How the film sheds light in the secret way of popes are chosen

The film Conclave 2024 – A Box Office Hit and Oscar winner – tells the story of a papal election in which there are no clear favorites. For many people it was a glimpse into the thin world of the Vatican, and the very secret process of choosing a leader for the Roman Catholic Church.

On Wednesday, May 7, life on fiction will follow when 134 cardinals start the process of choosing a successor to Pope Franciscus. As viewers of the film will know, the papal conclave will take place completely behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel, among his world-famous Michelangelo-Fresco’s.

No one outside the boundaries of the Vatican will know the outcome until a plume of white smoke curls out of his chimney, which means that the Roman Catholic Church has a new leader.

But what does the film tell us about how the conclave could unfold, and why do people find the process so fascinating?

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Robert Harris, the conclave shows the Cardinal electors who areolate themselves within the boundaries of the Vatican during the process of the elections.

They are not allowed communication with someone outside the conclave – although, given the practical way, they are not completely cut off.

“They all have to feed, they are not completely hermetically sealed from the world,” says Stephen Bullivant, professor in theology and sociology of religion at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

This self -imposed insulation is a tradition that goes back for hundreds of years.

Partially it is intended to prevent voters from being influenced by external factors, although the idea of ​​a process happens behind closed doors seems to be at odds with the “focus of the modern world on transparency, visibility and control”, according to Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic social thinking and practice at the University of Durham.

The film evokes an “incredible, introspective atmosphere” and feeling of withdrawal from the world, she says. “I have trouble coming up with a more intense responsibility and feeling than being locked up in the conclave.”

On the screen, claustrophobic and intense deliberations, strategic Huddles and tactical movements are abundant. One cardinal undermines a leader to improve their own opportunities. Others with unlikely prospects urge their supporters to change their voice.

This conflict of interest and competitive ideologies offers a lot of the drama of the film. “It is essentially about the political machinations that continue,” Nick Emerson, the editor of the film, told the BBC earlier this year.

Although some cardinals think that the most important part is after divine guidance, others will have fear about making a rapid decision, says Tina Beattie, professor Emerita of Catholic studies at the University of Roehampton.

In view of the fact that the health of Pope Francis has been bad for a while, it is likely that, even before the conclave, “there will have been a lot of political and will be behind the scenes before the position,” she adds.

“All those struggles will be going on and (the cardinals) will not all think of it.”

Although in the film some of the most tensable scenes are aimed at voting, a lot of the drama in meetings can in the days before the conclave officially start.

During this time, the participants will “get to know each other, develop what the priorities are and learn how to work as a body, so that they can come up with a uniform decision,” says Prof Rowlands, who is approaching the end of a two -year perspective to the Vatican.

In the film, an unknown Cardinal – secretly appointed by the late Pope – is catapulted in the battle.

This would not be possible in real life. Although every baptized Roman Catholic man is theoretically eligible to make Pope, all cardinals who voices in the conclave must have been appointed by an earlier pope.

Having said this, the approaching election can be One of the most unpredictable that has ever been there. About 80% of the eligible cardinals have been appointed by Pope Franciscus in the last 12 years. He consciously chose people from all over the world and with different political backgrounds.

Many of Francis’s instructions come from the developing countries – “Places and contexts that normally don’t get a Red Hat,” says Prof Rowlands.

This adds a level of uncertainty with regard to their priorities and the ultimate decision.

The film presents the cardinals as fallible human beings that are shaken for power.

Director Edward Berger told the BBC last year That although the conclave was considered “an old spiritual ritual”, he wanted to bring the participants “in modernity”.

“We put them on this pedestal, and if you look closer, they will have mobile phones, they are going to smoke, they have the same problems and vices and secrets as us.”

Prof Rowlands says that the film offers a peak behind a process, with all the elements of human nature and human life in it: “Loss. Sadness, ambition, fear, seduction, courage.”

She adds: “It is a whole, very human thing, a conclave … It has a divine purpose, but it is a very human thing.”