The Pope is dead.
As such, the responsibility for the papal conclave—the election of a new Pope by the College of Cardinals gathered from around the world—falls to Cardinal Lawrence.
Lawrence is a man of grace and clear thought. So much so that the Pope personally chose him for a special role as dean of the College of Cardinals. In fact, there are many in the cardinal ranks who see Lawrence himself as a good candidate for the position of Pope.
The problem is, Lawrence didn’t, and doesn’t, want any of that responsibility. If anything, he most desires to step away from any positions of power in order to take time to find himself, his faith once more.
It’s not that Lawrence has lost all his faith in God. He believes in the Father in Heaven and His power to change the world. But Lawrence … can’t seem to pray anymore. He feels empty. Adrift.
He is no Pope.
Besides, there are far more worthy men in the College who want, and some might even say, covet, the role of Vicar of Christ.
Some, such as Cardinal Bellini, are progressive minded and thoughtful. Bellini might be an excellent choice to move the church forward toward a more inclusive future, as far as Lawrence is concerned.
Then there’s Cardinal Tadesco. He stands firm on the older, more traditional values of the Catholic church. But some would say that a purely scriptural approach such as his can be close-minded. And Tadesco has shown indications that his attitudes about race are completely unacceptable.
Of course there are many others vying for position—with many Machiavellian machinations already afoot.
At the center of it all—trying to manage the rush and flow of the many pontificates, languages, political ploys, and potential crises is one Cardinal Lawrence—a struggling man who would rather be anywhere else but here.
We don’t get to know many of these fictional churchmen intimately, other than Cardinal Lawrence. And he appears to be a good and reasoned individual who wants to do good. He repeatedly searches out the truth amid the misdirection and coverups he encounters.
(Unfortunately, most all of the men eventually appear to be self-serving and less focused on serving God and maintaining the precepts of their faith than you would expect.)
Since nearly all of the movie’s action takes place in the Vatican, the narrative is awash with Christian and specifically Catholic religious symbols, icons and official vestments.
We watch the rituals that the church adheres to for particular events and ceremonies. For instance, the movie walks us through the church’s official ceremony of removing the deceased Pope’s papal ring and other effects, as well as sealing his bedroom.
We also see a service held mostly in Latin and accompanied by a choir singing liturgically. In that service, Cardinal Lawrence proclaims that men of faith cannot be certain in their faith because “certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance.” He presses his fellows to be more open and tolerant of the world even when it runs counter to biblical understanding. “Let us hope for a Pope who sins and asks for forgiveness. And who carries on,” he concludes.
Several private conversations between Cardinals reflect those same themes, fearing a focus on the old, scripture-based traditions of the church. One cardinal also points out that the former Pope had doubts about the church for some of those same reasons.
It’s never fully explained, but Cardinal Lawrence’s worries and stresses have driven a wedge between him and God. He makes it plain that he still “believes” in God, but his doubts have made it impossible for him to pray to the God he believes in. When a cardinal asks for prayer after his wrongdoing is revealed, for instance, Lawrence is unable to do more than sit by the man and touch his hand.
Oddly enough, that inability to connect with a loving God is emblematic of the film and its characters as a whole. We see only one of the many Cardinals earnestly pray outside of a structured service setting.
We find out that a cardinal had an illicit sexual relationship with a nun under his charge. The woman got pregnant and gave birth to a child that was adopted. When that truth comes out—a revelation brought about by the machinations of a competing cardinal—the cardinal in question loses his chance to become Pope. “You must find a way to atone,” Lawrence tells the man.
We learn that a certain faction of cardinals—which includes Lawrence—believes that electing a conservatively minded Pope would set the church back decades. They declare that they must find a way to open leadership pathways to women and welcome gays and their lifestyles.
We’re introduced to a cardinal who had funded a hospital for sexually abused women.
[Spoiler Warning] After many votes, the conclave of Cardinals determines to elect a member who was unknown to them and seemingly the most pious of the group. In fact, the previous Pope had secretly named this man a Cardinal “in pectora,” without announcing that election to the world at large. After being named Pope, this person reveals to Lawrence that he is “intersex”—possessing both male and female sexual organs. This flies in the face of the church’s orthodoxy, but Lawrence lets the election stand as a means to satisfy the sexual and gender changes that he and others believe the church must make.
There isn’t any apparent violence associated with the Pope’s death, but we do see his deceased body in bed and being carried off.
Outside the secluded conclave, we hear that protests are taking place. Later, a car bomb and a man wearing an explosive vest are both detonated near the main walls of the Vatican. Those explosions blow out upper windows in the Cardinal’s Hall and cause debris to fall down on the seated men. Some in the group are lightly wounded.
Someone compares the proceedings after the Pope’s death to the difficulties of hell. But someone else states that the true torments of that place will begin with the conclave. Elsewhere, a cardinal exclaims, “Good Lord!”
Many of the cardinals smoke cigarettes. We see them do so on several occasions. In fact, one short scene shows a central courtyard littered with hundreds of cigarette butts.
Several of the cardinals also drink glasses of wine with their meals and during private conversations. When someone is accused of wrongdoing, he suggests his accuser’s overdrinking has impacted the man’s judgement.
One particular cardinal repeats vehemently that he has absolutely no interest in being elected Pope. But we eventually see that his protestations were all a lie. And he’s one of several papal candidates who tells massive fabrications to cover up past wrongdoings.
It’s revealed, for instance, that one of the prominent Cardinals stole and misused church funds and then went to great lengths to conceal the fact after the Pope’s death.
On two separate occasions, people question the viability of one candidate or another for Pope. And in both cases, someone else points to the church’s checkered history and declares that past Popes had been accused of being everything from Nazi-supporters to sexual abusers. In that light, someone states, “So, we’ve had worse.”
A cardinal indicates his aversion to the idea of having a Black Pope.
From its cinematography to its engaging sound and set design, it’s evident early on that Conclave is a very well-crafted film. And Ralph Fiennes is equally vivid and excellent in his portrayal of the story’s protagonist, Cardinal Lawrence.
If those notable elements had been used to simply portray the twisting and turning political struggles behind the scenes of a Vatican papal conclave, this likely would have been a compelling film.
But Conclave, based on the 2016 book of the same title, isn’t satisfied with just portraying an interesting depiction of the struggle between men, God and faith. No, this film has an agenda tucked away in its vestments.
Conclave not only focuses on the sexual and power-hungry scandals of the cardinals at its core, but it takes pains to slap at every conservative, faith-foundational aspect of the Catholic church itself.
The movie declares that the church will not survive unless it tosses its “antiquated” traditional values (translated as Scripture-focused and thereby “hate-filled” tenets) to the curb. It’s repeatedly proclaimed that the church should, rather, embrace the progressive gender, sexual identity and social ideals of the contemporary moment.
Even that slanted ideology could have potentially worked in this pick-a-Pope pic’s favor except for the fact that the filmmakers make one glaring mistake: They treat God as an afterthought.
There are Latin homilies, religious posturing, heavy crosses, richly garbed church officials and human conflicts here to be sure, but any focus on God’s life-transforming grace is in absentia. And
many believing moviegoers—Catholic or not—will find the absence of faith and the abundance of agenda to be Conclave’s biggest moviemaking sin.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
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