Is Conclave woke?
Movie · 2024
Conclave has a wokeness score of 9/10, which we rate as Activist / Didactic. The story exists mainly to deliver a woke ideological lecture. Themes are heavy-handed, preachy, and feel forced or unnatural. Entertainment value is secondary, and viewers frequently feel lectured or alienated.
Key points
- Film culminates in election of intersex Cardinal Benitez as pope, symbolizing progressive tolerance over tradition.
- Portrays traditionalist cardinals as reactionary villains and progressives as enlightened saviors.
- Criticized by conservatives as anti-Catholic propaganda pushing identity politics and relativism over doctrine.
Wokeness analysis
Conclave masquerades as a tense Vatican thriller about papal intrigue, but its climax delivers a blatant activist lecture on progressive ideology infiltrating one of the world's most traditional institutions. The film builds suspense through scandals and power plays among cardinals representing various factions—progressive reformer Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci), moderate Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), traditionalist Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), and social conservative Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati)—only to culminate in the election of Cardinal Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz), revealed as intersex with both male and female reproductive organs. This twist, absent from the source novel's spirit, positions Benitez, who takes the name Pope Innocent, as the savior of a Church in crisis, embodying 'uncertainty' and tolerance over doctrinal certainty. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) delivers a homily praising the Church's 'diversity' and faith intertwined with doubt, while external bombings underscore the need for compassion over traditionalism. Conservative critics, including Bishop Robert Barron, Gad Saad, and Catholic outlets like Catholic World Report, decry it as anti-Catholic propaganda that shoehorns identity politics, environmentalism, relativism, and indifference to doctrine, portraying traditionalists as reactionary villains and progressives as enlightened. The narrative prioritizes ideological messaging—women's leadership, LGBTQ+ acceptance, interfaith dialogue—over authentic storytelling, alienating faithful viewers who see it as Hollywood's didactic push to 'modernize' Catholicism at entertainment's expense. Despite stellar performances and production, the preachy resolution feels forced, confirming its activist core.
Plot
Following the sudden death of the Pope, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), Dean of the College of Cardinals, oversees the secretive conclave to elect his successor. Sequestered in the Vatican, cardinals including progressive Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci), moderate Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), traditionalist Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), and African conservative Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) engage in voting marred by scandals, manipulations, and a terrorist bombing outside. A surprise entrant, Cardinal Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz) from a war-torn region, emerges as a compassionate dark horse. Amid revelations of personal secrets and ideological clashes between tradition and modernity, Benitez is elected Pope Innocent, with Lawrence uncovering a final shocking truth about the new pontiff that challenges certainties of faith and identity.
Analyzed by AI on January 24, 2026