The Pope is great, but he doesn't know everything — a subversive assertion that even the highest authority has limits. Romans, living in the shadow of the Vatican, developed a sardonic relationship with papal power, respecting its grandeur while refusing to surrender their own judgment entirely.
Rome's relationship with the papacy is the most intimate and complex of any city's relationship with a religious institution in the world. For over a thousand years the Pope was not only the spiritual leader of Western Christendom but also the temporal ruler of Rome and the Papal States, a territory covering much of central Italy. Romans lived under direct papal government — with its censors, its Inquisition, its elaborate court hierarchy — until 1870, when the Italian army breached the Aurelian Walls and incorporated Rome into the Kingdom of Italy. Despite centuries of deference, Roman popular culture always maintained a streak of irreverence toward the papacy, expressed in anonymous pasquinate (satirical verses posted on the 'talking statues' of Rome, particularly Pasquino near Piazza Navona). This proverb captures that irreverence: the acknowledgment that the Pope is great is genuine, but so is the qualification that follows.
The tradition of satirizing papal authority through the 'talking statues' of Rome — particularly Pasquino, Marforio, and Madama Lucrezia — dates to the fifteenth century and represents the most sustained tradition of popular political satire in Italian history.
A Roman doctor disagrees with a patient who cites religious grounds against treatment
Capisco la fede, ma er Papa è grande e nun sa tutto — la medicina è medicina.
I understand the faith, but the Pope is great but doesn't know everything — medicine is medicine.
A Trastevere local ignores a Vatican pronouncement on local customs
Hanno detto che non si deve fare così. Ma er Papa è grande e nun sa tutto — noi andiamo avanti.
They said it shouldn't be done this way. But the Pope is great but doesn't know everything — we carry on.
A Roman journalist uses the phrase to question official Church statements
Er Papa è grande e nun sa tutto — anche lui si fida di chi lo informa.
The Pope is great but doesn't know everything — he too relies on who informs him.
A Roman grandmother uses it to maintain her own authority in the kitchen
Il parroco dice di digiunare, ma er Papa è grande e nun sa tutto. A tavola si mangia.
The priest says to fast, but the Pope is great but doesn't know everything. At the table we eat.