# The Pope Out of Service — Thus Spoke Zarathustra character guide

> The Pope Out of Service in Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0137-part-iv-lxvi-out-of-service

## Snapshot

A retired pope who has buried his God and now roams the mountains looking for the one man impious enough to be worth confessing to.

## Who they are

He comes to Zarathustra not as an enemy of faith but as its widower, grieving the God he served while admitting that this very God died of pity and old age. His reverence for Zarathustra is awkward and touching: he seeks the godless saint as a kind of replacement altar. He matters because he shows that even piety, once honest, must wander — and that the death of God leaves no one untouched, not even his former vicar.

## Relationships

### [Zarathustra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/characters/zarathustra)

_friendship_

The retired Pope, having lost his faith, seeks Zarathustra as a new spiritual guide, respecting his honesty about God's death.

### [Zarathustra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/characters/zarathustra)

_friendship_

The retired Pope, having lost his faith, seeks Zarathustra as a new spiritual guide, respecting his honesty about God's death.

## In the story

### [Out of Service](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-lxvi-out-of-service)

The last pope, now without a master, seeks Zarathustra after the death of the old God and the saint in the forest.

### [Among Daughters of the Desert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-lxxvi-among-daughters-of-the-desert)

Mentioned as having tears in his eyes and being overcome by melancholy.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-i)

Mentioned as having tears in his eyes and embarking on the sea of melancholy.

### [LXXVII: The Awakening](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-lxxvii-the-awakening)

Among the higher men kneeling and worshipping the ass, participating in the mock-religious ceremony.

### [The Ass-Festival](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-lxxviii-the-ass-festival)

Defends the worship of the ass, arguing that adoring God in any form is better than no form at all, and that the dictum 'God is a Spirit' led to unbelief.

### [The Ass Festival](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-i)

Defends adoring the ass as better than adoring no form at all, claiming greater enlightenment in divine matters.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/characters/the_pope_out_of_service
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/characters