The 2024 mystery thriller film Conclave, which is already one of the favorites to be nominated for the Oscars, presents a fascinating insight into the extremely private affair of a papal conclave, although it is a fictional take on it. Adapted from Robert Harris’ novel by the same name, the film follows the events of a papal conclave after the passing of the current pope, with the dean, Thomas Cardinal Lawrence taking up the responsibility of overseeing the whole process of choosing the new pope. While Conclave’s ending might be controversial to some, the unusual implication of it and a number of other themes throughout the film make it a very interesting watch.
Spoiler Alert
What is the film about?
Conclave begins with Thomas Cardinal Lawrence hurriedly walking towards the Vatican City, clutching his briefcase and his skullcap in a tight grip, evidently tense and upset about the situation he is currently in. As he enters the main papal chambers and walks up to the resting chambers of the pope, the reason for his stressed countenance becomes clear. The pope is on his deathbed, and as he and the other clergymen pray for the man, it becomes evident to them that the religious leader has passed away. Amidst the grief of having lost a long-serving colleague and guide, Cardinal Lawrence and the others have to oversee the customs following the death of the pope, which begins with the rather forceful removal of the Piscatory Ring from the corpse. The Throne of the Holy See is officially announced to be vacant, meaning that preparations for the election of a new pope have to be started.
Three weeks later, the conclave is set to begin, and the necessary steps to ensure the secrecy and solemnity of the whole procedure are maintained. Signal jammers and anti-laser glass windows are put up while Cardinal Lawrence prepares for the arrival of the cardinals from all over the world, who would be participating in the election process. Lawrence already has a favorite candidate for the position of the pope—his friend, Cardinal Bellini, an American priest who firmly believes in and propagates the need to embrace liberal thoughts and keep up with the changing times. Bellini seems to be a favorite among the other cardinals as well, while his direct rival happens to be the Italian Cardinal Tedesco, who is a staunch believer in traditionalist Catholicism. Tedesco wants the Church to return to its conservative roots and ignore all liberal thoughts and preachers like Bellini.
Cardinal Adeyemi, hailing from Nigeria, happens to be a popular candidate as well, with him and his supporters keen on grabbing the opportunity to have a Black man as the pope for the first time. Cardinal Tremblay, another important priest from Canada, is also a popular candidate, although his thoughts and beliefs are not really very clear to anyone. Lastly, some consider Cardinal Lawrence to be a fit candidate to be the next pope as well, although he does not have any interest in the position. Instead, Lawrence focuses on ensuring that the conclave is carried out perfectly and the new pope is elected without any hitches. But he realizes the immense struggle of the job when secrets about each of the candidates start to come out, making the election of the new pope a rather difficult task.
How does the religious affair turn political?
The modern and swanky offices and halls inside of Vatican City, where administrative matters take precedence over the usual religious affairs otherwise associated with the place, often seem like spaces we are more used to seeing at corporate offices and buildings. Not having such modern amenities and features does not make sense in these times either, and so every religious institution, no matter how old they may be, has to adapt to certain aspects of modernity, like the glass windows to keep out lasers. Therefore, it is also perhaps not too strange that the papal conclave, which is meant to be mostly a religious and spiritual matter, actually turns rather political once the proceedings begin. In this context, it might be argued that the election of a new pope has always had a certain degree of politics involved in it, but the particular fictional one that we are allowed to witness has a sense of modern tactical politics being in play.
When the papal conclave begins, Cardinal Bellini is considered a solid contender and a favorite to become the next pope, but then he receives a considerably low number of votes in the first round. He initially blames Lawrence for not telling his supporters to vote for the man, as Lawrence somehow receives a few votes despite claiming to not be interested in the position. This makes Bellini believe that Lawrence must be secretly scheming to become the next pope, and he angrily blames him for making people like Tedesco gain power by such antics. Bellini is a self-admitted liberal who wants to bring reforms to the Church’s stances regarding matters like homosexuality and divorce. He believes that the old traditional Christian family system, of having numerous children after marriage, should not be considered virtuous or the right path of life in the modern world.
