Believe it or not, some Catholic cardinals are brushing up on their knowledge of how to choose the next pope by watching a movie. Conclave, the movie starring Ralph Fiennes that was released just months before Pope Francis died, shocked everyone with its extremely relevant timing. The papal conclave is set to begin this Wednesday, and now a few of the 133 Catholic cardinals who have gathered in the Vatican to take part in the highly secretive selection process, which ultimately goes through multiple voting rounds before deciding the next pope, are taking pointers from the 2025-released film.
Also read: Conclave movie review: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci’s papal election thriller never questions faith
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Catholic Cardinals are taking pointers from 2025 movie Conclave
After Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025, following a long health battle, Conclave, which stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, saw a viewership spike of over 238%. According to Luminate, on April 20, a day before the Pope’s death, the film pulled in around 1.8 million minutes of watch time, which jumped to 7 million views the very next day. Now, according to a Vatican cleric who spoke to Politico, “Some [Cardinals] have watched it in the cinema.” The cardinals are reportedly watching it, not just out of curiosity, they’re genuinely using it to understand how the conclave might take place, as per the report. One of the major reasons for this is likely because about 80% of those will cast their votes this week were appointed by Pope Francis and have never been part of a conclave before. So for many, this film, which has been praised for its performances and, more importantly, for its detailed depiction of the centuries-old papal process, especially the voting and what follows after the leader of the Catholic Church dies, serves as a kind of visual crash course. “The film is seen as remarkably accurate, even by cardinals,” the cleric said.
All about the movie Conclave
Conclave, directed by Edward Berger and based on a novel by Robert Harris, tells the story of how a new pope is elected, but it’s far from a peaceful process. The film explores the chaos behind closed doors: political power plays, rivalries, secrets, scandals, and even the surprise arrival of unknown cardinals at the last minute. In the movie, Fiennes’ character is the dean of the college for the cardinals who has been elected to lead the conclave and has to deal with “internal tension, dossiers exposing fellow cardinals, and so on.” The film also received multiple Academy Award nods and won in the Best Screenplay category. The parallels to real-life events haven’t gone unnoticed. Now, according to the NY Post, some aspects shown in the film have actually started to play out in the real-life Vatican climate. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, for instance, has stepped back after a private letter from Pope Francis was made public, urging his exclusion over a 2023 embezzlement conviction.
Conclave is now streaming in India on Amazon Prime Video.
