The First Crime Family

I remember the first time I saw "The Godfather." There was something engrossing about the film. It wasn't just the story, it was the characters, and the way the story was brought to life. It instantly became one of my favorite films, and still is to this day.

Then I read the novel. Though I still love the film, I was amazed at the depth of the book. I think I finished the novel — which is fairly long and detailed — in about two days. I was in college at the time, and I couldn't put the book down. Of course, I'm not sure how my assignments went that week.

Later, when I was reading about "The Godfather," I learned that author Mario Puzo had been inspired by a real life family. It wasn't an Italian mob family in the 1940s, but rather a Spanish family in the 1400s. Puzo's fascination with the Borgia family (whose patriarch was Pope Alexander VI) led to his final book, "The Family."

Now, the Borgia family is getting more publicity through a new series on Showtime, "The Borgias," which debuted Sunday. It is a hard story to read/watch for a few reasons. First, it's got very R-rated content. There is plenty of sexual immorality and violence. And, this is the rare production that doesn't have to artificially ramp up the levels of sex and violence because the true life tale upon which it is based is arguably more lurid.

The second reason it's tough to watch, and perhaps the most important reason, is that the family's source of power and influence is the Catholic Church. Rodrigo Borgia became Pope in 1492 and held the post until his death in 1503. His eldest son (a conflict with the idea of him being Pope in and of itself) rose to the rank of Cardinal in the Catholic Church. The idea of a man wielding vicious and corrupt power in the guise of being "God's elect" on Earth creates a stark dichotomy between what we hold dear in the Christian faith and this historical representation.

I find this particularly ironic during a time in which some modern Christian leaders point to the Islamic faith's history of conflicting messages regarding faith and violence committed in its name while ignoring the similarly flawed past of our own faith.

While I don't think Christians should celebrate this flawed past, as I believe a show like "The Borgias" is apt to do, it should serve as a reminder of the fallen nature of man. History shows a litany of examples of people who perverted the faith to suit their own ends. That is what we must seek to avoid.