Julius Avery’s The Pope’s Exorcist has received mixed reviews from critics within just days of its release. Nonetheless, it is a spine-chilling watch and Russell Crowe delivers one of his best performances as the titular character.
The film is based on the life of Father Gabriele Amorth, who served as the Chief Exorcist for the Diocese of Rome in the 1980s.
It follows the story of Amorth as he tries to exorcise a traumatized young boy named Henry, who has just moved with his family from America to Spain. Amorth takes the help of the local Father Esquibel, and the two of them go on wild journey together to find out the real motives of the demon and a way to get rid of it.
The ending of The Pope’s Exorcist suggests that the director has plans for a future movie (or movies) that will tell more stories of Father Gabriele Amorth. However, no official announcement has been made yet.
Amorth and Esquibel’s Mission is Far from Over
When Father Gabriele Amorth and Father Esquibel go to explore the catacombs of San Sebastian Abbey, they find the skeleton of a founder of the Spanish Inquisition, Friar Alonso de Ojeda, who was also an exorcist.
The exorcist was possessed by the same demon as Henry, and its name is Asmodeus or the Devil. Amorth and Esquibel also uncover the journals of the exorcist which help them get rid of Asmodeus.
But that’s not all they find in the catacomb: the journals also contain the locations of 200 sites that are possessed by fallen angels. The triumphant duo manages to destroy one of those sites in Spain, but there are still 199 more left.
In the closing scenes of The Pope’s Exorcist, Father Lumumba tells Amorth and Esquibel that they will be visiting the rest of Asmodeus’ evil sites, with the help of a map that Amorth discovered in the Abbey, so that they can get rid of all the fragments of Asmodeus.
This tells us that Amorth and Esquibel will have a lot more thrilling adventures, one of which could potentially be the plot of a second movie.
The only obstacle might be the average reviews that The Pope’s Exorcist has gotten so far. However, it could also be an opportunity for them to make a better movie the next time. The plot has a lot of potential so it’d be interesting to see what they can come up with next.
The Real Father Amorth’s Accounts
The real Father Amorth had performed about 160,000 exorcisms throughout the course of his ministry. He wrote over thirty books in Italian and composed two memoirs of his time as an exorcist – An Exorcist Tells His Story (1990) and An Exorcist: More Stories (1992).
The Pope’s Exorcist is based on these two memoirs but the movie also discloses in the beginning that they haven’t taken any direct stories from the books.
However, they could still decide to go in a different direction if they make a sequel. There is plenty of material in Father Amorth’s memoirs to take inspiration from and there are endless stories that can be created.
So far, we haven’t received any official confirmation that there will be a The Pope’s Exorcist 2 but we have enough reason to believe that there might be. It’s only been a few days since the movie released so we’ll just have to be patient.
In case you haven’t already watched The Pope’s Exorcist, you can watch it in a theatre near you right now.
About The Pope’s Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist is a 2023 American supernatural horror film directed by Julius Avery, and starring Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth. It is based on Amorth’s memoirs An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories.
In the film, Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist for the Vatican, battles Satan and innocent-possessing demons. It is a detailed portrait of a priest who performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime.
The film also stars Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, and Franco Nero. It was released in the United States and Canada on April 14, 2023.
No Comments on The Pope’s Exorcist Ending Hints at a Possible Sequel in the Future