The secretive process to elect a new Roman Catholic pope begins May 7, two weeks after Pope Francis’ death at age 88.
Fans of the Oscar-nominated movie “Conclave,” which is about a papal election, might think they have a head start on what’s to come. But how faithful is the movie to the real thing?
“Conclave” tells the story of Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, dean of the College of Cardinals, played by actor Ralph Fiennes. Lawrence is tasked with leading a papal election or conclave after the pope dies. As the conclave continues, secrets and scandals emerge involving cardinals in the running to be pope.
PolitiFact’s occasional MovieFact feature reports on the accuracy of nonfiction films, typically comparing their details with historical events. “Conclave” is fictional, but we decided to examine what the movie gets right and wrong about the real process for choosing the next pope.
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“Conclave” sticks close to the logistics of a real papal election, but takes more liberties with how its characters participate in one. As dean, Cardinal Lawrence makes decisions that would not be permissible in a real-life conclave.
The movie “does a fair job” of depicting conclave procedures, said B. Kevin Brown, Gonzaga University religious studies lecturer. But Brown had some notes. Referring to the sets and costumes, Brown said some cardinals wore Roman collars that “are not entirely correct,” and the Mass held before the conclave appeared to have no altar, a raised structure used for ceremonies. Some of its storylines have no public precedent in the Catholic Church’s history.
PolitiFact compared movie scenes with conclaves and cardinals’ real-life controversies. Here’s your last chance to avoid spoiler alerts.
‘Conclave’ is mostly right on balloting, smoke colours, typical conclave lengths
After a pope dies, the College of Cardinals assumes governance of the Catholic Church. These cardinals, chosen by popes, serve countries around the world. Only cardinals under the age of 80 can be electors.
The conclave that begins May 7 will have 133 electors from 71 countries. (Two more electors are eligible but will not participate for health reasons.)
Before the conclave, cardinals gather for meetings called “general congregations” where they discuss the Catholic Church’s priorities. The conclave takes place at the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, as the film showed.
Tables and chairs line the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in preparation for the conclave on April 16, 2005. (AP)
The balloting shown in the film is largely accurate, based on the process outlined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Electors vote by secret ballot, walk up to a chalice — which is a large goblet — say a prayer and drop their ballots in the chalice. They conduct four rounds of balloting per day until a candidate receives a two-thirds majority. Ballots are burned after each round with chemicals that produce coloured smoke to signify whether a pope has been chosen — black smoke means no one has been elected, and white smoke means the Church has a new pope.
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In the movie, it takes the cardinal electors three days to elect a pope. That’s consistent with recent history; Brown said conclaves in the last 100 years have lasted three to four days. According to a History.com article, “no conclave has lasted longer than a week” since 1831.
In the movie, Cardinal Lawrence routinely violates conclave rules by receiving outside information
The movie shows Cardinal Lawrence communicating with Monsignor Raymond O’Malley (played by Brían F. O’Byrne), asking him to check into things such as the pope’s final meeting with Cardinal Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), and medical history of Cardinal Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz). After the cardinals feel tremors in the Sistine Chapel, O’Malley later tells Lawrence there has been an explosion in the Piazza Barberini, a large plaza in Rome.
Brown said getting information about events happening outside the conclave “would violate the rules of the conclave.”
Black smoke billows from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning Roman Catholic cardinals have not elected a pope in their second or third rounds of balloting, at the Vatican on March 13, 2013. (AP)
Cardinal electors are sequestered throughout a conclave, and have no access to phones, television or other ways to be in contact with the public.
A cardinal named “in pectore,” or in secret, would not be allowed to join the conclave
In the movie, Benitez, described as the archbishop of Kabul, Afghanistan, makes a surprise entrance. He was selected as a cardinal “in pectore,” or in secret, by the pope who died. Senior cardinals debate whether Benitez should be allowed to join the conclave, and Cardinal Lawrence ultimately decides he is “legally a cardinal,” and “has a right to take part in the election.”
