Published in 2016, Conclave is a religious thriller by British novelist Robert Harris (Pompeii, An Officer and a Spy). Harris was deeply fascinated with the process of electing popes after witnessing the announcements of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and Pope Francis in 2013. His penchant for writing historical and political thrillers allowed him to frame the scandals and ambitions of the College of Cardinals within a depiction of its electoral process. In 2024, the novel was adapted as a film directed by Edward Berger, starring Ralph Fiennes as Thomas Cardinal Lawrence, an Anglicized revision of the novel’s protagonist, Jacopo Cardinal Lomeli.

Following the death of an unnamed pope, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Jacopo Cardinal Lomeli, is tasked with overseeing the conclave to elect the next pontiff. Over a prolonged voting period, the conclave exposes the sins and failings of each frontrunner, paving the way for a mysterious newcomer to shake the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church. The novel explores The Politics of Religion, Human Ambition and Divine Providence, and The Challenge of Faith.

This study guide refers to the trade paperback edition of the novel, published by Vintage Books in 2024.

Content Warning: The source material for this study guide references sexual abuse, anti-Islamic and anti-Black speech, and biased attitudes and language towards intersex people.

Plot Summary

Jacopo Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, is summoned to the Casa Santa Marta when he learns that the incumbent pope is nearing death. Lomeli and the pope have a tenuous relationship, marked by Lomeli’s private crisis of faith. Though he had attempted to resign from office, Lomeli was disappointed when the pope kept him on, requiring him to serve as a “manager” in the Church. This makes it necessary for Lomeli to oversee the forthcoming conclave to elect the new pope. Soon after the pope’s death, Lomeli learns that the pope had been experiencing his own crisis as well—a loss of faith in the Church.

The College of Cardinals converges on Vatican City for the election. There are several frontrunners for the leadership of the Church: Joshua Cardinal Adeyemi, the late pope’s chief confessor, the public favorite, and potentially, the “first Black pope” (17); Joseph Cardinal Tremblay, the ambitious Camerlengo who is alleged to have been dismissed by the late pope before his death; Aldo Cardinal Bellini, the liberal Secretary of State whom Lomeli supports; and Goffredo Cardinal Tedesco, the late pope’s chief rival and a hardcore traditionalist who seeks to undo the impact of the Second Vatican Council. The lead-up to the conclave is stirred by the arrival of a new cardinal, Vincent Cardinal Benítez, the Filipino Archbishop of Baghdad whom the late pope had elevated to his pastoral role in secret. Despite Bellini’s skepticism over the newcomer, Lomeli admits Benítez into the conclave.

During the mass to celebrate the start of the conclave, Lomeli is compelled to deviate from his characteristically neutral homily and speak to the matters at the heart of his personal crisis. He prays for a pope who is tolerant and capable of doubt, a message that provokes a strong response from the traditionalists. The first ballot sees Tedesco in the lead.

Adeyemi attempts to steal the lead from Tedesco, leveraging his traditionalist stances and his Nigerian identity to appeal to both sides of the conclave. While the second and third ballots lean in his favor, Adeyemi is exposed for having sexually abused one of the nuns serving the conclave many years earlier. Lomeli has reason to believe that the nun’s assignment to Rome was intended to sabotage Adeyemi’s chances at the papacy.

Tremblay takes the lead from Adeyemi and Tedesco in the fifth ballot. With the conclave stretching into overtime, Bellini encourages Lomeli to support Tremblay. Lomeli similarly encourages Benítez to back Tremblay, but Benítez challenges Lomeli to vote according to his principles rather than compromise. Disturbed by Benítez’s challenge, Lomeli is compelled to investigate the allegations plaguing Tremblay’s candidacy. Breaking into the sealed apartment of the late pope, he not only learns that Tremblay had engineered the exposé of Adeyemi’s scandal, but that he had also bought votes from several cardinals, making him guilty of simony.

Lomeli brings his findings to Bellini, who encourages him to look past Tremblay’s faults and see him for his usefulness as a moderate leader. This disillusions Lomeli to Bellini’s leadership. Lomeli proceeds to expose Tremblay’s simony to the college. Tremblay denounces Lomeli for breaking the seal to the late pope’s apartment, but by then the college’s sentiments have turned against him. In the sixth ballot, Lomeli emerges as a frontrunner to challenge Tedesco, followed by Benítez.

Believing he may be the best chance at holding back a Tedesco papacy, Lomeli votes for himself in the seventh ballot, which coincides with a coordinated terror attack in Vatican City and across Europe. Lomeli is inspired by a fresco of the crucifixion of St. Peter to proceed with the conclave, informing the college of the events that have transpired. Tedesco criticizes him for trying to influence the conclave to a rushed end, but his speech goes too far into mudslinging and voicing his anti-Islamic views. Benítez responds with a criticism of American intervention in the Middle East.

During the eighth ballot, Lomeli becomes confident that he will win the election. Benítez overtakes him to garner the required two-thirds majority to become pope. He chooses to rename himself Pope Innocent XIV. The result initially satisfies Lomeli until he learns from his private secretary that the late pope had planned to send Benítez to Geneva to seek medical treatment at a private hospital specializing in gender confirmation. Lomeli confronts the new pope and learns that he is intersex. Benítez only discovered his gender identity after surviving a car-bomb attack in Baghdad. He attempted to resign from office, but the late pope offered him the choice to remain, as well as medical procedures to confirm his gender. Benítez ultimately decided to forego the procedure, deciding to honor his identity as part of God’s plan. Lomeli resigns himself to the mystery of God’s will.