Conclave: Not Just
about Roman Catholicism

Conclave is a fictional account of a Papal Election. Based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris, the film looks and sounds beautiful – the cinematography is superb and the settings and score are gorgeous.

Catholic audiences are unlikely to be completely welcoming of the film, however. Conclave suggests that political intrigue and self-interest lie behind even the most pious and traditional religious ceremonial, especially in the Vatican. The film presents four cardinals as potential papal candidates, before seeing each one discredited in a way that prevents him from continuing to be electorally viable. These cardinals represent wings, or theological traditions, of international Catholicism.

Cardinal Adeyemi of Nigeria is a social conservative, with strong cultural views about homosexuality. Cardinal Bellini is an American progressive. Cardinal Tremblay of Canada is a moderate, while the only Italian, Cardinal Tedesco, is a staunch traditionalist, determined to undo Vatican II. He is presented as power-hungry and abusive.

The characterisations are not subtle, but deliberately caricatured. These are not real people, but rather carriers for theological views. A fifth Cardinal, tasked with running the election, is a more nuanced character – we see his inner struggles with the church and with the machinations of the election.

The film’s setting, in a sequestered Vatican, makes for a highly dramatic presentation of the politics at play, and the Roman Catholic Church comes out of it looking partly glorious and partly corrupt and ridiculous. But the truth is that what the film exposes is by no means unique to Roman Catholicism. Most churches, not least Anglican, are beset by theological politics, and Conclave’s four central cardinals do a pretty good job of representing universal political tensions.

It is true that the film demonstrates a clear bias against more conservative, traditionalist theological approaches. The presentation of Tedesco, in particular, is stark. But nor does Conclave communicate a high level of support for the kind of political liberalism that is prepared to do anything necessary to keep a traditionalist like Tedesco out of office. In the end the ‘theology’ that wins the day is at once radical and opposed to battle between theological traditions.

Conclave is ‘about’ issues besetting the Roman Catholic Church. But it is also a little like looking into a mirror.

Image: Conclave film poster © Focus Features