#benitez

Lomeli's internal monologue every time Benítez or Sister Agnes do something stern or say something that demonstrates that they both have spines of steel is very funny, actually. Nothing more catholic than a deeply celibate man who also clearly wants to get bisexually stepped on.

kicking my legs and giggling over the fact that the turtles so obviously symbolize benitez. ofc we all know the fable of the tortoise and the hare (i know tortoises aren't turtles, but they're closely related enough for it to still work), with its motto of "slow and steady wins the race"- which is exactly how benitez won the papacy, in a way. but also, lawrence mentions that sometimes the turtles stray too far from the pond and get struck by cars in the busy street. near the end of the film, we have a scene of lawrence picking up a turtle and bringing it safely back to the pond; before this was the scene of benitez's confession to lawrence that he's intersex. in turn, the turtle rescue scene so obviously symbolizes lawrence keeping benitez's secret safe and protecting him.