Conclave (2024) ends with surprise candidate Cardinal Benitez elected as Pope Innocent after scandals sink the frontrunners. Newly elected Innocent then tells organizer Cardinal Lawrence he was born intersex, and Lawrence agrees to hide it. A conclave is the locked election where Catholic cardinals choose a new pope. This 2024 political thriller directed by Edward Berger and written by Peter Straughan, based on Robert Harris's 2016 novel, stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, according to the FilmNation announcement from FilmNation Entertainment.
Table of Contents
- What sets the story in motion?
- Who wants to be pope?
- Why do the frontrunners fall?
- How does Benitez win?
- What does the final secret mean?
What sets the story in motion?
The pope dies unexpectedly. Dean Cardinal Lawrence must run the locked-in Vatican conclave, according to the Focus Features synopsis via ShowbizJunkies.
Lawrence seals the cardinals inside. He also investigates rumors that could shake the Church's foundations. Doubt about his own faith weighs on him throughout.
Who wants to be pope?
The early field splits by ideology and ambition: Ballots fail to produce a winner. Private deals, leaks, and opposition research shape each vote.
- Bellini, a liberal favorite
- Tedesco, a hard-line conservative
- Adeyemi of Nigeria, a prominent global contender
- Tremblay, an ambitious insider
- Benitez of Kabul, a Mexican-Filipino cardinal secretly appointed by the late pope and arriving late
Why do the frontrunners fall?
Lawrence learns Adeyemi fathered a son with Sister Shanumi years earlier. He also learns Tremblay arranged Shanumi's transfer to Rome to damage Adeyemi, a plot confirmed when head caretaker Sister Agnes speaks out, according to the Indian Currents report from Indian Currents. The revelation destroys Adeyemi's support.
Tremblay's scheming also costs him trust. Other candidates stall over politics and past conduct. The deadlock opens the door for an outsider.
How does Benitez win?
A bombing outside rattles the conclave and sharpens fear about war, division, and retaliation. Benitez answers with a speech condemning violence.
His calm appeal wins votes. The cardinals elect him, and he takes the name Pope Innocent.
What does the final secret mean?
In private, Innocent tells Lawrence he was born intersex with a uterus and ovaries. He learned it as an adult and declined a hysterectomy as remaining as God made him, and Lawrence agrees to conceal it. Director Berger says Lawrence recognizes Benitez as the right pope, framing the meaning as faith embracing doubt over certainty and gender binaries to spark debate, according to the Den of Geek interview with Den of Geek.
The film treats certainty as the danger and conscience as the test. Scholars note limits to its realism. NPR experts say it captures conclave secrecy and factional politics partly well but compresses procedure and overstates nuns' role.