ♪

He establishes a second hub
of church power in the East.

He names the new capital
after himself,

and calls it Constantinople.

- There's a bit
of back and forth

between Rome
and Constantinople.

- The Christians in the East

tend to look
at the Christians in the West

as just being barbarians.

They would say that
the Catholics in the West

baptize their children
in wolf saliva.

The westerners
tend to look at the East

as being not strong,
you know, of feat.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The hierarchy of clergy

under bishops who reported
to the Bishop of Rome

had been working well,

but now with Constantinople
acting as a second capital,

there is a second bishop

who believes that
he should be in charge.

- There were disputes
between the Bishop of Rome,

the Bishop of Constantinople.

Each one saw himself
as a very powerful leader,

and each one was...

competing with the others
for authority.

narrator: Despite
Constantine's best efforts

to unify his empire
under one church,

the East and West
remain at odds.

♪ ♪

Seven years after
the Council of Nicaea,

Constantine dies...

♪ ♪

Leaving the church
still divided

and Rome without
a strong military leader.

♪ ♪

[men shouting]

For over 100 years
following Constantine's death,

Rome is under attack

from pagan barbarians
to the north.

♪ ♪

[men shouting]

After a series of invasions
and bloody clashes,

the barbarians overthrow
the last emperor of Rome.

♪ ♪

The Eternal City,
once home to 2 million people,

is reduced
to less than 30,000.

[soft dramatic music]

Once the political
and spiritual

center of the empire,

Rome is now almost abandoned,

and stays that way
for nearly 200 years.

♪ ♪

- Rome in the sixth century was

muddier and messier

and perhaps
less efficiently governed

than it had been
in the time of Constantine.

♪ ♪

- Rome is not
a good place to live.

It's very dangerous,

the standard of living
is very low.

- Rome is virtually gone,

the church's center
was in Constantinople.

[dramatic music]

narrator:
As Rome falls

and Constantinople flourishes,

much of the churches
terminology becomes Greek

instead of Latin.

The Bishop of Rome
begins to be referred to

with the Greek word
for "father,"

Pappas, or "Pope."

♪ ♪

During this period
of barbarian invasions,

there is no centralized
government left in Rome.

The church is
the only institution capable

of addressing the needs
of its suffering community.

- This is a time
when the Pope is not

just the head of the church,
he's also the ruler of Rome.

- The people of Rome
were enormously dependent

on the church as a state,

so not as a church
that oversaw

the relationship
between God and man,

but as a church that oversaw

food, water, safety.

[indistinct chatter]

narrator:
But powerful pagan families

looking to control
the fallen city

see an opportunity.

With no official means
of protection,

the papacy is about
to come under direct attack.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[indistinct shouting]

male narrator:
By 795,

pagan barbarian families
have been battling

for control of Rome
for almost two centuries,

and the papacy
is all that stands in the way.

♪ ♪

- The Lombards are
one of the barbarian invaders

of the Italian Peninsula.

They seek to conquer Rome

and take over the territory

that's being ruled
by the papacy.

♪ ♪

narrator:
During an Easter procession,

the Lombards viciously attack
Pope Leo III.

- Their faction wrestles him
to the ground

and cut off his tongue.

But he lives through it.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Pope Leo III realizes

that he needs protection,

and with no army of his own,

he must make an alliance.

♪ ♪

He chooses the most powerful
king in the Western Empire,

Charles the Great of France,

better known as Charlemagne.

♪ ♪

On Christmas Day
in the year 800,

Pope Leo III calls Charlemagne
to Rome

where he crowns him
Holy Roman Emperor.

♪ ♪

- Charlemagne took on himself

the role of
defender of the faith.

- The moment that Leo III
crowns Charlemagne

is really important
because what it does,

it puts the church
back together

with the empire.

If you have
the Pope crowning a king,

that means the Pope is giving
that earthly king

temporal and divine power.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Pope Leo III's decision

to crown Charlemagne
as Holy Roman Emperor

marks the papacy's
conscious pivot

away from the Eastern church.

- The relations between Rome
and Eastern Christians

had not been good for a while.

[soft music]

- Charlemagne, in his view,
he was now

the only legitimate
Christian emperor left.

As he grew in power,

developed a very standoffish
relationship

with the ruler
of Constantinople.

- And that really is
the start of the schism

between the Orthodox Church
and the Catholic Church.

[dramatic music]

narrator: In the two centuries
after Charlemagne

and Pope Leo III
unite Western Europe

under the papacy in Rome,

the Eastern part of the empire
breaks off

and begins to call itself
the Greek Orthodox Church

under the Patriarch
in Constantinople.

- The word "Catholic"
originally meant "universal."

Until the 11th century,
there was just the one church.

It wasn't until a church
at Constantinople

broke off from its allegiance
to the Pope

that we begin to see references
to the Roman Catholic Church

as no longer
meaning "universal,"

but meaning
the church centered at Rome.

♪ ♪

narrator: 200 years
after the historic alliance

between Charlemagne
and Pope Leo III,

Pope Urban II rules
the Western empire

from Rome

and the Patriarch reigns over
the East from Constantinople.

