CONCLAVE Ending Explained

The ending of Conclave by Robert Harris delivers a masterful twist that challenges the reader's expectations and reflects on the intersection between tradition, power, and personal identity. The narrative focuses on a papal election following the sudden death of the pope, with Cardinal Lomeli, the protagonist, presiding over the proceedings

CONCLAVE Ending Explained

#Conclave #endingexplained #MediaBreakdown

[N-hb]

I disagree that the Benitez is actually a woman. He is intersex and has always lived as a man. He didn't even know he had some female organs until he had an appendectomy. To say that the cardinals had inadvertently elected the first woman pope is not accurate.

[LeeBeeDeeTree]

I thought Benitez wasn't female but intersex. That still presents a morally ambiguous ending.

[mythicdolphin]

I fail to understand why some people have issues with the last 10 minutes of CONCLAVE.
The cardinal at the end is INTERSEX by BIRTH, He looks male, is male but also has a uterus.
My neighbors 10 yr daughter was born INTERSEX. Her daughter appears female but has no ovaries and no uterus. She will never be pregnant, and never have a menstrual cycle. Her mom hopes extra estrogen will allow her to at least have her body initiate puberty, but her future is unknown. She could end up a grown adult, within the body shape of a pre-pubescent person forever. My neighbor was afraid, that I would be afraid of my daughter being friends with her daughter. I told her no worries. Our children are good friends, and my daughter has learned that sometimes gender itself might not be typical.

In the movie Conclave, the cardinal who is intersex, has a different issue, his body appears male. He always assumed he was male, until in his 30’s an appendix removal surgery shocked him with the reveal that in addition to having fully functional male genitalia the Conclave movie character also had a uterus and ovaries (no fallopian tubes) in his torso. He never had breasts and had developed as a man, to the point of his appendix being removed. The movie character was just as surprised as the doctor who removed his appendix, about his odd gender reality

From my own point of view, I thought this movie was FANTASTIC!

The Intersex birth defect where some genitalia fails to develop, and the individual presents as a single gender; or the more rare complicated situation. where a child is born with internal genitalia parts of both male and female, which may, or more likely, may not be fully present, is a challenge to explain.

My neighbor’s daughter underwent a full body scan upon turning 10, to make sure she did not have undeveloped male genitalia in her body. She thinks of herself as a girl, even though she is lacking, since birth, a uterus and ovaries. Physically, she biologically appears to be a 10yr female. Her Chromosomes are Xo. Part of one of her two X chromosomes broke and the two ends of the broken X portions bent and became joined to form a ring. She got lucky. The portion that broke off was small enough that she is still genetically female (XX) but with the additional broken-off “o” part.

If More had broken off, of that one X chromosome she would have developed as a Boy with (XY) genetics, and would have developed male genitalia, but may have been sterile.

The cardinal Character in ConClave is a characterization of the very Rare (Xo-XY) situation. He presents as male, his body developed as a male, he went through Male Puberty, but his body also had a uterus, and ovaries from birth without his knowledge or awareness, though the ovaries had no fallopian tube connection, he never ovulated, and no breasts ever developed. The point of the end of the movie is, he is, simply himself, and because of having his appendix removed in his 30’s, he then became aware that he is a male but also partially female. Technically he is partly both genders, which the character knows to be odd, but it is, this character’s reality, in the movie, and that should help the Character to have empathy and compassion as he follows the path ahead in his life.

I will be showing this movie to my 9yr daughter. I know what her reaction to the end will be.
(I.e., “Hey mom and dad”, “The cardinal guy in the end, is just like my friend, only older, with a different group missing or extra private parts, and he ended up looking male. Wow, I’m glad movies are acknowledging that people like my friend are real people.”). Then my daughter will just continue doing whatever she was doing, before the movie.

I think this is a great movie, to assist people in understanding that life is not binary. (Black/white, or good/bad, or Just Male/Just Female, … etc., ) People are complicated. Often the best people to lead, are people who do not desire leadership, but are capable when they need to lead, because they care that everyone survives, and they put others first

[Icebikerwife]

I have not read the book, but just saw the movie. As an ex-Catholic, none of the politics or intrigue shocked me. I actually thought the portrayals of the different factions was spot on. The ending twist raises interesting and thoughtful ramifications of a speculative nature, since an election of an unknown Cardinal to Pope would never occur given the realities of the Vatican milieu. But it is a movie/book after all, and such an outcome can be forgiven as wishful thinking.