However, Bellini seems to be a bit too focused on his competitors, and he does not talk about his own ideals as much as he speaks about the need to stop Tedesco from winning the election. There is no doubt that the American priest wants to become the pope, which he admits quite early in the film. But there is a certain feeling that Bellini might be faking his liberal views just to have more chance of getting votes, although it is not delved into by Conclave, as he runs out of contention pretty soon. The rule is that a cardinal becomes the new pope if and when they receive the majority figure of 72 votes in one round of the ballot. As nobody receives that many votes in the first few rounds, the voting continues for days, with the cardinals sequestered inside the Vatican City until the voting is finally over.
The candidate who takes precedence over the next rounds of voting is Cardinal Adeyemi, from Nigeria, who is quite a popular man. His popularity seems to stem from the fact that the cardinals from countries other than the powerful European ones want to bring an end to their supremacy and place someone from a developing country on the papal seat. Such an instance would also mean that a Black man would become pope for the first time, or rather, for the first time in 1527 years, if historical records are to be believed. The Church does not directly oppose a Black man becoming the pope, although there has just been no non-white person on the seat, in sharp contrast to, say, a woman becoming pope, which is considered blasphemous. Therefore, this might be a great opportunity to change its public image and update it to modern standards, as well. The only demerit that Bellini, and perhaps Lawrence, sees in Adeyemi is his belief that homosexuals should be put in prison while they are alive and then in Hell after death.
Adeyemi’s stance is quite popular among the voters, making him lead several rounds of the votes until a scandal about his personal life is revealed in the most alarming manner. The man had wavered from his vows of celibacy many years ago and had gotten romantically involved with a young nun, who was 19 at the time, while the priest was 30. It is also very possible that Adeyemi even has a child with the nun, Sister Shanumi, although the child does not have any idea about its parentage. In a surprising twist, Sister Shanumi shows up at Vatican City during the conclave and tries to make Adeyemi admit to their affair. Although the cardinal is initially able to avoid her, a ruckus in the refectory leads to Lawrence speaking with Shanumi and learning of the secret, following which Adeyemi admits his mistake as well. This scandal almost immediately destroys Cardinal Adeyemi’s campaign, and his share of votes keeps falling from the next round onwards.
The sudden nature of the revelation of this scandal makes Cardinal Lawrence wonder how Sister Shanumi suddenly traveled to the Vatican at this very moment. Although he is sequestered at the time and should not technically be allowed to find out about things from outside the conclave, he requests the head nun, Sister Agnes, to check on the matter. This is when Lawrence learns that Cardinal Tremblay had been the one to arrange for Shanumi’s arrival at the Vatican, which suggests that the Canadian priest must have carefully planned this to sabotage his rival, Adeyemi’s campaign. Incidentally, Archbishop Wozniak, who was a confidant of the late pope, had earlier informed Lawrence that Tremblay had been the last person to meet the pope before his death, and in this meeting, the pope had actually wanted Tremblay to be stripped of his cardinalship. Although Tremblay denied these claims when asked by Lawrence, the latter finally enters the late pope’s room and finds incriminating evidence against the Canadian priest.
The late pope had actually found evidence of Tremblay having paid other cardinals to support him and vote for him during the papal conclave, and it was because of this that he had become a popular candidate. While nothing about Tremblay’s ideals or beliefs is revealed by him, he does declare his desire to become the pope a number of times, suggesting that getting to the seat of the Holy See is all that he cares about. Even Bellini tries to convince Lawrence to keep this matter a secret and let Tremblay become the pope, to keep a conservative like Tedesco from getting the chance, suggesting that Bellini had been paid, or at least promised an important role by Tremblay as well. The protagonist refuses, though, and as he and Sister Agnes distribute copies of the documents among the conclave, he and Tremblay become the only two plausible candidates.
At the very beginning of the conclave, in a heartfelt speech made by Cardinal Lawrence, he had urged his fellow cardinals to elect a man who had sinned and come back to the light shown by religion. In a beautiful manner, he spoke of how certainty is something not very worthwhile in matters of religion and in life, for it strips us of our very human nature of being wavering and unpredictable. We do commit mistakes and then learn from them, and so Lawrence called for cardinals to be ideal humans instead of pretending to be perfect. Instead of choosing absolutely perfect candidates, for no man can be perfect in every way, he urged on the need to look past one’s mistakes and forgive them so that an ideal man would become the pope. Ultimately, Lawrence seems to have asked for something he was not prepared to handle, as all the secrets and political strategies drawn up by the different cardinals weigh heavily on him and lead to him becoming a potential candidate once again.
