"The exact news came from the company's European branch..."

In the living room of Wave Manor, Bill Roses took the coffee handed over by Gal Gadot and continued to Murphy, "Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed that he is going to retire."

"Oh?" Murphy became interested, "When exactly?"

Bill Rossis put down his coffee cup and said, "The Vatican Church will convene a press conference to officially announce the news."

Gal Gadot poured Murphy another cup of coffee, put it on the small coffee table in front of him, and asked Bill Roses, "Who is the one who took over the pope?"

"Cardinal Cardinal Francis," said Bill Roses.

Murphy scratched his head, obviously not knowing who Cardinal Cardinal Francis was.

"He." Gal Gadot had obviously heard of the name, explaining to Murphy, "Argentinians, formerly the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Argentina."

"And..." Bill Rossis added, "If Benedict XVI was the representative of the conservatives of the Vatican Church, Francis could be said to be the leader of the open party."

Gal Gadot was not clear about these things. He heard Bill Roses say this and couldn't help but frown, "Does the church want to make reforms in this regard?"

"Even reforms are extremely limited." Murphy disagreed with Gal Gadot's statement, "Sitting in the position of the pope, one must protect the interests of the entire Holy See."

Bill Rossis nodded, "That's right."

Just like the rotating chairman of the School of Film Arts and Sciences, no matter what the internal situation is, the interests of the Hollywood film industry must be protected externally, otherwise this position will not be stable at all.

In Murphy's conjecture, in some ways, the Catholic Church actually has some similarities with national politics. For example, the people always want political leaders to represent their voices to come to power, but every politician who comes to power first protects the interests of the vested interest class, and then others...

Therefore, no matter who the new pope is, it will not really change the current situation of Catholicism.

This kind of reform promoted from the inside is often more difficult than reform promoted from external forces.

Bill Roses picked up the coffee cup and took a sip of the coffee, and said, "It is said that Francis has a great difference with Benedict XVI's philosophy. He believes that the Holy See should use more severe measures to correct internal problems."

"So he is still a little more enlightened than Benedict XVI." Gal Gadot said.

Murphy continued, "The more he hides his cover, the more he doesn't let others say it, and the more he restricts his speech, the more guilty he is actually."

There was an old saying in the place where he lived, "Defending the people is more important than defending the river." Perhaps powerful power can temporarily suppress speeches that are unfavorable to oneself, and even make many people compromise and have to act according to their will. However, when these accumulate to a certain level, huge energy will burst out, breaking everything they maintain.

Various Catholic scandals that broke out since last year were so vigorous. Murphy and Twentieth Century Fox actually just started. The crazy follow-up of the media and the public was actually a collective outbreak of dissatisfaction with the Catholicism in the past many years.

This crazy outbreak directly led to the resignation of the current pope.

In the following days, in addition to continuing to be busy with the promotional and public relations of "Focus", Murphy took time to pay attention to the changes in the Vatican Holy See.

As he thought, the Vatican Church has many similarities to the political rights change of a country to a large extent.

Many European media suddenly revealed that Pope Benedict XVI's brother Rasingh had a serious child sexual assault incident in the choir led by him in 1960. He knew that he did not report the suspect and shelter. Although Rasingh has denied it, these sexual assault scandals have once again severely damaged the image of Catholicism.

In addition, the Vienna Junior Choir, who was later in charge, also broke out in a sexual assault scandal. Two former choir members accused that they were forced to clean their lower bodies in front of choir managers from 1985 to 1987...

Anyone with some political sense can perceive it, and all this is directly directed to Pope Benedict XVI himself.

Soon, the Vatican convened a press conference and announced that Benedict XVI decided to retire due to physical reasons. The Holy See will select a suitable successor among the existing Cardinal Cardinals in Red.

This news instantly shocked the entire Western world.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Benedict XVI retired due to physical reasons only an excuse. The series of scandals about Catholicism that have broken out in the past ten months are probably the real reason.

Even gossip tabloids like the British "Sun" have been hyped up on the front page headlines like "Benedict XVI was ousted by Murphy Stanton and Hollywood movies."

