VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican newspaper has broken a yearlong silence and weighed in on director Paolo Sorrentino's "The Young Pope," giving the TV series a generally positive review despite what it called the "frivolous" and "grotesque" way the show painted the Vatican and the papacy.

L'Osservatore Romano dedicated a two-page spread in Sunday's edition to the 10-episode series, which began airing in Italy in October 2016 and in North America earlier this year.

The main essay was written by Juan Manuel de Prada, a Spanish intellectual who explored the contradictions in the character of Pope Pius XIII, played by Jude Law, and in the Vatican hierarchy, as presented by the series.

The newspaper's silence during the Italian run was notable, since other Catholic media were almost unanimous in their criticism.