How does the terrorist attack change the course of the papal conclave?
At a crucial point of the conclave, a bomb blast right beside the Sistine Chapel blows a hole in the side of the building and leads to a number of the cardinals getting injured. However, this incident has much stronger ramifications with regards to the voting itself, as it helps in establishing the true nature of the candidates. The explosion is revealed to have been caused by an orchestrated terrorist attack across Europe, including the Vatican, Louvain, and Munich. The incident has killed 52 people, with hundreds injured by it, and although nothing about the perpetrators or the exact reason for it is revealed, Cardinal Tedesco immediately holds Islamists responsible for the grave act. Tedesco jumps onto the terrorist attack and tries to use it as a final call to rally the cardinals to vote for him and take the Church back to its old traditional and powerful stature. He indirectly promises to take action against Muslims and the spread of Islam over Europe if he is made the pope and is even applauded for his strong words of action by many.
Just as the liberals and the traditionalists are in the middle of an argument amongst each other, a relatively lesser-known man stands up and grabs everyone’s attention. At the beginning of Conclave, Lawrence had been informed of a certain Cardinal Benitez, who was apparently the Archbishop of Kabul and had now arrived for the conclave. Benitez stated that the late pope had given him the position in pectore, meaning secretly, probably because of the hostility a cardinal would face in a country like Afghanistan. Although he originally hailed from Mexico, and so his claim seemed a bit dubious, Lawrence ultimately checked in on his story and found him to be telling the truth.
Benitez now stands up and calls for his brethren to wipe out the feelings of hatred, suggesting that Tedesco is not much different from the very religious extremists he wants to persecute. Having witnessed war firsthand, Benitez stresses how common people, who are supposed to be saved and protected by religion, are always harmed the most, and he calls for the need to actively end such disasters. Cardinal Benitez firmly preaches on the need to end war and eliminate hatred and states that the Church has never been about following ancient rules but about being the leaders who show the right path for the future. This passionate speech impacts the conclave greatly, and in the next voting session, Cardinal Benitez receives the majority of votes, making him the next pope.
What is Cardinal Benitez’s secret?
In accordance with Cardinal Lawrence’s earlier claim about every human being having flaws, Conclave’s ending shows that Cardinal Benitez also has a secret that could shake the very foundations of the Vatican Church if revealed. Lawrence finds out that the late pope had arranged for Benitez to travel to a medical clinic in Switzerland in order for a laparoscopic hysterectomy to be performed on him. This is because Cardinal Benitez is intersex, as he had been born with a uterus and ovaries, along with having the usual male reproductive organs. It was because of his physical appearance, and also perhaps because of his own idea about himself, that he was raised as a male, but the traditionalists can very well claim him to be a woman physically because of his body not following the usual conventions of sexual identity.
Benitez had discovered this about himself while receiving treatment for appendicitis as an adult, and the late pope had been informed about it as well. It seems like the late pope had secretly chosen him to be his successor, because of which he had arranged for Benitez to fly to Switzerland and remove the female reproductive organs from his body. However, at the very last minute, Benitez had refused to change the work of God and accept himself as God had made him and had canceled the appointment. Thus, although Cardinal Benitez voices the opinion of the Church with regards to abortion or euthanasia, stating that the work of God should not be played around with, his being intersex would surely lead the Church towards a meltdown, as nobody other than a physical male is allowed to be the pope. Ultimately, in Conclave’s ending, Lawrence decides to not tell anyone about this, as Benitez’s secret is far less offensive than those of the other cardinals as revealed earlier.
The timing of Conclave, which ultimately stresses acceptance and inclusion, is also quite interesting, making one wonder if modern sensibilities will perhaps enter the realm of staunch religion someday in the near future. With the world already divided between groups vying for position through liberal views and the ones who shudder at the thought of inclusivity and change, perhaps only a messiah with genuine love and compassion can save us, although they too are bound to have their own grave secrets.
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