I am grateful to Fr Micah Cronin, for calling to our attention "Conclave," which along with "Maestro" and "Oppenheimer" is a motion picture that deals frankly with the dilemmas that face both Christians and Jews in struggling ethically with a complex and admittedly fallen world, one in which human flourishing, even survival, can no longer be taken for granted. I would like to offer just a few further observations beyond those pertinently provided by Fr. Cronin. (1) In my view, the theme of "Conclave" is stated in the opening homily by Cardinal Lawrence, Dean of the Conclave. The enemy of the Christian faith is not so much unbelief, but rather certitude. In an age of fanaticism, credulity, and lying this is worth pondering. (2) Cardinal Lawrence is having a crisis of faith, which he freely admits, and which in his words has to do with his inability to pray. (We may recall here reports that Mother Theresa found it very difficult to pray in the latter years of her own ministry. She apparently keenly felt the absence of God.) So, it is very significant that the one time we see prayer outside the gathering of the Conclave itself, it is private prayer rather than liturgical prayer, and it is when Cardinal Lawrence, who admits he does no longer no "how to pray" is asked to pray for and by the African Cardinal, a member of Curia, and a potential Pope, who due to a lapse of judgment some 30 years earlier, engaged in a dalliance that resulted in the birth of a child. We do not hear the prayer, we only see two men sitting together, one with tears streaming down his face knowing he will never be pope, but together holding hands with heads bowed. (3) The screenwriter, of course, is brilliant. We encounter a conclave completely sealed off with the latest technology to forestall electronic eavesdropping, outside communications of any sort which might influence the papal vote, and even electronic window shadows sealing of air and light and noise of the world outside. The terrorist bomb blast in a nearby square, blows out the windows. It does not so much disrupt the elections bishop Lawrence as pope, as it opens the conclave for the first time to a real world in turmoil, in suffering, and in violence outside its deliberations. This sets the stage for Cardinal Benitez's, Archbishop of Kabul, impromptu homily challenging the ingrown, self-preoccupied, self-seeking he has witnessed in the Conclave of the College of Cardinals. As the vote proceeds after the blast, the broken windows opened to the world enable a fresh, strong breeze, to flow into the Conclave, a cinematic sign of the Holy Spirit. Do, it is Cardinal Benetiz, the gentle soul and Mexican national, who has labored in war-torn Africa and in Afghanistan, who is elected Pope. He takes the name, "Innocent," which becomes understandable as the Conclave concludes revealing that he is a male in appearance, a surgical procedure to remove his appendix discovers that he also has ovaries and a womb. He elects not to remove those female parts of his body, but to continue in life and in ministry as "God made me." (4) Finally, the actor who played the "enemy" of liberal types, the Archbishop of Venice, is wonderful as a foil to the Conclave's "liberal' caucus. He longs for the Latin language and Mass and the unity that it once gave to the Roman Catholic Church, with the emphasis on Roman. He also thinks it is time again for an Italian to be Pope. Of course, it serves his own ambitions, but he does have a point. As Protestants have never denied, and always insisted, the Pope is after all at least the Bishop of Rome. So, as the Cardinal asks, "Why not?" The great thing about religious conservatives is that they know and do not apologize for sounding "dogmatic." Liberals rarely think of themselves as "dogmatic," since, after all we are "enlightened." Both are quite certain and need to hear Cardinal Lawrence's homily. I am most grateful to Fr. Cronin. Most sincerely, James Kay
I am grateful to Fr Micah Cronin, for calling to our attention "Conclave," which along with "Maestro" and "Oppenheimer" is a motion picture that deals frankly with the dilemmas that face both Christians and Jews in struggling ethically with a complex and admittedly fallen world, one in which human flourishing, even survival, can no longer be taken for granted. I would like to offer just a few further observations beyond those pertinently provided by Fr. Cronin. (1) In my view, the theme of "Conclave" is stated in the opening homily by Cardinal Lawrence, Dean of the Conclave. The enemy of the Christian faith is not so much unbelief, but rather certitude. In an age of fanaticism, credulity, and lying this is worth pondering. (2) Cardinal Lawrence is having a crisis of faith, which he freely admits, and which in his words has to do with his inability to pray. (We may recall here reports that Mother Theresa found it very difficult to pray in the latter years of her own ministry. She apparently keenly felt the absence of God.) So, it is very significant that the one time we see prayer outside the gathering of the Conclave itself, it is private prayer rather than liturgical prayer, and it is when Cardinal Lawrence, who admits he does no longer no "how to pray" is asked to pray for and by the African Cardinal, a member of Curia, and a potential Pope, who due to a lapse of judgment some 30 years earlier, engaged in a dalliance that resulted in the birth of a child. We do not hear the prayer, we only see two men sitting together, one with tears streaming down his face knowing he will never be pope, but together holding hands with heads bowed. (3) The screenwriter, of course, is brilliant. We encounter a conclave completely sealed off with the latest technology to forestall electronic eavesdropping, outside communications of any sort which might influence the papal vote, and even electronic window shadows sealing of air and light and noise of the world outside. The terrorist bomb blast in a nearby square, blows out the windows. It does not so much disrupt the elections bishop Lawrence as pope, as it opens the conclave for the first time to a real world in turmoil, in suffering, and in violence outside its deliberations. This sets the stage for Cardinal Benitez's, Archbishop of Kabul, impromptu homily challenging the ingrown, self-preoccupied, self-seeking he has witnessed in the Conclave of the College of Cardinals. As the vote proceeds after the blast, the broken windows opened to the world enable a fresh, strong breeze, to flow into the Conclave, a cinematic sign of the Holy Spirit. Do, it is Cardinal Benetiz, the gentle soul and Mexican national, who has labored in war-torn Africa and in Afghanistan, who is elected Pope. He takes the name, "Innocent," which becomes understandable as the Conclave concludes revealing that he is a male in appearance, a surgical procedure to remove his appendix discovers that he also has ovaries and a womb. He elects not to remove those female parts of his body, but to continue in life and in ministry as "God made me." (4) Finally, the actor who played the "enemy" of liberal types, the Archbishop of Venice, is wonderful as a foil to the Conclave's "liberal' caucus. He longs for the Latin language and Mass and the unity that it once gave to the Roman Catholic Church, with the emphasis on Roman. He also thinks it is time again for an Italian to be Pope. Of course, it serves his own ambitions, but he does have a point. As Protestants have never denied, and always insisted, the Pope is after all at least the Bishop of Rome. So, as the Cardinal asks, "Why not?" The great thing about religious conservatives is that they know and do not apologize for sounding "dogmatic." Liberals rarely think of themselves as "dogmatic," since, after all we are "enlightened." Both are quite certain and need to hear Cardinal Lawrence's homily. I am most grateful to Fr. Cronin. Most sincerely, James Kay