That scene looks like Christo meets Birnam Wood.
It seems clear to me that’s what he meant, otherwise why else would it even come up? If he didn’t have male genitalia he wouldn’t have been raised a boy or thought or himself as a man. He was surprised to find that internally he was not male.
I thought he said he was assigned male at birth. This is not a Pope Joan situation.
True.
I think the story would have been a lot more interesting if he had been physically female at birth but transgender and decided to live as a boy in his teenage years. He went to seminary where no one knew because conditions were “modest,” and then eventually worked his way up to to becoming elected Pope. Now that would have really thrown the church into a tailspin.
That would have been a different book altogether.
In case anyone is thinking that if he were 100% physically a female, then his ordination would not have been valid, a person does not have to be a priest in order to be elected Pope. He just has to be male.
A Bishop, a Cardinal, a Priest, a Deacon and even a Catholic layman can become Pope.
Yes, that’s what I’m saying.
Well, except for one Cardinal: Ralph Fiennes’ character. He’s really all alone at that moment.
Yes, he must have had a penis. And probably a scrotum. And having a very modest childhood, he didn’t realize his balls were different.
Watched it again last night. My theory that the whole thing was carefully engineered by the late Pope holds up.