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Secrets of the Vatican

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Secrets of the Vatican
Genre
Directed byAntony Thomas
Starring
Narrated byWill Lyman
ComposerSam Watts
Country of origin
  • United States
[1]
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerEamonn Matthews
ProducerAntony Thomas
Production locationsUnited States; Rome, Italy
Editors
  • McDonald Brown
  • Christopher Swayne
Camera setupJonathan Partridge, Jonathan Young, Mark Brewer
Running time85 minutes
Original release
Release25 February 2014 (2014-02-25)

Secrets of the Vatican is an American television documentary film. It was first aired on the PBS Channel on 25 February 2014 as an episode of PBS' Frontline TV series.

The film covers the period after the death of John Paul II until the first year of Pope Francis, and it posits a theory of what made Pope Benedict XVI resign from the papacy in 2013. It presents a return of trust in the Vatican and its new Pope, Francis, by millions of Roman Catholics after a long period of controversy regarding sexual abuse by Church authorities. It delves into reports of the existence of a "gay mafia" inside the Church and highlights the scandal involving the Legionnaires of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, who allegedly had the backing of John Paul II.

The film also tackles the papacy's struggles with cleaning up the Vatican Bank of its corrupt financial policies as an international institution by starting with Benedict XVI's hindered investigations and ending in Francis' supposedly radical initial reforms.

The film approaches the controversial topics of the documentary not from perspectives outside of the Church but with testimonies by devoted Catholics: sexual abuse victims, corruption witnesses and priest investigators.

Written, directed, and produced by Antony Thomas for the US Public Broadcasting System TV series Frontline, Secrets of the Vatican was co-produced by Jason Berry in the United States and Helen Fitzwilliam in Rome.[1][2][3]

Cast

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In order of appearance:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "'Secrets of the Vatican' exposes moral crises facing Catholic Church's new pope". Yahoo! News. United States: Yahoo! Inc. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  2. ^ Lowry, Brian (24 February 2014). "TV Review: Frontline's 'Secrets of the Vatican'". Variety. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ^ Crossan, Andrea; Haddad, Jaimee (24 February 2014). "A Frontline documentary exposes the Vatican's 'secrets' under Pope Benedict". pri.org. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
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