“Conclave”: Progressivism Taking Over the Church

The new thriller directed by Edward Berger portrays the disagreements within the Church on how to present itself in these modern times.

Summary

After the Pope’s sudden passing, the College of Cardinals gathers to choose his successor, under the leadership of Cardinal Thomas Lawrence.

The political tensions between the cardinals and some secrets that threaten the image of the Church, may be exposed before a new Pope can be elected.

An Interesting Thriller

My first thought was that Conclave had a similarity with Angels and Demons, that Dan Brown thriller novel that later got adapted into a terrible movie. In both cases, the story happens during a conclave, but there’s a mystery involving some of the cardinals that aspire to become the new Pope. However, in Conclave, the action is not around the event but inside of it.

Cardinal Lawrence, played by Ralph Fiennes, has been entrusted with ensuring that everything goes smoothly, which proves to be quite complicated given the amount of secrets and political conflicts between the candidates. He ends up having to play detective in hopes of fulfilling his duty to the Church and to the late Pope.

The film’s biggest asset is its capacity to maintain the suspense throughout the almost two hours of running time. The pacing of the story is good, and the soundtrack contributes tremendously to creating the right atmosphere. All the cast does a great job in their respective roles. As a whole, Conclave is a project that has quality.

Promoting the Message

If a movie is made about the Catholic Church these days, we can safely assume the intentions behind it. Even though I’m not a religious person, I was raised Catholic, so I’m not unfamiliar with most of the topics of the film. That is why I couldn’t help but notice a marked liberal perspective in the storytelling, which prevented me from enjoying what otherwise could have been a great movie.

For starters, the cardinals that have a conservative stance are labeled as the villains because they don’t want the Church to be “modern”. We cannot deny that the institution has dark things within it, and I wouldn’t mind the movie talking about that, but it’s funny how the conservative cardinals are the only ones who have dirty laundry. 

On the other hand, the progressive “heroes” think that the Church needs to accommodate to modern times, and change accordingly. They are an example of virtue, unlike the evil conservatives.

The Church is Always the Villain

Of course, the world has become more complex in many aspects, but if we look closely, our spiritual struggles are always the same. In fact, it’s precisely the lack of spirituality and faith in something bigger than us that is destroying our society. Religious people would call it the absence of God.

Cardinal Lawrence calls the cardinals to embrace “doubt and uncertainty”, which is exactly the opposite of what the Church is supposed to do. As far as I understand, the Church is supposed to be stable and promote the same traditional values through the ages. Be a beacon of hope. I personally have my reserves, which is why I’m not super religious. But my point is that it’s a religious institution, not a business that should change the marketing strategy according to the trends.

Every speech pronounced by these liberal cardinals just screams activism. That is why I cannot bring myself to praise the script. Even though the writing is above average for today’s standards, the dialogues, especially the speeches, sound plainly manipulative.

What should the Church do? Let all women be priests so no one can accuse them of promoting oppressing gender roles? Recognize and affirm the three million new genders to draw more people’s attention? That kind of people who, for the most part, lead a completely hedonistic lifestyle and have no interest in the Church whatsoever.

Christianity and Islam

The other hot topic is the mention of Islam. Close to the ending, the conclave is interrupted by a suicide bomber that attacks the Sistine Chapel, and Cardinal Tedesco blames the attack on Islamists, calling the Church to oppose them in a very heated speech. But don’t worry, he is called to order by Cardinal Benitez, who responds with a very bland monologue that the Church should be “about love”.

You know Hollywood, their productions can openly criticize, or even disrespect, all religions but one. And I’m sure Europe is doing great right now, with love as their only policy.

The Most Twisted Twist

And finally, the great plot twist. After Benitez’ uninspiring speech about love, all the cardinals feel so illuminated that they decide to vote for him, making him the new Pope.

But that’s not it. Cardinal Lawrence has been investigating certain suspicious medical records, and after Pope Innocent XIV is elected, the truth comes out: Benitez is an intersex person, a biological woman. Apparently all of it was the late Pope’s idea. And Lawrence thinks it’s great news, for some reason.

The revelation comes out of nowhere and does not seem to have any other objective than to stick it to the Catholics. Because there is a woman in power. Now the Church will be more diverse, right? Take that, you evil conservatives.

Reception and Box Office Performance

Conclave was released in the U.S. at the end of October, and during its six weeks in theaters, it has gathered over $30.000.000 domestically. In the international markets it has earned almost $20.000.000, but we must consider that in many countries the release is still pending. When it comes to production budget, the only source I could find was a Variety article that claims it to be $20.000.000.

This looks like the kind of project made to win awards, more than for commercial success. And for what I’ve read, we can expect it to receive quite a lot of attention for the Oscars. Again, in terms of quality, it would not be unfair, but it should be pointed out that most of the favorites for the award season have a clear political stance. I’m not surprised.