Realizing this may be his last chance at positive reform in the Catholic Church, Bishop Paul decides to take his friend, Esteban’s advice and to hold an election for his replacement—a feat that has never been done in the history of the Catholic Church. In response to this act of pseudo-heresy, the Pope and Cardinal Richards decide to take legal action against the Bishop. However, when the Bishop ignores the threat, Cardinal Richards decides to speak with him in person–especially, given that the election has already yielded three candidates: a priest, a married man, and a woman (sister Catalina). In the meantime, journalist, Angie has been sent from the New York Times to cover the election. This is a job that Angie’s boss, Jefferson, is worried about because of Angie’s bias towards the Catholic Church. In Brazil, Angie meets Cardinal Richards and tries to secretly interview him, but he’s too clever and easily sees through her ruse. At around the same time, the pope has a minor heart attack, but recovers in time to see Bishop Paul’s announcement to go ahead with the election. 

Cardinal Richard’s tries to convince the Bishop to drop the election, but Paul refuses. As it turns out, Sister Catalina won the election by a decisive margin. However, in order to preserve the integrity of the church, she decides to abdicate the title, but is shot dead during a press conference before she can officially step down.

With the death of Sister Catalina, Bishop Paul is more determined than ever to hold another election. However, Richards silences Paul with threats of exposing a sordid past. In the meanwhile, a mysterious messenger returns Angie’s broken camera to her (the camera was destroyed during Sister Catalina’s murder). Angie checks the SD card and learns who the Sister’s killer was. She shows the killer’s ID to the Bishop—propelling him to do the right thing and hold a new election. In the meantime, the Pope has also come around to the Bishop’s side and wants to endorse the elections.

However, when Richard’s discovers the Pope’s change of heart, he pushes the Pope to the ground and holds an emergency meeting to remove the Pope from his station. When the Pope awakens, he finally realizes what he must do. He declares to the clergy that he will support Bishop Paul and the elections. Richards once more tries to have the Pope removed, but that’s when the Pope reveals that he knows that Richards was behind Sister Catalina’s murder. Richards confesses on tape while Angie secretly records. Richard’s is arrested and the elections go ahead as planned. 30 years later, Anna, a precocious young female becomes the world’s first female Pope.