[eduardopelaez]

Intersex is now the accepted description of hermaphroditism, If the Benitez character "was born female" it means his condition was not evident at the time of birth; that is the undeveloped male genitalia was internal. The question arises. At what time and how was the intersex condition identified? and Was there a medical treatment to decide which genitalia development to reinforce?

[skyliner]

As a progressive Catholic, I found the ending fascinating. When humans block change, the Spirit will make it happen in other ways.

[flamingo]

I have seen people divided over Belitz's election in the movie because he is intersex, but i feel like the focus on his identity is missing the point of why Lawrence chose to let him become Pope after discovering this.

To me, when i watched the sequence of the film the theme seemed to be around the connection between purity culture and corruption in the church. Each if the important characters in this story all preach their own ideas of purity to each other. As Bellini said, every cardinal has thought about what he'd do if he'd become Pope. These ideologies like Traditionalism, liberal progress, and Lawrence seeking out the flaws in all his brothers to make sure the new Pope is perfect.

The film illustrates how the pursuit of purity can lead people into corrupting behaviors. Even when Lawrence is conducting his investigations to keep up the integrity of the election, he is being corrupt because he so focused on weeding out impure candidates. Balitz shows an opposition to this idea through his teachings, he has his own ideas about what an ideal world would be, but he chooses to create this world through influence, by doing good work and spreading his ideas rather than crushing the opposition. In the end Lawrence must forgive Belitz for his intersex nature in order to complete his character arch and overcome his pursuit of purity.

[jaygatz]

Fienne's character is named Lawrence.

[DraculaTheImpaler]

Spain is more developed than France and Italy now. And isn't the U.S. now considered the Rome of today? Then Mexico actually has Italian-looking cities like Guanajuato, Guanajuato while the U.S. has none. Columbus also never set foot in the lands now called the U.S. yet there are things like a Columbus Ohio and a Columbia University which makes no sense. This movie was written and directed by medusa's husbands which are some British guys pretending they aren't some Arthur C Clarke having an "LGBTQ" holiday in Sri Lanka.

[carolwarchol]

Basic Catholic teaching is that God made everyone. Are you suggesting that God made a mistake?

[susanstephens-iv]

It takes all kinds! Interesting story with many dilemmas. Excellent cast and surprise endings are fun.😊

[steveempire]

#1. The movie/book went from plausible realism to jumping the shark with Benítez's election as pope. He is a newly appointed cardinal in secret, has no record of his views, and no political connections within the conclave. There is a zero chance someone like him would ever be elected pope. The notion that the cardinals elect Benítez over a sincere speech is just as preposterous as when the conclave elected the rogue priest in Angels and Demons. It makes a mockery of the realism that was present up to that point.

#2. Let's be clear here. Benítez is a villain like all the other scandal-plagued cardinals for not revealing his medical issue with the Conclave and Lawrence is also a villain for not revealing it to the conclave. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that Benítez would have won if the other Cardinals had known. Should the information about his condition be leaked, it would create a schism within the Catholic Church worse than having to do the conclave over again.

#3. Therefore, Robert Harris has gone from cynical realism to pushing a liberal wish-fulfillment fantasy onto the Catholic Church. It's not a thriller, not a mystery, just propaganda at this point not much different than Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

#4. Even if Benítez were intersex or female, it doesn't necessarily mean anything will happen progressively here. This is identity politics and it's absurd. Plenty of queens have acted hypermasculine as a way to overcompensate to the male hierarchy. Benítez doesn't even identify as intersex or female but male. For those who eventually do find out, Benítez would be in a state of constant blackmail by all those who work with him in the Vatican. Tricking the conclave into choosing Benítez is not a progressive victory. It's cheating, deception, and there are no heroes in this story.

[prickly]

"delivers a masterful twist"
If you haven't gone to the movies in the last ten years or watched a anime lol

[luisitoaraneta]

Who's lomeli? The main characters name is Lawrence right?

[marilynreyer]

Why would you give away the end of the movie? I already seen the movie, but if I knew the end, I would never have gone to see it and that’s what’s going to happen to a lot of other people you should’ve said spoiler alert.

[nazhul]

Extremely Unrealistic ending but good movie

[joncerda]

If you have to lecture morality and explain an ideology from a condescending posture because of a blatant lie toward a Cardinal(s), you don't understand Catholicism.

[gitarman]

Woke BS, I walked out as soon as he use the word hysterectomy

[marisaortiz]

I didn’t like this movie, boring and slow

[colinmccarthy]

After looking at the review, I would not see the movie.In my eyes, it is a fantasy.I have seen many videos
on Conclaves where Popes were elected.