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By Geneive D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | May 09, 2025 Rating: 5/5 The Essence: ‘Conclave’, viewed especially in light of the election of the new Pope, is a must-watch film; it […]
By Geneive D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | May 09, 2025
Rating: 5/5
The Essence: ‘Conclave’, viewed especially in light of the election of the new Pope, is a must-watch film; it gives the audience an insight into the Papal elections. Although it may depict the institution in a less favourable light for some, I believe the sanctity of the place and the process remain intact. It opens up one’s mind, which may lead to questions. Questions are not profane. Doubt is necessary and should not be a threat to the sacred.
“Our faith is a living thing, precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt.”
Religion and faith, while often considered similar, can have different meanings and perceptions. Religion refers to the structured system and institutions that define how people, such as Catholics, identify themselves. In contrast, faith is a deeply personal and unique experience for each individual. The film features some Cardinals who admit to experiencing crises of faith—both in their belief in God and their trust in the Church, and where it’s headed. This is what Conclave tries to convey.
Conclave (2024), directed by Edward Berger and based on the novel of the same name by Robert Harris, is a political thriller that portrays the process of papal election following the death of the Pope. I refer to it as a political thriller because the realms of religion and politics are deeply intertwined, with each influencing the other.
The responsibility of organising the Conclave falls to the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who, in the film, is Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), whose job has always been to ‘manage’.
Fiennes’ portrayal of the Dean of the College of Cardinals and the responsibility of ensuring that the Papal Staff gets passed on to the right candidate is real and raw. It’s a massive oversight that he did not win an Oscar for this role. The supporting actors, Stanley Tucci (Cardinal Bellini), Isabella Rossellini (Sister Agnes), John Lithgow (Cardinal Tremblay), Carlos Diehz (Cardinal Benitez), Sergio Castellitto (Cardinal Tedesco), among others, deliver stellar performances, each bringing authenticity to their roles as Cardinals and members of the religious order.
Director Edward Berger portrays on-screen the existence of a right and a left wing even in the Church. How the Church goes forward (or backwards) depends on the beliefs of the Pope. There emerges a debate of tradition versus its complete opposite: modernity, relativism, and liberalism. A few Cardinals feel tradition is the central and pivotal force of the institution, holding everything together. Others feel selecting someone who thinks within that paradigm will set the Church back by 60 years.
Tradition holds on to power. Tradition refuses to give way to new paths that may challenge or diminish its authority and status. The hunger for power that exists and resounds within the walls of the Vatican is found amongst both the left and the right-leaning.
Along with the human condition, however, comes the pressing need for moral responsibility, especially at the Vatican, and even more so in electing the new Pontiff. Throughout the film, while emphasising that they are human, secrets are found out.
Berger brilliantly displays incriminating evidence, documents, and investigations into the very character of the Cardinals. No one is perfect, and as Cardinal Lawrence says in his sermon, “Let Him grant us a Pope who sins and asks for forgiveness, and who carries on.” A powerful statement, which gets the Cardinals’ present looking at one another.
The hunger for power demonstrated by the Cardinals, whether subtle or overt, provides a brilliant insight into the Church and how it operates. Their actions and motives raise questions about their moral responsibility as members of the Church, especially as they are serious contenders for the Papacy.
The film also throws light on how the Cardinals and the Church view the role of nuns, sworn by a vow of secrecy, partaking in the Conclave. Here, they have been given the role of housekeeping—preparing meals and ensuring the Cardinals are well fed during the Conclave.
The cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine beautifully captures the grandeur and solemnity of the Vatican and its rituals, as well as the power it wields. The architectural magnificence of the place contrasts sharply with the moral ambiguity and decay occurring within its walls.
The dialogues by Peter Straughan are hard-hitting, giving us food for thought, especially during these trying times that the world is currently facing. Conclave urges us to think, instead of blindly following, to give space for critical thought within the institution and the doctrines it proposes. After all, the path taken by the Church is visualised based on the beliefs, values, and morals of the Pope in office.
Cardinal Benitez’s speech towards the end, while refuting the anti-Muslim cries and declarations of religious war of Cardinal Tedesco, a right-winger, effectively delivers a vital message. “Forgive me, but these last few days we have shown ourselves to be small, petty men… we have seemed concerned only with ourselves, with Rome, with these elections, with power. But things are not the Church. The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do next.” Profound.
The twist at the end with the selection of the new Pope, who is the one who wins 2/3rds of the total vote, is a true testament to what Christianity is and should be. What tradition has done for ages is perceive the world through a binary lens, understanding things only as one or another, never a bit of both. It has not allowed for a nuanced and more fluid understanding of reality. Humans, no matter how much we try, are unfortunately perceived through this binary lens as well, and the film portrays this exceptionally.
Conclave, viewed especially in light of the election of the new Pope, is a must-watch film; it gives the audience an insight into the Papal elections. Although it may depict the institution in a less favourable light for some, I believe the sanctity of the place and the process remain intact. It opens up one’s mind, which may lead to questions. Questions are not profane. Doubt is necessary and should not be a threat to the sacred.
“If there were only certainty, and no doubt, there would be no mystery…and therefore no need for faith.”
Footnote: Criticisms abound regarding the portrayal of the Cardinals in the film, particularly concerning their smoking, vaping, and alcohol usage. While some may find this offensive, it is not entirely inaccurate. The movie may have exaggerated these behaviours, but it underscores the idea that the Cardinals are still human beings with flaws. As one Cardinal pointedly states, “We serve an ideal. We cannot always be ideal.”
CREDITS
Movie: Conclave
Producers: Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Michael Jackman, Alice Dawson, and Robert Harris
Director: Edward Berger
Star Cast: Ralph Fiennes. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini
Also Read: “They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their actions.”
Also Read: Cardinal sin, the Church now has to be Militant
