The Detroit News by Tom Long

Lush, often surreal, filled with contradictory characters and backstabbing intrigue, The Young Pope is one of the more remarkable television shows in memory.

IndieWire by Ben Travers

The Young Pope is wickedly funny and deeply insightful.

Washington Post by Hank Stuever

Despite the pace, the show is a chilling, challenging and visually stunning piece of work.

Time by Daniel D'Addario

The Young Pope is as compellingly watchable as anything else you’ll find on TV. Sorrentino intuitively understands that which makes Catholicism--with its crosscurrents of guilt and exuberant hope as well as the opulent pageantry of the Vatican--fascinating grist for storytelling. And he’s unafraid to go what seems at first too far in service of a story that finds the universal in one warped leader’s specificities.

Under The Radar by Joseph Ragusa

In the end, it's Law's incredible performance--certainly one of his best--that makes Lenny compelling, mysterious, and complex. We can't help but fall under his charismatic spell and stick with him through trying moments.

Variety by Maureen Ryan

The spontaneity rumbling through The Young Pope illuminates the unruly possibilities of human and spiritual connection, and its sly, deadpan wit is often a delight.

Newsday by Verne Gay

The Young Pope is a fascinating mess with a puckish sense of humor and an outsized goal--to know the mind of God.

Uncle Barky by Ed Bark

Intellectually challenging while arguably also going off the rails more than a few times, The Young Pope has its work cut out in luring a sizable audience.

The Atlantic by Sophie Gilbert

The Young Pope is frequently tedious in a very dazzling way. But it’s also an extraordinary portrait of the kind of loneliness and neediness that sparks in some men an almost psychopathic quest to dominate others, and of the myopic enablers who convince themselves that their work is God’s plan.

Boston Globe by Matthew Gilbert

[Paulo Sorrentino] invents a coolly seductive physical world to match the oddness of his story. Even as The Young Pope slowly moves among its different tones--serious religious drama, soap opera, satire, dystopian nightmare--it remains consistent in one important quality: stark originality.