By DCist contributor Michelle Delgado
On HBO’s The Young Pope, LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” blares shrilly as Jude Law dons a series of elaborate papal vestments. The midpoint of the show’s season brought the famously trippy sequence, which also came with a prominent shout-out to the District: the papal tiara that once belonged to Paul VI is delivered to the Vatican from D.C. and lowered dramatically by helicopter.
Outside of The Young Pope‘s set, the real-life papal tiara, or “Triregnum,” of Pope Paul VI actually does reside in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Michigan Avenue, occupying a corner of the Catholic University campus in Brookland.
In addition to serving as a prominent shrine to the Virgin Mary, the basilica also contains over a century of historic records and the world’s largest collection of contemporary ecclesiastical art. Among these collections, the papal tiara, given to Paul VI from the people of Milan, is on display.
Cone-shaped and made of silver, it’s unusually simple compared to other papal tiaras, though it is still ringed with three jewel-encrusted crowns that represent the spiritual and political dimensions of the pope’s office.
From the beginning of his papacy in 1963 until his death in 1978, Paul VI was known for implementing significant reforms that transformed both the Catholic church’s inner workings and the Vatican’s international relationships. In 1964, Paul VI dramatically gave up the papal tiara in a gesture of humility meant “to show that the authority of the pope is not tied to temporal power,” Vatican sources told the New York Times at the time.
Paul VI’s decision created a rift between supporters and critics, with some opponents going as far as accusing him of being an “antipope.” Cardinal Archbishop of New York City Francis Spellman—a politically influential church official who once engaged Eleanor Roosevelt in a “vitriolic public debate” over education—received the tiara in recognition of funds that American Catholics raised for the needy. The tiara toured the United States for several years in a campaign to raise additional funds for charity before coming to rest in its current home in the Basilica in 1968.
Back in the world of HBO, director Paolo Sorrentino told the fictional story of the first American pope, Lenny Belardo (played by Law), who is elected under the assumption that his relative youth would allow power-hungry cardinals to use him as a puppet. To everyone’s shock, the young pope does not compromise, instead emerging as a ruthless authoritarian bent on returning the Catholic Church to its most conservative and unpopular rendering yet.
Privately troubled by a long-ago abandonment by his hippie parents, Lenny toys unpredictably with his power, upending centuries of tradition with idiosyncratic media strategies and a manipulative grasp on the Vatican’s internal politics. (Sound familiar?)
The tiara’s arrival is the catalyst Lenny has been waiting for; with the final accessory in place, he’s gathered everything he needs to make a dazzling show of power before the cardinals. Costume designer Carlo Poggioli calls the ensuing scene, in which Lenny is carried into the Sistine Chapel on a sedan chair, “the true jewel of the film!”.
A decade after the real-life papal tiara came to the Basilica, The Washington Post reported that it was still attracting curious tourists. Notably, Mother Teresa gave the shrine her approval after a visit in 1975. In 1977, an offering box near the tiara’s display collected over $30,000—a sum nearly equivalent to the tiara’s estimated value at the time.
The collection box is still there, collecting donations for the Holy Father’s fund for the poor. The Papal Tiara is encased nearby, well-preserved and available for viewing every day, whether visitors are part of one of the free guided or audio tours given daily, or just exploring the Basilica on their own.
To find the display, seek the bridge between Memorial Hall and the Hall of American Saints on the Crypt Level of the Basilica. You’ll be one of the nearly one million visitors who pass through the Basilica annually (though you might be the first to be drawn there by HBO).
Meanwhile, subsequent popes have refrained from donning papal tiaras in keeping with Paul VI’s precedent.
As The Young Pope dramatically illustrates, recalling the tiara back to the Vatican would upset decades of precedent in the Catholic church. For now, it will continue to live in D.C., alongside Washingtonians who might not realize its proximity or significance, for the foreseeable future.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (400 Michigan Ave NE) is open to visitors every day from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. between April and October and from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. from November 1 – March 31.
