Summaries

Synopsis

Opening in the year 1943, inside an American Catholic church, John Flaherty (Christopher Reeve) is ordained as a priest and is included among a group of young men who will soon depart to serve as Army chaplains in Europe during World War II. In his first act as a priest, Flaherty officiates a Catholic marriage ceremony for his childhood friend, Lodo Varese (Joe Cortese), and dances with the maid of honor (Ritza Brown). The bride's father (Joe Spinell), compliments Flaherty's devotion, but quietly disapproves of him socializing with any woman.

Some months later, in the war-torn Italian countryside, Flaherty crawls toward dying soldier, Musso (Joe Pantoliano), and blesses his soul for passage into heaven. After the man dies, Flaherty shakily grabs a .50 caliber machine gun and shoots at an incoming line of enemy German soldiers, stopping the attack.

Another few months later, Flaherty is informed that he has been summoned to Vatican City in Rome, Italy. There, he meets Bishop Walkman (Robert J. Prosky), the liaison officer between the Vatican and the U.S. Army, who cites Flaherty's college education in accounting and hires him to work as the Vatican's financial advisor. Walkman advises the young priest to use his charming personality to his advantage, but to keep his head down and follow orders.

The next day, Flaherty meets with Cardinal Secretary Santoni (Fernando Rey). Santoni, who holds out his hand for Flaherty to kiss his ring. Flaherty shakes his hand instead, explaining that he is unworthy because he sinned while committing murder on the battlefield. Impressed with the young man, Santoni extends his hand again, and this time, Flaherty kisses the jeweled finger.

Three months later, Flaherty has his own office and Bishop Walkman instructs him to stay at Vatican after the news of the war being over in May 1945 arrives in Rome. When a cleric announces that Varese has arrived at the Vatican, Flaherty embraces his friend, relieved to find him returned from the battlefield alive. Varese drives Flaherty in his jeep to an army storeroom containing piles of supplies, many from the Vatican commissary, and explains that he sells them in black market dealings with the local Mafia.

Later, Flaherty convinces Santoni to ease the Vatican's debt by cheaply purchasing the Vatican's supplies from American commissaries and then selling them for profit. He claims that the donations will help the church while diverting money from Italy's criminals. Although Santoni worries that the arrangement could hurt the Church's image, Flaherty offers to take full responsibility, and Santoni grants him complete control of the commissary. After Santoni adorns Flaherty with a pectoral cross, Flaherty bounds out of the office and runs into Cardinal Vinci (Adolfo Celi), who congratulates the priest on his achievements but reminds him of the power of choice. In the supply room, Varese warns his friend that the Mafioso, Don Appolini (Jason Miller), is a dangerous man.

Together, they travel to Appolini's home in Sicily, where Flaherty proposes to sell him the Vatican's unused American cigarettes. The Mafia boss, however, refuses to get involved in a scheme that steals from the church. After mass that afternoon, Appolini reconsiders the deal and offers to split the profits, with Varese heading the operation. Removing the crucifix pins from his army uniform, Flaherty urges Appolini to call him "Finnigan" for all business dealings, and receives a briefcase containing $50,000.

On the rainy drive back from Appolini's house, the two friends pick up a French nun and her students. Flaherty takes a liking to a postulate named Clara (Geneviève Bujold), and tells her his name is Lieutenant Finnigan. Once in Rome, he returns to the Vatican and presents Santoni with the cash.

The following week, Flaherty, dressed in his military outfit, finds Clara wandering in the ruins of the Roman Forum, and arranges to meet with her in an ecclesiastical bookstore later that day. Meanwhile, a priest claims to have seen Flaherty consorting with Varese in the black market, and reports him to Vinci and Santoni. Santoni agrees to promote the cleric, putting him in a post that will keep him from investigating further.

That evening, Flaherty brings Clara to the bedroom attached to Varese's supply room. Swallowing a glass of champagne, Flaherty kisses her; before they make love, she admits that she has been a postulate for two years because the sisters doubt her commitment. Later, Flaherty confesses his carnal sins to a cardinal, revealing his priesthood and his romantic feelings for Clara.

Over dinner with Appolini, Flaherty proposes to use Appolini's Swiss bank account to open legitimate businesses that will covertly support the Vatican's finances after the war. One afternoon, on a rooftop terrace, Clara and Flaherty confess their love for one another, but Clara suspects that Flaherty is keeping his true identity hidden.

While participating in a ceremony for the Pope (Leonardo Cimino), Clara catches sight of Flaherty in his clerical robes and they lock eyes across the chapel. After Flaherty is appointed as monsignor, she scorns him for his deception and proclaims she will never forgive him, and thus walks out on him forever. Varese and the heartbroken Flaherty drunkenly cavort with prostitutes when Appolini barges in and instructs Varese to clean up his act. Feeling as if he has lost his way, Flaherty gives his necklace to Father Francisco (Tomas Milian), but Francisco insists that God will never lose faith in him.

The film skips forward several years later in the 1950s. Flaherty has become a cardinal, but under his alias Mr. Finnigan, he continues to do business deals when out of his red clerical robe. Varese conducts a multi-million dollar business deal that puts him under investigation by various international banks; the cardinals of the Church convene with the Pope to inform him that Varese has absconded $40 million in cash and lost $600 million of the Church's money. Revealing that they have been secretly monitoring Flaherty's corrupt business dealings for the past six months, the clergy decide to remove him from the papal committee.

Flaherty meets with the Pope privately, requesting time to devise a plan that will save the Vatican's finances and reputation before leaving the Vatican and renouncing his collar. Flaherty meets with the terminally ill Appolini, who agrees to front the Church with enough money to cover their debts, but claims that Varese fled to New York City. Appolini swears on the cross that he will allow Varese to live, and Flaherty flies to the U.S. to find his friend.

In an apartment in New York, Varese admits that he stole the money because he was tired of helping Appolini become rich, while receiving no share of the profits himself. To keep him from being arrested by the government and causing further scandal for the Vatican, Flaherty forces Varese to promise to seek refuge in a New York City monastery; however, after Flaherty leaves, Varese books a seat on a flight. On his way out of the apartment, the ailing Appolini arrives with three mobsters and kills him.

In the final scene, after many months working in a quiet Italian monastery, Flaherty returns to the Vatican and is offered a position by Father Francisco, who draws him into an embrace.