The 2024 movie Conclave is more popular than ever, with the real-world conclave about to meet and elect a new pope after the death of Pope Francis on April 21, 2025. However, the film has been a magnet for controversy since its release, with one American bishop telling Christians to “run away” from the movie due to its woke subject matter.
For context, Conclave was directed by Edward Berger and is based on a novel by Robert Harris. The Oscar-nominated film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini, and it touches on the complicated nature of the election process for a new pope, which has caused some to think of the film as a “Catholic movie.” However, the plot has inherently leftist, secular undertones, and it was panned by several prominent Catholic and Protestant reviewers.
Writing for the Christian movie review outlet Plugged In, Bob Hoose described Conclave as having “an agenda tucked away in its vestments,” adding, “The movie declares that the church will not survive unless it tosses its “antiquated” traditional values (translated as Scripture-focused and thereby “hate-filled” tenets) to the curb. It’s repeatedly proclaimed that the church should, rather, embrace the progressive gender, sexual identity, and social ideals of the contemporary moment.”
Continuing his review, Hoose discouraged Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, from seeing the film, saying, “There are Latin homilies, religious posturing, heavy crosses, richly garbed church officials and human conflicts here to be sure, but any focus on God’s life-transforming grace is in absentia.” He added, “And many believing moviegoers—Catholic or not—will find the absence of faith and the abundance of agenda to be Conclave’s biggest moviemaking sin.”
In addition, the film was panned by Bishop Robert Barron, the founder of the Catholic Media organization Word on Fire and a recent appointee to President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. After seeing the movie, Bishop Barron wrote on X, “If you are interested in a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of the New York Times, this is your movie.”
Adding to his negative review of the film, Bishop Barron said that it portrays conservatives as “xenophobic extremists,” adding that the liberals in the movie are depicted as “self-important schemers.” He added, “Since it checks practically every woke box, I’m sure it will win a boatload of awards, but my advice is to run away from it as fast as you can.”
Furthermore, Conclave was panned by one of the biggest Catholic news outlets in the world, the Catholic World Report. In his review for the magazine, Sean Fitzpatrick described the plot as taking a “very strange turn,” adding, “[The elected pope] is discovered as an intersex person, having both male and female anatomy.” Fitzpatrick went on to argue that the film “paints a picture that only the wildest liberal fantasy could conceive.”
As for the real-world conclave, all of the Catholic cardinals involved in electing the next pope arrived in Rome on May 5, 2025, according to press accounts. The election process is set to begin on Wednesday, May 7, in the Sistine Chapel. All cardinals under the age of 80, a group that totals a reported 132, will take part in the election.
Watch a recent review of Conclave from Fr. Mike Schmitz:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video