Some of the Cardinals getting ready to enter the Sistine Chapel for their gathering to choose a successor for Pope Francis have been depending on inside information from an unlikely source: the 2024 Ralph Fiennes Oscar-winning movie “Conclave.”
“Some have watched it in the cinema,” an unnamed cleric involved in the conclave, where the cardinals will gather for their ritual starting Wednesday, told Politico.
The box office and critical hit features Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, the pope-appointed “camerlengo,” or chamberlain who oversees the conclave.
In the movie, the camerlengo has to deal with politics and scandal, including dossiers targeting papal favorites, clerics who are fighting amongst themselves, and even the appearance of an unknown candidate from an obscure diocese to add to the mix.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin is the real-life conclave’s camerlengo. He is a close ally of the late pope and is said to be a potential frontrunner to succeed him.
The cleric speaking to Politico said the film was seen as being quite accurate even by cardinals and is proving to be a helpful research tool for many conclave participants who are unfamiliar with the Vatican’s methods and politics.
Pope Francis appointed most of the cardinals who have come to Rome in the weeks since his death, and many of them haven’t experienced a conclave. Like in the movie, many of the cardinals are from smaller dioceses from around the world.
“Conclave” was released last October and gained popularity during the illness and death of Pope Francis for its depiction of the drama and secrecy behind the election of a new pope.
Meanwhile, the behind-the-scenes drama as the conclave approaches is mirroring the movie as well, with Vatican insiders leaking anonymous attacks against their rivals to the media in Italy.
Abuse allegations are also surfacing against some of the top contenders for pope, and Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, was banned from the conclave after a posthumous letter from the pope surfaced.
Becciu, who was sentenced to 5½ years in jail by a Vatican court in December 2023, denies all wrongdoing and remains free pending an appeal of his conviction of embezzlement and fraud.
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