The Young Pope Available for Download Today

Season 1 of the HBO series The Young Pope, starring Jude Law and Diane Keaton, is available for download today, with Blu-ray and DVD releases to follow June 6.

Ten episodes are available a la carte on amazon.com for $3.99 each in HD and $2.99 in standard definition (SD).

From Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino, the ten-episode limited series tells the fictional story of Lenny Belardo (Law), a.k.a. Pius XIII, the first-ever American Pope and the youngest elected by the College of Cardinals. At first glance, Lenny's selection over older and more experienced clerics—in particular Cardinal Spencer, a fellow American and Lenny's mentor—seems part of a simple media strategy by Vatican elders, who no doubt expect the new Pope to toe the line and follow their lead.

Instead, Pius XIII eschews the counsel of the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Voiello, and enlists the woman who raised him, Sister Mary (Keaton), to be his chief confidante. To the chagrin of Voiello and the PR reps who would market the handsome and charming young Pope, Lenny refuses to allow himself to be photographed, and he announces a series of severe, hardline initiatives that confound the Vatican status quo. The Young Pope paints a portrait of a mysterious, complicated man fully aware of the contradictions and consequences of being the conservative leader of a billion followers in a changing world—but unwilling to bend in the execution of his duties.

The ensemble cast includes Jude Law (Lenny Belardo), Diane Keaton (Sister Mary), Scott Shepherd (Cardinal Dussolier), James Cromwell (Cardinal Spencer), Ludivine Sagnier (Esther), Silvio Orlando (Cardinal Voiello), Cécile De France (Sofia), Javier Cámara (Monsignor Bernardo Alonso Gutierrez), Toni Bertorelli (Cardinal Caltanissetta), and more.

All 10 episodes were directed and edited by Paolo Sorrentino, co-writer and director of The Great Beauty and winner of an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2014.

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