Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict. Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.

During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting.

From the legendary times of Romulus and Remus to the present day, the compelling story of the eternal city's twenty-five centuries of civilization traces the rise of Christianity over paganism through studies of Vatican art treasures.

Animated short film of Michelangelo set to Beethoven Symphony No. 5 - I. Allegro con brio.

This thought-provoking film explores the creation of Michelangelo's famed mural on the ceiling on the Sistine Chapel, a piece widely considered to be one of the finest works of the Renaissance era. Commissioned in 1508 by Pope Julius II, the nine-panel fresco took a full four years to complete and includes key scenes from the Book of Genesis, including the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the Great Flood that buoyed Noah's ark.