♪ ♪

Until Constantinople
finds itself facing

an imminent threat.

♪ ♪

- Islam is the super power
of the Medieval Period.

They are the wealthiest,
the most sophisticated.

If I was betting at the time,
I would have certainly bet

that Islam--
that the Islamic empires

were the wave of the future.

narrator: Muslim armies had
been steadily making their way

through the Arabian Peninsula,

conquering new lands
and uniting them under Islam.

They had long-since
conquered Jerusalem,

and were headed for
the next Christian stronghold.

♪ ♪

- Muslims had swept through

what we'd now say
is modern Turkey,

and really getting fairly close
to Constantinople itself.

- When you can almost
see Muslims across the water,

it's time
to find the Christians

who are left to help you.

♪ ♪

narrator: Emperor Alexios I
of Constantinople

writes to Pope Urban II
in Rome

pleading for aid
against the Muslims.

♪ ♪

- Alexios is asking
for a few hundred knights

to help him defend his city.

What he gets is
something entirely different.

Urban II is in part responding

to an appeal
from the Emperor Alexius

As the leader of the church,

he's looking to improve

the spiritual well-being
of his people,

but he's also a politician.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Seeing an opportunity

to unite Eastern
and Western Christians,

and solidify his place
as their leader,

Pope Urban II calls
an emergency gathering

of clergy, knights,
and townspeople.

- It was probably
the most famous speech made

during the Middle Ages.

Urban told about the plight
of Christians in the East

who had had
their lands conquered,

horrible mutilations of nuns

and clergy and pilgrims

because of their faith,

and what Urban did
was very clever.

Rather than just ask them
to go and fight for the East,

he also asked them
to go all the way to Jerusalem

to restore the lands that
had been taken by Muslims.

- The response is amazing.

- Hold your ground!
- People shout,

"Deus vult,"
"God wills it,"

and this is the moment
that crusading begins.

They cross Western Europe.

♪ ♪

- Pope Urban was an example
of a new kind of Pope.

Austere,
powerful personality.

The papacy
as a self-consciously rallying,

purifying,

inspiring force.

Calling on people

to do something extraordinary
for God,

and it had enormous
imaginative power.

♪ ♪

narrator: For the first time,
the Pope,

a religious leader once
at the mercy of barbarians

and dependent upon kings
for protection,

raises an army
and commands a war.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

male narrator: In 1094,
the Eastern Church calls upon

the Pope and the West
to help them fight off

the incoming Muslim armies.

Pope Urban II sees this

as an opportunity
to reunite Christians

and restore the reign
of the Roman Catholic Church.

[indistinct shouting]

- There's a tribal aspect
to it.

That our tribe
is being attacked.

Just as we still do today.
You know, 9/11.

Someone attacks
the United States,

people are lined up
at induction centers

to go off and fight.

narrator: When he calls
for the first Crusade,

Pope Urban II
solidifies his role

as a world power.

The Pope is no longer
just a spiritual guide,

but a commander
at the helm of an army.

[horses clomping]

A zealous fleet
of nearly 40,000

starts the long march east
towards Jerusalem.

♪ ♪

- The Crusades were,
first and foremost,

an act of piety.

The Crusades are the only case
I know of in human history

in which you have
thousands of warriors

marching thousands of miles

deep into enemy territory

for no good strategic reason.

♪ ♪

narrator: The warriors
begin their crusade

through the Rhineland

in what will become
modern-day Germany.

[men shouting]

♪ ♪

The destruction
in the name of Christ is waged

against all non-believers
in their path.

- One of the terrible things
that this group does

is that they attack
the Jews of the Rhineland.

- They decide that
the Jews are the people

who are responsible
for the killing of Christ

and that if they are going
to act against

the enemies of the church,

they will do so at home
before they do so abroad.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The Rhineland massacres

are only the beginning
of what will become

a century of religious warfare

at the command of the Pope.

♪ ♪

- Once the first Crusade
gets into Asia Minor,

it's into
Muslim-held territory.

[men shouting]

The Crusaders managed to
capture the town of Nicaea...

♪ ♪

And then they fight a great
battle against the Muslims,

and they capture Antioch.

narrator: Emboldened by their
string of unlikely victories,

the Crusaders are now
convinced beyond all doubt

that God is on their side.

As they prepare to deliver

the crown jewel
of Christianity

back to their Pope.

Jerusalem.

♪ ♪

- Their Lord, Jesus Christ,
had had his lands taken,

and it was the Crusaders
responsibility, therefore,

as his servants,
to come to his aid

to restore those lands.

[men shouting]

- The Crusaders
were extremely violent.

♪ ♪

They would attack people
in their homes.

There were mass rapes,
killing of children.

They would set fire to entire
residential neighborhoods.

It was horrible.

♪ ♪

- They succeeded in liberating
the city of Jerusalem

from the hands of the Muslims.

♪ ♪

And this, for generations,

will be hailed and recognized.

♪ ♪

narrator: After 400 years
as a Muslim temple,

the Crusaders
replaced the crescent

atop the sacred
Dome of the Rock

with a cross
and turn it into a church.

