What happens in The Pope’s Exorcist ending? Russell Crowe plays the real-life priest Father Gabriele Amorth in the horror movie from Overlord director Julius Avery, which follows the titular demon-hassler from the Vatican to Spain in order to take on his most terrifying case of possession ever.
The new movie marks Crowe’s first foray into the horror movie world, with one of the best actors of his generation throwing himself headlong into the spooky world of shouted prayers and desperate Latin recitations. He plays Amorth as he travels to Spain and works with local priest Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) to investigate the possession of a 12-year-old boy who recently moved into a disused abbey.
Amorth squares off with the demon to find out what he wants from the child and, by the time The Pope’s Exorcist ending comes around, we know exactly what the demon has planned. So let’s dive into the thriller movie‘s dramatic conclusion.
What happens at the end of The Pope’s Exorcist?
In The Pope’s Exorcist ending, Father Amorth successfully exorcises the demon and vows with Father Esquibel to take down the other demons plotting all over the world.
As the third act begins, Amorth and Esquibel find out that the demon possessing young Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) is Asmodeus, King of Hell. His goal is to possess an exorcist and release other fallen angels and demons to bring down the Church. Asmodeus manages the first half of the plan, when Amorth urges the demon to possess him rather than cause more suffering to Henry and his family.
Amorth attempts to stop the demon by taking his own life, but he begins to lose control. Esquibel finds him sat on a throne in the catacombs beneath the abbey, speaking with the demonic voice of Ralph Ineson. Esquibel prays and convinces Amorth to fight back with prayers of his own.
The demons try to mess with the two priests by manifesting apparitions of the women they had been unable to save, but the good guys are able to triumph and finish the exorcism in an explosive display of pyrotechnics. After all of that, the two men are able to sit and share a drink together.
Back at the Vatican, Amorth and Esquibel are personally thanked by the Pope on behalf of the Church. They look through the friar’s diary they recovered from beneath the abbey, which reveals the locations of the other demonic sites Asmodeus had been hoping to awaken. Esquibel says “let’s go to work,” to which Amorth responds: “let’s go to hell”.
An on-screen title card then explains that Amorth continued to serve the Catholic Church until his death in 2016 at the age of 91.
Is there a post-credits scene on The Pope’s Exorcist?
No, The Pope’s Exorcist does not have a post-credits scene.
After the on-screen text explains how Father Amorth spent the final years of his life, that’s it for The Pope’s Exorcist. There’s a line in the production notes about “the James Bond of exorcists”, so a franchise is not out of the question, but we don’t get a Marvel-style tease about the future adventures of the bearded priest.
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