With newly elected Pope Leo taking the reins of the Vatican, a real-life version of 2024’s Conclave just took place. The film lays bare the truth about the political scene in the church, the striking similarities and what we can expect possibly took place during the election of the new pope.
As a political activist for 11 years and someone who has held minor roles in three political parties, the political overtones of Conclave leapt out of the screen at me. As someone who regularly follows political goings on in the news, said overtones leapt out screaming. Now, as a real-life conclave took place following the passing of Pope Francis, we are reminded of just how intertwined politics and religion are in the world we live in.
The parallels between the fictional Conclave and the all too real British political landscape are striking. First, we had Cardinal Tremblay, who after being found guilty of corruption in his bid for pope, was unceremoniously exposed and lost all his support. Instead of supporting the new pontiff with grace and humility, he merely sat looking scorned while the rest of the cardinals gave him a standing ovation. This is reminiscent of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s final day in office. As he left to a standing ovation, his immediate predecessor Theresea May sat there with a similar expression having been dealt blow after blow herself, losing her premiership in a particularly ugly way. Though different on the surface, the disdain from loss of power is contrasted masterfully.
Then there is Cardinal Tedesco, a candidate driven by hate who regularly spoke of restoring the church to the old ways and his disdain for minorities and anyone who is different, tactics reminiscent of a certain Nigel Farage. If one strips away the surface differences of allegiances they have to the Catholic Church and Reform UK, you are left with one, indistinguishable entity.
Finally, we should look at the overall events of Conclave. Tremblay’s buying of votes and bringing in a cardinal’s former love interest to ruin his chances, alongside Tedesco’s hatred for all those who present a more liberal approach and the tactical voting by those in favour of a more liberal approach against Tedesco. We should also look at the arguments between the liberal cardinals over which liberal candidate will beat the extremist candidate and the liberal candidates themselves believing one is betraying the other. We see it all the time in British politics; the lobbying and expositions of private lives, the hatred by those on the extremist sides and the tactical voting to ensure certain candidates don’t win at all costs.
But Conclave is a fictional film – how does this matter in relation to the real thing? Well, I for one don’t know anything real about the internal politics of the Sistine Chapel but I have spoken to people a lot closer to home about their experiences with religious politics. When asking one church goer I was told of an ongoing turmoil regarding their friends’ ability to “buy squares of a portrait” and how the parish council of their church wrote to the Vatican to protest their new association with another Catholic church in the region. This shows that internal politics are very much at play in the church, both as portrayed by Conclave and by the real political system of the UK. So, it stands to reason that we can expect what we saw in Conclave played out in the election of the new pope, albeit with minor differences.
Religion might be all about worshiping a deity and politics might be all about winning the power to rule over a nation or local region, but these are merely surface differences. Large and substantial, but surface nonetheless. For if you strip these differences away, you will see tension and conflict that is inside any and every corner of politics as internal politics rules the roost and makes or breaks everyone, whether they’re wishing to be elected as a spiritual leader for the masses of those who follow God or elected as a head of state who serves the people of a nation and creates the laws of the land.
Words by James Jobson
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