Gabriele Paulini on Vatican walk

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19:30

Brissenden: Gabriele Paulini is a most unlikely prophet. Many people choose to devote their lives to a cause, but few take on anything quite as big as this.

19:37

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19:45

Brissenden: Gabriele Paulini is the condom prophet. Driven by the death of a close friend from AIDS, his mission is to educate the Italian public and change the mind of the institution the underpins the country's morals. His weapon is the one institution that more than any other reflects the modern Italian state.

19:57

Gabriele: Television is the means. Forget atomic bombs and all that, television is the real killer weapon in this world. But it is also something extraordinary – it is the only instrument that can reach so many millions of people and that’s why it should be used better.

20:15

Gabriele with tourists

Brissenden: And TV has made the condom prophet a star.

20:41

He's become as recognisable as his targets. Even poor quality edited highlights of his singular obsession sell for over a hundred dollars a pop.

20:48

Gabriele’s video

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20:58

Man in street

Man: He’s always there when we have an interview on television – on the news – with politicians or live broadcasts.

Brissenden: So you know him well?

Man: Yes, I see him a lot on television…. He’s a strange guy and now he’s very famous because he stands behind the big politicians and personalities.

21:19

Gabriele on TV

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21:40

Gabriele with photo of Pope

Gabriele: Giovvani Pualo Secondo.

Brissenden: Everyone's a target -- some are bigger than others.

21:53

Gabriele: I asked him “Did you ever have an erection? Erection … do you know what that is?” And John Paul the second in person, answered “I was once young too.”

21:59

TV grab – Gabriele in BG

Brissenden: Being a prophylactic sage is no easy job. Like the journalists he annoys, the big stories are the ones that get him going.

22:09

Reporter: You can’t always grab the centre of attention – move over to the left.

Gabriele with portable TV

Brissenden: But the condom prophet needs to know what's news before it's news, and for this he relies on help from those with even greater powers than his own. The tarot card readers who ply their trade on the Via Del Corso, just opposite the Prime Minister's office in Rome see more than just the future.

22:26

Gabriele with Tarot card reader

Gabriele: Silvio, anything new happening?

Silvio: Yes, they’ve all just gone over to Berlusconi’s office for a press conference.

Gabriele: Thanks.

22:40

Gabriele

Gabriele: My audience – I have created my audience over the years in an indirect way – passively – by intruding and symbolically violating the space of Italian journalists and managing to insert myself between the journalist and the situation and here we are in Piazza Colonna in Rome – in the centre of the capital of Italy – and it’s my second home. I’ve been here all these years and I’ve done hundreds of live links.

22:48

Reporter on TV – Gabriele in BG

Brissenden: In his own way, Gabriele Paulini has become an integral part of the whole news cycle.

23:21

Gabriele

Brissenden: Journalists know they're covering the big story when he's around. The public knows it's a big story. Local television even thought we were a big story, because of him and came to film us filming him.

23:34

Photographer

Photographer: Paulini offers truth to the media. When Paulini is behind the journalist it means what is happening is real – that it really is a live link and it justifies the fact that the cameras are there. The truth of any live link comes from Paulini’s polluting presence.

23:46

Tennis match on TV

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24:11

Brissenden

Super:

Michael Brissenden

Brissenden: Being a prophet anywhere certainly takes hard work. Being a condom prophet here in the capital of the Catholic Church takes a certain amount of dedication. From the very beginning, Gabriele wanted to ensure that we understood the seriousness of his message -- and of course we do -- he's a very funny guy. But I'm not sure that if I was an Italian journalist and I had to put up with this every day, I'm pretty sure I'd lose my sense of humour.

24:23

And there are others who find the prophet's message hard to take as well.

24:45

Gabriele with reporter

Man: Please move to the other side.

Gabriele: No … absolutely not. It’s a public space. I will not move from here. You do your job and I’ll do mine. It’s public land. You can call the guards, the police or anyone! I’m moving over here, and I will not move from this spot.

24:51

Prime Minister walks past Gabriele

Prime Minister, can I say hello? I’d like to shake your hand.

Brissenden: The Prime Minister's minders might like him to take his message elsewhere, but if anyone knows the power of television, it's Silvio Berlusconi. Television has made both the media magnate and the condom prophet.

25:10

Music

25:21

Gabriele with tourists

Woman: How do you know how to be where the action is – given all the different places?

Gabriele: Well, I always answer this question with the same joke…It’s the same as asking a doctor how he can open a patient’s stomach do the work, and close it again. My work is to pollute the television so if I didn’t know where the event was happening I wouldn’t know where the camera would be. So it needs careful research. Now, lets do you photo – let me pollute your photo by standing behind you.

Woman: Who will take the photo?

Brissenden: I will

25:26

Music

Credits:

Condom Man

Reporter: Michael Brissenden

Camera: Ron Ekkel

Editor: Garth Thomas

Producer: Viacheslav Zelenin

26:13