- Partly motivated
by religious zeal,

partly motivated
by simple desire for conquest.

The Crusaders
were exclusionary.

Muslims were not allowed
to live in Christian areas.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Jerusalem remains
in Christian hands until 1187

when Saladin,
the hero of Islam,

draws together
the Muslim nearest

to recover the Holy Land.

[men shouting]

narrator: As the Muslims close
in on Jerusalem once again,

Pope Urban III realizes

that in his predecessors quest
to defend Christianity,

he may have invited
its demise.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

- The Pope really has
to walk a tight wire

when he comes
through the Holy Land.

♪ ♪

You have Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam.

Massive faiths basically living
on top of each other here.

♪ ♪

male narrator:
In 2014, Pope Francis attempts

to unify three major religions
in spite of the centuries

of Holy War
that has divided them.

[indistinct shouting]

Pope Urban II
called for violence

in the name of one world
under one Catholic church.

And Pope Francis
is still working

to heal the wounds
his predecessor inflicted

almost 1,000 years earlier.

- Religion produces
such varied emotions.

[gunfire, indistinct shouting]

There's tragedy,
there are crimes.

It's a story of 2,000 years
of such things,

and the Pope's
have been part of that story

right from the start.

♪ ♪

narrator:
In 1187,

after only 88 years
under Christian rule...

[men shouting]

Saladin's Muslim army
defeats the Crusaders

and reclaims the Holy Land
for Islam.

♪ ♪

- When Saladin
recovers Jerusalem in 1187,

some of his people suggest

they should destroy
The Holy Sepulchre.

♪ ♪

It is Christ's tomb.

And he says,
"No, let's let it survive."

Saladin is a man very much
aware of the power of mercy.

- His rule was very different
from that of the Crusaders.

Saladin was motivated
by his belief

that Christians, Jews,
and Muslims can

and should be able
to live peacefully.

narrator: As a symbol
of a new partnership

between
Christianity and Islam,

Saladin entrusts the key

to the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre

to a Muslim family.

Even today,
it's a Muslim's responsibility

to let Christian worshipers
in and out

of the holiest church
in Christendom.

♪ ♪

Pope Urban III is forced
to surrender the notion

that Christianity
must rule the world,

and negotiate
new relationships

with other faiths.

- The recognition that
it's a Christian space

that has to be protected
by its Muslim rulers,

not in the sense of actually

preventing people
from coming in,

but protecting
Christians' rights to worship.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Opening and closing the doors

to the holiest Christian site
in Jerusalem

has been the responsibility
of the al-Husseini men

for eight centuries.

We are protecting the church
since 1187 until now.

♪ ♪

narrator: Saladin's gesture
has come to symbolize

much of what the
modern papacy represents...

[hatch creaking]

Divine leadership in the face
of warring religions.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: Today, over 1,000
years after the first Crusade,

the Temple Mount area
of the old city of Jerusalem

is still one of the most
contested places on earth.

♪ ♪

A fragile peace holds

and the site seeks
to become a shining example

of three different belief
systems ability to coexist.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: Throughout history,
the Pope has played

an integral role in the
ongoing clash of the devout.

Thousands of years past,

millions of lives lost,

but the calls to battle

and prayers for peace
still endure.

- Human beings
constantly face a challenge

of trying to live
in peace and harmony

with people different
from you.

You've seen this
throughout history.

[soft dramatic music]

narrator: The worlds
of Urban II and Francis

are very different,

but their plight
remains the same.

Both men are tasked
with leading the faithful

in a world dominated
by conflicting beliefs.

- The tremendous weight
of taking on

the shepherding
of the great tradition

and retranslating it
for our time,

it's an impossible burden
to imagine,

but isn't that also
the beauty and simplicity

of the church?

narrator:
In March of 2000,

Pope John Paul II apologizes
for the Crusades

and the violent campaigns
of his predecessors.

- [speaking Italian]

- We are asking forgiveness

for the use of violence
in the name of truth

and for the attitudes
of indifference and hostility

taken towards other religions.

narrator:
Modern Popes choose to follow

the example of Saladin
and preach coexistence,

unlike Pope Urban II,
who chose war.

- The Pope is
where you look towards

for an example to how to
live your life as a Catholic.

♪ ♪

narrator: But despite being
a religious leader,

the Pope's reach extends
far beyond spiritual faith.

[bell tolling]
- The Pope survives

because it continues
to speak to

the deepest needs
that people have.

They need to know that someone
is looking out for them,

and all earthly institutions
are flawed.

But to have an institution

which is dedicated to

looking out
in a fatherly manner

for people who are lost
and astray and suffering,

that need will never go away.

♪ ♪

- Jesus said to Peter,
"You are the rock,

upon this rock,
I will build my church."

A rock doesn't move.
It's permanent.

So for faithful Catholics,

there seems to be a mysterious

but yet real depth
of appreciation

for the stability
and permanency

of this ideal of the papacy.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Against all odds,

in the face of all that
has threatened his reign,

2,000 years after
the death of St. Peter,

the Pope remains at the head

of one of the most powerful
institutions on earth.

[bells tolling]

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