Page - 134 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

events or in response to meeting a celebrity. Knoblauch argues that mass media support the development of forms of “popular religion” (184). The pope as popstar is a notion which appears in several contributions. Peter Fuchs writes explicitly on the phenomenon of pop, which has become a frequently deployed frame for contemporary thinking and perceptions. He characterizes this “execution and symbol of modernity” (145) as impressive in producing novelties and trends in all cultural spheres while at the same time functioning as “machinery” (144) to deal with the world’s transiency by point- ing hedonistically at the body and its ability for emotional and aesthetical ex- perience and enjoyment. In its mere immanence, pop works with techniques of exaltation to create glamour and singularity. However, its most significant feature is its fundamental homogenization in the sense of exchangeability: the popstar is not an absolute celebrity – he or she can be uninteresting tomorrow. The exaltation of a person is random and certainly not eternal. Such homogeni- zation and the recurrence of total immanence are problematic for the church’s mediation of the absolute truth, yet Fuchs discovers a perhaps surprising num- ber of connections between pop and church. Without going into great detail, he states that the church is already adapting features of pop culture that seem beneficial to it. I would say that one can see this happening in the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, for instance, in which emotion and popular aes- thetics play a significant role while their members continue to cling to strong identificatory references (e.g. the concrete community). Fuchs proposes that in the institution of the pope, the Catholic Church already has “preadaptive ad- vances” (145)3 at its disposal that could probably be elaborated through their convergence with the phenomenon of pop. It is helpful to consider how the pope has already gained the status of a star – even if only fictitiously. Marcus Stiglegger examines the role of the papacy in entertainment media and analyzes the iconic presence of the pope in film. In addition to legends concerning the female Pope Joan and discussion of Pius XII’s relationship with Nazi Germany, the most prominent motif in this medium is of the Holy Father as a tragic figure who can only fail in his task of represent- ing Christ on earth. The discrepancy between the personal worldly existence and the task of holding a highly symbolic, not to say mythological, office pre- disposes the pope to serve as a perfect central figure for tragicomical narrative material. Which brings us back to the question of authenticity. This volume can shed only limited light on this wide-ranging complex of themes. The contributions make evident the many different perspectives from which one can approach the combination of the terms “pope” and “media”. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to hear – in addition to personal expe- 3 English original. 134 | Isabella Bruckner www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1