Episode Details

In Conclave (2024), Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) organizes a conclave to elect a new pope. Key candidates and factions vie with one another as the process plays out until finally a new pope is elected. The film was directed by Edward Berger from a script by Peter Straughan (based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris), and features an all-star cast including Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, and Isabella Rossellini. The film provides a window into the process for electing a new pope, along with the legal, historical, and political forces that have shaped it.  

Timestamps:

0.00    Introduction

2:32     The origins of the conclave

5:29    Electing a new pope

8:03    The College of Cardinals

10:23   The Apostolic Constitutions

14:46   The contentious conclave in the film

21:05   Naming a new cardinal in pectore

24:51    Leo XIV, the new pope

26:58   The Roman Curia

26:38   The nuns in the film

30:05  Symbol and ritual: the smoke from the chimney

32:17    The custom of a new pope choosing a name

36:55   Struggles over different visions of the church

40:58   How accurate was the film in capturing a conclave?

42:39   How the conclave has changed

45:04   Possible future changes to the papal selection process

Further reading:

Allen, John L. Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election (2002)

Baumgartner, Frederic J., Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections (2003)

Harris, Robert, Conclave (2016)

Povoledo, Elisabetta, “A Papal Primer That’s Fiction, but Also Rings True,” N.Y. Times (Mar. 2, 2025)

West, Morris, L., The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963)

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