Originally published at National Catholic Register
The film, based on the 2016 Robert Harris novel of the same name, hit American movie theaters on Oct. 25.
Bishop Robert Barron is urging Catholics to skip the new film Conclave — a fictional movie that depicts a papal conclave — saying that it “checks every woke box.”
“If you are interested in a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of the New York Times, this is your movie,” Barron, the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in a post on X after watching the film himself.
The film, based on the 2016 Robert Harris novel of the same name, hit American movie theaters on Oct. 25. It depicts ideological and theological infighting among Catholic cardinals during the election of a new pope. More traditional cardinals are pitted against others who are portrayed as being open to changes in doctrine that are contrary to Catholic teaching.
“The hierarchy of the Church is a hotbed of ambition, corruption, and desperate egotism [in the movie],” Bishop Barron continued. “Conservatives are xenophobic extremists and the liberals are self-important schemers. None can escape this irredeemable situation.”
In the movie, a fictional cardinal
