In a Book-length interview published in April, Pope Francis himself revealed that in 2005 he was unknowingly supported as a candidate in an attempt to block the election of the conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict. And even when the cardinals are sequestered, the media casts a shadow. In the film, when one cardinal’s past is exposed within the conclave by a rival, Lawrence bluntly tells him, “You will never be Pope.” Alluding to the Church’s well-known real-life scandals concerning sexual abuse by priests, he says: “Nothing terrifies our curia more than the thought of more sexual scandals.”
A history of controversies
In the 15th Century, Alexander VI, a Borgia, is alleged to have bribed his way into office. In the 16th Century, one conclave lasted 72 days, and when a frontrunner died it was rumoured that he had been poisoned. Back then, bankers in Rome took bets on who might win, creating a direct line from history to the circus-like atmosphere of today’s media world. In 2013, the coverage said, “St Peter’s Square has become a kind of Coliseum. On every vantage point are the TV tents waiting for the games to begin.” The Guardian ran a Choose-Your-Own Pope feature.
Today, some of the manoeuvring plays out in public. Before the voting began in 2013, American cardinals were forced to stop giving news briefings, under pressure from other cardinals, while it was known that Italian cardinals continued to leak to the press. But in the film, much of the vote-whipping still happens behind the scenes, before and after the conclave officially starts.
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Wakin says that during this period,”the cardinals often eat together and can drop hints about who they think would be the best candidate,” a reality that is a central element in the movie – although the fictional cardinals do much more than hint.
Although Berger agrees that Conclave is often driven by politics, he points out that there is “a deep sort of second layer that’s what the movie’s really about”, namely Lawrence’s inner turmoil. “He has a crisis of faith. He says, ‘As a cardinal I have difficulties with prayer.’ That’s as if I said, ‘I have difficulty trusting the images that my camera captures.’ It’s an existential crisis.” Berger says that the problem should be relatable to viewers in general. “It happens to be religion, but it could as well be inner confidence. That’s really what spoke to me and why I wanted to make the film,” he says.
