The BAFTA winning film Conclave wasn’t like the real-life conclave that led to the election of Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has told the media following the event
A cardinal who participated in the conclave to elect Pope Leo XIV has said that the atmosphere was “fraternal”. He’s suggested that it lacked the high-stakes drama depicted in the award-winning film Conclave.
The film, which was released last year, imagined the secret meeting of cardinals in Rome as a tense and bureaucratic process with many twists and turns. However, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, described as the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, said that the reality of his first conclave this week was far from the dramatic portrayal on screen.
As reported by PA, whilst speaking to reporters in Italy on Friday, a day after the new Pope’s election, Cardinal Nichols described the experience as “refreshing” and said that he found it difficult to leave. He likened it to a spiritual retreat, where he could be himself at a “profound level”.
He said: “I found it very refreshing and I found it more like going on a spiritual retreat than anything else. There was this sense of here was something of a sacred space and within that space it was possible to, at a very profound level, just be myself.”
Cardinal Nichols suggested that he hadn’t been in a rush to leave. He said: “So actually by the time we were coming to lunch today there was quite a bit of me didn’t want to leave because there was something to be deeply treasured in the fraternity and in the prayerfulness of it.”
In contrast, the film Conclave, based on Robert Harris’ novel of the same name, stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who navigates scheming clerics and external threats to find the best candidate for the papacy. The film also featured Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow among its cast.
The film won four BAFTAs earlier this year including in the Outstanding British Film, Best Film and Editing categories. Writer Peter Straughan, who was also awarded an Oscar for his work, received the Adapted Screenplay award.
Cardinal Nichols, from Liverpool, however shared that the recent real-life conclave didn’t mirror the movie’s portrayal of cardinals lobbying for their preferred papal candidate. As 133 cardinals cast their ballots within the Sistine Chapel, they were sequestered just a stone’s throw away at the Santa Marta guesthouse.
Reflecting on the atmosphere, Cardinal Nichols said: “I went into each meal and just sat down where there was a chair, next to whoever it was. I didn’t get a sense of people trying to gather in clusters or in pressure groups or any of that.”
He continued by saying that he didn’t feel people were “trying to promote themselves” or “block” others. Cardinal Nichols said: “And at no point did I feel there was the slightest bit of rancour or somebody trying to promote themselves or even block somebody else, unlike the film.”
The cardinal added: “I think this was a very, very lovely and congenial and fraternal time together. And I think every cardinal would attest to that, even those who didn’t disagree particularly with the drift of things.”
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