Two must-see films about the papacy

Films highlight the doctrinaire versus the avant-garde and the machinations behind becoming pope

What was unique about Pope Francis who died last Monday was not that he was the first pope from South America, or that he succeeded a living pope, but that by choosing Francis as the name to mark his papacy, he was invoking the spirit of St Francis of Assisi who lived close to nature and cared for the poor and marginalised of this world.

As a friend said in an email the other day – borrowing from former British prime minister Tony Blair’s soundbite “the people’s princess” on the death of Diana Princess of Wales – Pope Francis was the people’s pope.

The people’s pope with an Oscar-nominated film about his modest lifestyle and benevolent populism to prove it. Two Popes (2019) is a must see for anyone interested in the major preoccupations of the Catholic Church this century and Conclave (2024) also Oscar-nominated, for those interested in the politics and machinations for electing a new pope.

In Two Popes, Pope Benedict XVI, formerly the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is played by Anthony Hopkins and Pope Francis by Jonathan Pryce – mostly as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires – who looks so much like him, his casting in the lead role must have been easy. 

Both are Welsh and the best actors that could have been cast and although Hopkins was nominated as best supporting actor to Pryce’s best actor, the film is as much about Benedict as it is about Francis.

Two Popes was made possible after Pope Benedict XVI renounced his office on health grounds in 2013 aged 85. The film traces Francis’ rise to the papacy from the moment he loses to Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 to his ultimate succession to the office in 2013, when Benedict XVI became pope emeritus and retired to live the rest of his days in the Mother of the Church monastery in Vatican City until he died in 2022.

The film was made in 2019 when both men were still this side of the grave and is said to have been inspired by true events, albeit with a large dose of dramatic licence about the details of supposed dialogues between them, and the confessions they make to one another in the course of their dialogues, and the direction for the church they purported to espouse – the doctrinaire versus the avant-garde.

The film seemingly implies that Benedict overcame his preference for conservative doctrine and lined up a very reluctant Cardinal Bergoglio to succeed him, precisely because he was a practical man of the people. It is true that Benedict refused to accept Bergoglio’s resignation as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, although whether this was to keep him in the fray as a candidate is speculative.

In one of the exchanges Bergoglio tries to persuade Benedict not to renounce his office as it would arouse suspicion about the reasons behind the renunciation of what is after all the office of the Supreme Pontiff. Benedict replies that it is not without precedent as Pope Gregory XII renounced his office in 1415. There then follows a rather amusing exchange when Cardinal Bergoglio insists:

“The church can’t have two popes”

“It had three in 1978,” Benedict replies – a play on the fact that two popes died in quick succession before Pope John Paul II was elected that year.

“I meant at the same time,” Bergoglio ripostes.

Benedict: “I know I was only joking – the whole point of German jokes is that they are not funny,” which was very funny coming from a German.

Two Popes is a film of imaginative fiction whose serious side is about the clash of cultures that torments the Catholic communion worldwide in the 21st century discussed by two contrasting archetypes: Benedict, the scholarly intellectual, and Francis, the practical man of the people, about how to weave-in theological doctrine into a global church in a changing world that is not changing uniformly.

Religious leaders are leader shepherds of their flock, but you do not get to be the religious head of more than a billion Roman Catholics without having some ruthless ambition which is what the film Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes is about and which inevitably anticipates what was going happen after the demise of Pope Francis.

Fiennes is in fine form as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, dean of the College of Cardinals, appointed to organise the election of a new pope – some people are shepherds and some have to manage the farm he ponders, as he sets about a task that suits his English temperament perfectly. 

The major preoccupations of the Catholic Church feature in Conclave also but wrapped up as rivalry between the cardinals for pope. The election is fraught with incidents about the suitability and eligibility of some of the rival candidates vying for support among 135 cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to vote. Octogenarians can take part in the proceedings but have no vote lest they have gone gaga.

Any male person baptised a Roman Catholic of good character can be elected pope though it is normally a cardinal. The aim of every conclave is to elect a pope by a two thirds majority, but if that proves impossible, an absolute majority can be accepted and, if that also proves impossible, a choice between the last two front runners. The cardinals are sequestered in the Sistine Chapel until a new pope emerges and white smoke billows out of its tin chimney.

It would not be right to reveal anything more about Conclave as it has many twists en route to a thrilling conclusion and it would spoil it for those who wish to see the film.

There are no twists that could spoil Two Popes as it is well known that Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 World Cup, which is how the film ends as Francis and Benedict enjoy the match and tease one another over a glass or two of lager.