14/45
When Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events, the election of a new pope, he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundations of the Catholic Church. The actions of Cardinal Lawrence and the other cardinals during the conclave in the film are true and accurate according to Catholic belief and centuries of tradition. When a pope dies, his ring (called the Fisherman’s Ring) is removed and destroyed; this is to prevent it from being used to forge the papal seal on documents. The Vatican has officially announced that the throne of the Holy See (the governing body of the Catholic Church) is vacant. The papal apartment is closed with a crimson ribbon and sealed with a wax papal seal. The college of cardinals is segregated in apartments (Domus Sanctae Marthae, the House of Saint Martha) where they eat and sleep between votes. Finally, the windows and doors to the Sistine Chapel, where the actual elections and ballots take place, are blacked out, closed, and locked to preserve the secrecy of the conclave. Some of the more recent security measures taken in real life are also shown, when the conclave that elected Pope Francis I called the Sistine Chapel to order in 2013 because of bugs and other electronic listening devices, all conclave servants were issued identity cards because a reporter disguised as a servant was discovered during the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, all members of the College of Cardinals were required to surrender their cell phones and other electronic devices, the Vatican’s Wi-Fi network was temporarily turned off, and wireless jammers were installed in the Sistine Chapel. It is reported that Ayendi will be the first African pope. The Roman Catholic Church has had three African popes: Victor I (189-199 AD), Miltiades (also known as Melchiades, 311-314 AD), and Gelasius I (492-496 AD). Lawrence: Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there were only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And so there is no need. Let us pray that God will give us a pope who doubts. And may He grant us a pope who sins and asks for forgiveness and who continues… Featured on The 7PM Project: Episode of 10 December 2024 (2024). Allegri: Miserere Performed by Capella Musicale Pontificia Sistina, Massimo PalombellaCourtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GMBH Under license from Universal Music Operations Ltd. I just returned from the theater after seeing “The Conclave”; a film that I was very excited about and enjoyed very much. I was so captivated for most of the film by the beautiful cinematography, fantastic performances, great score and quality costume and production design that I was convinced that this had to be a 10/10 film. But then, unfortunately, came the ending. I believe that the ending of a film is the most important part. What do you leave the audience with? What is your final statement to them? Well, in this film it is so contrived, confusing and absurd that any final statement becomes unclear and I left the cinema with a bad taste in my mouth. The ending is so unrealistic that it threatens to destroy every frame of what came before. It is done solely to make a statement about the church and to shock the audience. Now, this doesn’t ruin the film as a whole (not to me anyway), but it does unfortunately spoil an otherwise excellent film.