In a real conclave, it would be impossible for a cardinal whose identity was not revealed before the death of the pope who appointed him to join the conclave.
Canon law, the Catholic Church’s system of laws and regulations, says a pope can select a person to be a cardinal and keep that person’s identity secret. As long as the cardinal’s identity is not revealed, the cardinal in pectore is not bound to carry out cardinal duties but also does not possess cardinal rights, such as participating in a conclave.
“This may be done, as the movie suggests, for safety reasons in situations where the cardinal’s appointment may put him at risk due to the political situation where he resides,” Brown said.
If a cardinal in pectore did not have his appointment made public before the death of a pope, Brown said, the cardinal’s status would expire and “he is no longer considered a cardinal, even if the name of the cardinal is discovered in the will of the pope or some other writing after his death.”
This happened in real life: Pope John Paul II selected four cardinals in pectore, revealing only three, from China, Ukraine and Latvia, before he died. The other cardinal’s appointment expired when John Paul II died in 2005.
Cardinals would try to learn about scandals before the conclave, but rumours happen
In the movie, Cardinal Joshua Adeyemi (played by Lucian Msamati) and Tremblay emerge as front-runners to become pope during the balloting, but their ambitions are quashed as Lawrence brings findings about their past to light. Adeyemi had a secret relationship and possibly fathered a child, and Tremblay was accused of simony, or what Brown said involves the “sale of an office.”
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In practice, cardinals try to snuff out controversies and scandals before the election.
“There is certainly politicking that takes place and the cardinals will do their best to be sure that no cardinal associated with scandal is elected,” Brown said. “However, it is likely that the cardinals would do their best to identify any scent of scandal before the conclave begins.”
For example, in real life, Cardinal Angelo Becciu resigned his cardinal rights and privileges in 2020 and was convicted of financial crimes in 2023; he claimed he could still vote in the 2025 conclave because Francis did not bar him from participating. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Roman Curia’s secretary of state, revealed two letters from Francis saying that Cardinal Becciu could not take part in the conclave, according to reports in Italian media.
This happened during general congregation, Brown said, when cardinals are not sequestered.
It is “not unheard of for cardinals to try to raise doubts about a candidate who they oppose,” he said.
It happened to Francis — then known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
As Francis gained momentum during the 2013 conclave, “rumors began to circulate that he had only one lung,” Brown said. Francis recounted the episode in an interview for a book published in 2024. When a cardinal asked Francis if the rumor was true, he said he had part of his lung removed after a respiratory infection more than 50 years before.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
* This moviefact was originally published by the PolitiFact on May 1, 2025. You can view the report on their website.
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Sources for this moviefact include:
EWTN, Cardinals hold sixth general congregation, confirm 2 electors will not be at conclave, April 30, 2025.
History, 8 Facts About the Papal Conclave, April 28, 2025.
USA Today, What to expect from the conclave that will choose Pope Francis’ successor, April 27, 2025.
Florida International University, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, accessed May 1, 2025.
The Holy See, The Roman Curia, accessed May 1, 2025.
Code of Canon Law, accessed May 1, 2025.
Los Angeles Times, Mystery Cardinal Will Never Be Able to Join Peers, April 7, 2005.
The New York Times, Powerful Cardinal, a Fixture of Vatican Intrigue, Resigns Suddenly, Sept. 24, 2020.
The Associated Press, Pope exposes confidential details of past conclaves and settles scores with Pope Benedict XVI’s aide, April 2, 2024.
The New York Times, Powerful Cardinal, a Fixture of Vatican Intrigue, Resigns Suddenly, Sept. 24, 2020.
CNN, Vatican’s ‘trial of the century’ sees cardinal given five-and-a-half-year jail sentence, Dec. 18, 2023.
L’Unione Sarda, The Conclave begins on May 7. The cardinals are preparing, but there is a risk of division over Becciu, April 28, 2025.
Catholic Herald, Becciu backs down: fallen Cardinal bows to Pope Francis’s final will, April 29, 2025.
