Cardinals Watched Scandalous Movie 'Conclave' for Guidance Before They Chose Robert Prevost As The New Pontiff — After Pope Francis Died Aged 88
May 8 2025, Published 12:55 p.m. ET
The secretive and complex process of picking a new pope is like something out of a movie.
Which is exactly why RadarOnline.com can reveal many of the cardinals who were meeting in the Vatican turned to the recently released Oscar-winning film Conclave for a preview of what they could expect.
The Oscar-winning film fictionalizes the secretive conclave process.
The film, which was coincidentally just released last year, stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, the dean of the College of Cardinals, and pope-appointed steward of the conclave.
It's his responsibility to convene the conclave to elect the next Catholic leader, and he quickly finds himself investigating secrets and scandals about the major candidates.
While the film is fiction, several of the 133 high-ranking clerics locked in the Sistine Chapel tasked with choosing Pope Francis' successor had little experience of Vatican politics and protocol.
And the majority of them had never taken part in a previous conclave – leading to high nerves from the voting parties.
So, as one cardinal confessed, Conclave has become reference material: "Some have watched it in the cinema," the unnamed cardinal told Politico.
The cleric went on to say the film is seen as remarkably accurate, making it a helpful research tool.
The Conclave is Over
Pope Francis died April 21.
The conclave had been delayed after the death of Pope Francis to allow time for a funeral, burial and a period of mourning.
It was also necessary to give cardinals time to arrive in Rome from all corners of the Earth, and to let them get acquainted before entering the conclave.
The cardinals were all cut off from the world at the Vatican, where they voted in secret — and in silence — beneath Michelangelo’s famed ceiling fresco of the Creation and his monumental “Last Judgment.”
Taking no chances, the Vatican required cardinals hand over their phones for the duration of the conclave and deactivated cell phone coverage at the Vatican.
It used signal jammers around the Sistine Chapel and the Domus Santa Marta hotel and adjacent residence where the cardinals slept, to prevent surveillance and communication with the outside world.
We Have a Winner
White smoke signaled a selection.
Cardinals this week said they expected a short conclave. Early Thursday afternoon, a choice was made.
With new Pontiff elected, a white smoke bellowed out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, bells rang out and crowds cheered from the Vatican square.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first American pope to be selected, has taken the name Pope Leo XIV.
The first round of voting on Wednesday produced dark smoke that rose into the sky, disappointing the large crowd.
For most of the past century, it has taken between three and eight ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days — was elected on the third ballot in 1978. His successor, St. John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.
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Pope Francis died last month at the age of 88. The Pontiff passed away from pneumonia which developed in both lungs as a result of an infection.
He had spent the previous weeks in a hospital battling the illness, having also experienced two recent falls.
Francis had been suffering from his latest bout of bronchitis for over a week and was initially taken to the hospital on Friday, February 14.
His condition appeared to worsen as doctors had to change treatment for the Pope's respiratory tract infection due to a "complex clinical situation."
It was then confirmed he was suffering from double pneumonia after undergoing an X-Ray.
