What ‘Conclave’ gets right about choosing the next pope
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
Cardinals will gather on Wednesday for the highly secretive process of choosing a new pope, following the death of Pope Francis in late April.
In the film “Conclave,” Ralph Fiennes plays a Catholic cardinal presiding over the election of a new pope. In real life, that task falls to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a possible front-runner among papal candidates at this week’s conclave at the Vatican.
But how accurately does the Oscar-nominated “Conclave” match an actual conclave — the process of electing a pope that will begin May 7?
Today on “Post Reports,” style reporter Shane O’Neill joins host Colby Itkowitz to parse fact from fiction.
Today’s episode was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy, with help from Ariel Plotnick and Peter Bresnan. It was mixed by Sam Bair and edited by Lucy Perkins. Thanks to Carla Spartos.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When Pope Francis died last month, I immediately thought back to earlier this year, when my husband |
| 0:07.5 | and I watched the movie Conclave on our couch and felt like we became experts in the process |
| 0:12.1 | of selecting a new pope. And it turns out, we aren't alone. |
| 0:16.7 | Oh, I mean, everyone is rewatching Conclave, or at least everyone in my nerdy circle of friends. |
| 0:21.9 | Shane O'Neill is a style reporter for The Post. |
| 0:24.5 | He recently wrote about the movie Conclave versus the real-life Conclave. |
| 0:28.5 | Everything you'd want in a juicy, episodic story |
| 0:31.7 | is kind of packed into the movie Conclave |
| 0:34.4 | and, to some extent, the actual conclave, to some extent. |
| 0:42.2 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 0:46.3 | I'm Colby Ickowitz. It's Tuesday, May 6th. |
| 0:50.2 | Today, before the real conclave begins Wednesday, I talk with Shane about what the movie version got right and wrong about the process, why it has struck such accord with viewers, and what it says about religious and political power. |
| 1:07.8 | Hi, Shane, thanks for being here. |
| 1:09.7 | It is such a pleasure. |
| 1:11.1 | So, Shane, we're going to talk about Conclave, both the movie and what's about to happen |
| 1:15.9 | tomorrow at the Vatican. But for those who haven't seen the movie or they haven't seen |
| 1:19.7 | it in a while, let's briefly talk about what it was about. |
| 1:22.8 | So the 2024 movie Conclave is a fictional movie starring Ray Fines, |
| 1:27.8 | and he plays a cardinal who is presiding over the conclave, |
| 1:31.5 | which is the process of the Vatican by which they select a new pope. |
| 1:37.2 | At the beginning of Conclave, the Pope has died. |
| 1:40.7 | So the movie begins with the people closest to the Pope |
... |
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