The Power and the Glory recap

In a Mexican state where Catholic practice is banned, a police lieutenant hunts the last active priest. The fugitive, known for his drinking and for fathering a child, sees himself as corrupt but continues serving villagers who have no one else. The lieutenant takes hostages and executes them in an effort to force cooperation. After journeys through villages, prison, and wilderness, the priest crosses into a safer state, but returns when told that a dying American outlaw wants confession. The messenger is a mestizo seeking the reward, and the priest is arrested after attending the outlaw. The lieutenant gives his captive small kindnesses but proceeds with the execution. The priest dies fearful of his failures rather than confident of sainthood. Soon afterward another priest arrives secretly, and a boy admits him, indicating that repression has not ended the Church's presence.

In a poor Mexican port, the English dentist Mr Tench meets a shabby stranger who is trying to catch a boat. A summons to attend a dying woman makes the stranger miss his chance to leave; he is the state's last active Catholic priest. Elsewhere, a zealous police lieutenant receives authority to hunt him. The lieutenant despises a Church he believes has profited from misery and plans to take hostages from villages that shelter the fugitive. Padre José, another former priest, has obeyed the anti-clerical law by marrying and now lives in humiliation, unwilling to risk acting as a priest again.

The priest moves through settlements where people still ask for Mass and confession despite the danger. In Maria's village he is confronted with Brigitta, the daughter born from his past relationship with Maria, and with the lasting effects of his misconduct. Police close in, but the villagers do not identify him. At the isolated Fellows plantation, the competent young Coral Fellows hides him from the lieutenant. The priest continues fleeing with little food and no secure refuge, burdened by the knowledge that the authorities punish other people for his escape.

A mestizo recognizes the priest and follows him, clearly tempted by the reward. The priest cannot simply abandon the sick man, even while expecting betrayal. Later he enters a town in search of wine needed for Mass but loses the wine and is arrested for possessing liquor. In a crowded prison cell he admits that he is a priest, yet the prisoners protect him rather than hand him over. The lieutenant encounters him only as an anonymous detainee and releases him after assigning a small degrading task, so the two adversaries meet without the hunt ending.

The pursuit continues into harsher country. The priest finds evidence that places and people who helped him have suffered, while the lieutenant's hostage policy makes his continued freedom morally costly. He narrowly avoids identification and eventually reaches the neighboring state, where the Lehr siblings give him shelter. For the first time he can eat, sleep, and conduct religious services with less immediate fear. He considers remaining in safety and begins moving toward a town where he can resume a more ordinary life.

The mestizo arrives with news that the wounded American outlaw James Calver is asking for a priest. Knowing it is likely a trap, the priest nevertheless crosses back because Calver may die without confession. The outlaw dies after resisting the priest's appeals, and the waiting police arrest the priest while the mestizo secures his reward. The lieutenant offers the captive brandy and tries to obtain Padre José for him, but José is too frightened to come. After a final night of doubt and regret, the priest is shot by a firing squad. Mr Tench witnesses the execution. Later another clandestine priest comes to a family's door, and their son lets him in, confirming that religious life continues despite the execution.

After reaching safety across the state border, the priest learns that the wounded American outlaw Calver wants confession. Although he recognizes the mestizo's message as a trap, he returns because he will not leave a dying man without the sacrament. Calver dies, the mestizo claims the reward, and the lieutenant arrests the priest. The lieutenant cannot accept the priest's theology but treats him with a troubled respect, secretly providing brandy and trying unsuccessfully to bring Padre José to hear his confession. The priest spends his final night afraid that he has wasted his life and cannot repent properly. He is executed by firing squad the next morning while Mr Tench watches from a window. Later, a new fugitive priest knocks at the home of a devout family. The boy who had rejected stories of martyrdom welcomes him, showing that the state has killed one priest without extinguishing the faith it sought to destroy.