Conclave is a 2024 mystery thriller film directed by Edward Berger and written by Peter Straughan, based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris’ novel; the film stars Ralph Fiennes.
By Kevin Mansell
Kevin Mansell lives in Newham, London and was brought up as a Catholic. He still follows religious and theological issues but has not attended Mass for over two decades. He is pessimistic about the prospects for change in the Roman Catholic Church.
“The Catholic Church is one of the most reactionary, conservative, sexist and misogynistic institutions in the world. Despite women being the mainstay of Catholic worshippers, they cannot become priests, and perforce cannot become Bishops or Cardinals. This is despite the strong role of women in Jesus’ life as described in the Gospels, and in the early Church.”
Conclave, set in beautiful Rome, is about the election of a Pope, the Ayatollah of the Roman Catholic Church. When a Pope dies, all the Cardinals of the Church, known as the ‘College’ are summoned to Vatican City in Rome to elect his successor. Normally there are over one hundred Cardinals, who are appointed from time to time by the sitting Pope from all over the world. So a Conclave is like a conference, but with one specific task, an election.
Conclaves do not come along very often: since WW2, there have been only six. Popes generally are approaching 60 years of age on appointment, and they hold the office until they die which is often in their late 80s, with one recent exception where a Pope was allowed to retire due to sickness. For most of the past 200 years, Popes have been Italian, because most Cardinals have been Italian. However, since 1978, there has been a succession of non-Italian Popes: a Pole, a German and an Argentinian, and the only Italian to break that sequence in 1978 died after only 3 weeks, whereas normally they can last up to 20 years or more.
The drama of the film is that there are four favourites runners (‘papabili’ seen to be possible Popes), who need to be supported by two-thirds of the College to be selected; an African conservative, an American liberal, a Canadian moderate and an Italian traditionalist. One Cardinal – an Englishman (Ralph Fiennes)- takes charge of the ballots which are held in a locked Sistine Chapel, which has arguably the most beautiful ceiling in the world, painted by Michelangelo in the 16thcentury. Throughout they are dressed in their fine robes. The Cardinals are locked in and not allowed out until they have chosen a new Pope; in extreme cases this can take weeks and multiple ballots. Each time a ballot fails, black smoke appears from a chimney above St Peter’s. When, finally, a Pope is chosen, the world is told ‘Habemus Papam’ (we have a Pope) and white smoke appears. Popes are always clad in white. In Conclave, seven ballots are required over a week.
The Catholic Church is one of the most reactionary, conservative, sexist and misogynistic institutions in the world. Despite women being the mainstay of Catholic worshippers, they cannot become priests, and perforce cannot become Bishops or Cardinals. This is despite the strong role of women in Jesus’ life as described in the Gospels, and in the early Church. Other Christian churches have in recent times allowed women priests, and the Anglican Communion in the UK has had female bishops for some years, though not yet an Archbishop. The Catholic Church even forbids girls to be altar servers, those who assist the priest at Mass.
‘Conclave’ cleverly conveys the twists and tensions around the election, double-crossing and manoeuvring between the main contenders, between liberals and conservatives, different nationalities and continents, and races. Here, Isabella Rossellini (Ingrid Bergman’s wonderful daughter) plays a fine cameo role. The final twist in the plot revolves around an Archbishop, who the Pope appointed secretly to the diocese of Kabul, and who preaches a revolutionary strain of Christianity advocating peace, equality and social justice. Candidates fall by the wayside, due to allegations such as corruption and fathering children – Catholic clergy are meant to be celibate – in which the nuns serving the Conclave play a central part. At one point, a terrorist attack takes place in Rome, partly damaging the Chapel, which then influences the final choice of Pontiff – which means ‘bridgebuilder’ – thus describing the Pope’s role as God’s representative on Earth, the successor to St Peter, the ‘rock’ whom Jesus chose to head the Church two thousand years ago.
After a Pope is elected, before an announcement is made to the waiting world, he is normally made to sit on a specially designed chair, which allows his testicles to be felt beneath the seat. Such is the horror at the prospect of a woman being elected Pope by subterfuge, which allegedly happened once in the 14th century when the only English Pope, Pope Joan was elected. The film does not show this though!! But there is one final bombshell involving sexuality and gender.