Murphy ignored this hype, but the news from the Vatican attracted him.

Although the Vatican Church has not officially announced it, according to the situation under Caa, it has become a foregone conclusion that Francis will take over as the new pope. Compared with his predecessor, this person seems to be more suitable for this highly informatized society.

The Vatican has begun crisis public relations for the various criticisms the Holy See has recently received for "Focus".

The new spokesperson for the Holy See said at a regular press conference that "Focus", which tells the Catholic sexual assault scandal, faithfully depicts how Catholics try to defend their position when facing the "cruel truth", but is not so anti-Catholic.

Immediately afterwards, some scrupulous articles appeared on many mainstream European media.

The Roman Observer commented: "Sexual offenders are not necessarily dressed in clergy clothes, and pedophiles do not necessarily come from making a vow of chastity and abstinence. But now it is clear that too many people in Catholics care about their image in the church, which is better than the seriousness of this behavior."

The Italian newspaper said: "As a proxy of God, no matter who uses his power to abuse innocent people, he cannot rationalize this extremely serious sin for these reasons: this is clearly expressed in the film."

They also argued: "The description of the film "Focus" is persuasive in itself, and it is not an anti-Catholic film."

Subsequently, Francis became the new pope of the Vatican Church as expected.

He claimed at his inauguration that "the public still trusts the Catholic Church and the Pope, and I am continuing to promote the Catholicism to launch reform actions."

Francis announced the establishment of a moral review committee in the Holy See, and any pastor involved in child molestation will be severely punished...

After seeing Francis become the new pope, Murphy did not pay much attention to Catholic information, and would not be foolish in quarrel with the Catholic Church again. "Focus" has been released with the attention of countless people, so there is no need to do anything like adding to the sarcasm.

As for the tabloid hype and his movies that made Benedict XVI deposed, only those simple-minded people would believe that these were just giving those people in the church different from Benedict XVI to attack. Although I don’t know how much power Francis represents, Murphy knew very well that without this power, Archbishop Marquez Costello would be enough to take the blame.

A fortress as powerful as Catholicism can only be broken by internal forces.

According to the speculation of Caa and Bill Rossis, Francis chose this time period to launch, which is somewhat related to "Focus". Before "Focus" expands the scale of the screening, it may be a good public relations to put on a lower posture.

However, this is also beneficial to "Focus" itself.

After all, on the surface, this film directly affects the level of pope change...

A movie on the screen has enough topics, good reputation, and various ways to widely spread fame. In addition to the strong director's brand effect, it is not difficult to guess what box office results will be achieved after the screening scale is expanded.

Twentieth Century Fox and Carafes adjusted the distribution strategy of "Focus" in a timely manner based on the current social situation. On the second weekend, the number of North American screening theaters of this film increased from 10 to more than 1,800.

In just one week, from contacting theaters to preparing for copying, Twentieth Century Fox did all his work almost perfectly, fully demonstrating the super strength of the six major Hollywood companies.

"Spotlight"'s performance did not disappoint Murphy and Twentieth Century Fox either.

The theme and type of this film are indeed not in line with the mainstream appreciation tastes of the market, but the scandal about Catholicism has been shaking in North America for ten months, creating countless people who care about it and creating a good market environment for "Focus".

Anyone who has a little understanding of the film market knows how much impact the social environment has on a movie.

On the first day after the expanded screening, on Friday, "Focus" won $9.8 million from North American theaters; on Saturday, the box office trend continued to rise, with a huge increase of $12.3 million on the same day.

With the $9.2 million gained on Sunday, "Spotlight" won $31.3 million in the second weekend, easily winning the North American box office rankings that week.

There is also the box office of $1.1 million that was previously awarded for pre-screening, and the cumulative box office of North America reached $32.4 million, which will soon exceed the production cost line.

What complements the box office is the reputation of the film. As the scale of the screening expands, the reputation of "Focus" has not fallen at all. Whether it is Internet ratings and media ratings, professional comments and movie fans' opinions, they all remain at the previous level.

This is very rare for a film that has been rapidly expanded from pre-screening.
Chapter completed!