Edward Berger’s film imagined the tension, bureaucracy, twists and turns that come when the leaders of the Catholic Church gather behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel.
– Ancient ritual
The Catholic College of Cardinals convening to elect a new pope is one of the oldest methods of electing a head of state that remains in use to the present day.
While the voting for the pope is billed as secret, with each cardinal guided only by his faith in God, Berger’s film explored how the process can be an exercise in consensus-building that cements fidelity to the Church’s new leader among the inner circle.
The papal election resembles how decisions were made in Europe some 700 years ago, before elected monarchies were replaced by hereditary monarchies, according to Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, professor of politics at New York University.
– Candidates
Cardinals are bishops and Vatican officials from all over the world, personally chosen by the pope and recognisable by their distinctive red vestments.
Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in a conclave – they are known as the cardinal electors, and their number is limited to 120.
Women are barred from the priesthood, and therefore from becoming pope, in the Catholic Church – with the b...
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