[Scene: A dimly lit chamber, Vatican walls echoing with faint chants. Pope Malkovich sits in an austere throne. Manson kneels, his pale face lit by candlelight.]
Marilyn Manson (Brian Warner):
“My neighbor… he wore the crown of a savior in his lies. He said HE WAS JESUS. He poured me ‘holy wine,’ forced obedience through fear and devotion. Every child’s instinct to trust God… he twisted it into submission. That man wasn’t holy. He was the doorway into the network of shadows, the world of those who worship what is forbidden.”
Pope Malkovich:
“You were betrayed by a false prophet. The mask of divinity is the cruelest. Innocence stolen is not your sin, Brian. You are absolved of what was done to you, for no child bears guilt for the evils imposed upon them.”
Marilyn Manson:
“And I thought, for a moment, that I could trust my world. I watched Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, the voice of safety, the warm cardigan. And even there… the shadows followed. That network of lies found its way in through innocence itself.”
The Young Pope (Jude Law, stepping forward):
“Then let the earth judge the liars! GET MR. ROGERS CASKET!!! Fire up Mount Etna! Let the volcano roar against the false saints and false neighbors! NO RESURRECTION FOR YOU!!! Let the network burn in ash!” Says Jude Law, in jest, posing as the cloning Nazi Pope. Jude calls Mt Etna: GEHENNA! The flaming garbage dump for caskets of evildoers that are voted of the planet in a Jeff Probst Survivor: Planet Earth Thriller.
(Flames glow on the horizon. Manson lifts his hands, half defiant, half relieved. Pope Malkovich prays, the candlelight flickering like tiny absolutions.)
