As I write this, the world seems to have gone conclave crazy! Prompted by the death of Pope Francis, the secretive and ceremonial process of selecting his successor has captured the popular imagination.
I have seen numerous conclave-inspired cartoons and memes – my favourite being the AI-generated video of the cardinal contenders set up to look like the drivers in the F1 credit sequence. A large part of this fascination is no doubt due to the excellent and Oscar-nominated film released at the end of 2024, based on the novel Conclave by Robert Harris. As one online commentator wryly remarked, Conclave will surely now get watched like a Christmas movie every time a pope dies.
What is it about this strange and archaic process that has fascinated us? Undoubtedly the secrecy and sequestered nature of a conclave must be part of it. We all want to know what discussions and debates are going on behind closed doors – as the musical Hamilton puts it, we all want to be “in the room where it happens”! Maybe it’s the making and breaking of alliances which the film depicts so cleverly that intrigues us; a conclave acting as a microcosm of all other political manoeuvres. Or perhaps it is that odd juxtaposition of power and humility, ambition and service, where actively desiring a role of such global significance should surely disqualify you?
Can fantasy fiction point to Scriptural truths?
At the end of October, the British Library suffered a paralysing cyber attack which affected their website and many online …