You all might have been stuck with the ending of the movie Conclave. Conclave isn’t just another church kinda movie, but it’s a thoughtful, surprising, and emotional story that mixes faith, mystery, and humanity in a way that sticks with you.
The movie begins with a familiar ritual that the Catholic Church must choose a new pope after the previous one dies. But this time, the process doesn’t go as expected.
Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, a man most respected in the Church, but privately struggling with doubt. He never wanted to be the one leading the process to pick the next pope, and actually tried to step away before the pope passed.
But still, out of loyalty and duty, he agrees to guide the conclave, the sacred meeting where cardinals vote for the next leader of the Catholic Church.
Each of the leading candidates played by actors like Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow comes with secrets and baggage. One by one, they’re taken out of the running as scandals come to light.
Just when things seem like they couldn’t get more complicated, a new face arrives. That is Cardinal Vincent Benitez, played by Carlos Diehz. He’s the archbishop of Kabul, and no one even knew he was a cardinal, but he had been appointed in secret by the late pope.
At first, many of the cardinals are skeptical about Benitez, but everything changes after a terrorist attack damages part of the Sistine Chapel. It’s a major turning point in the story. While some cardinals react with fear and anger, Benitez speaks out with calm and compassion.
He gives a heartfelt speech about choosing peace and love instead of fighting hate with more hate. That moment changes everything. The other cardinals stop seeing him as just another option and begin to see him as a true leader. In the end, he is chosen as the next pope and takes the name “Pope Innocent”.
But the real surprise comes to light at the very end of the movie. Before Benitez is revealed to the world, he confides in Cardinal Lawrence with something personal that he is intersex. That means, although he was raised as male, he was born with both male and female reproductive organs.
He only discovered this after a surgery, and had even planned another procedure to remove his female organs, but canceled it. He tells Lawrence that he chose to remain as he is, saying, “I am what God made me.”
This confession could have shaken everything. But instead, it’s met with acceptance. Lawrence doesn’t reject him. He respects the choice, and the story suggests that the late pope did too. And this is where Conclave really hits its emotional peak. And what makes it really interesting is that it’s not just a story about picking a new pope. It’s about how faith can grow, how real leadership is about accepting people for who they are, and how sometimes the biggest changes come from the people you least expect.
By the end, we see Cardinal Lawrence walking quietly through the Vatican. The movie never says whether he stays in the Church or leaves, but what we do know is this: HE SEEMS AT PEACE. He found hope again, but not from rules or tradition, but from seeing someone boldly live as they are, and still be worthy of leading.
Conclave takes a centuries-old tradition and turns it into a very modern story about identity, faith, and the courage to move forward. It doesn’t try to preach, but instead, it asks the audience to think, to feel, and to imagine a future where the Church can be more open, more honest, and maybe, more human.
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