‘Conclave’ Author Says Process To Elect New Pope Is “Closest Thing To Real-Life ‘Traitors’”​on May 4, 2025 at 11:18 am

The forthcoming conclave to select the new Pope has gained a whole new group of interested observers, following the success of Oscar-nominated film Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes.

Based on the bestselling 2016 novel by Robert Harris, it details the process where cardinals (male, under the age of 80) from across the world gather in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel for a process to choose the next Pontiff, while the public wait outside for a decision. The news is then announced with a puff of white smoke emerging from a chimney on the roof of the Chapel. The conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor will begin on Wednesday May 7.

However, with all the secrecy, private discussions that occur in corridors outside the Chapel and reports of deal-making, Harris says the process is more akin to another screen hit – TV show The Traitors.

The Traitors has been a huge hit for the BBC since debuting in the UK in 2022, with international versions now screening across the world. It sees “faithful” contestants tasked with trying to work out the “traitors” among them, before being “murdered” and eliminated from the game and a chance to share in the cash prize.

Harris told the BBC:

“[It’s] the nearest analogy I can come to. Suddenly everyone swings to one person – you can’t see why, particularly, but it happens,”

“And in a funny way, a similar dynamic does operate in a conclave, which is why often it produces a surprise.”

Harris suggested that political parties electing a new leader could learn from the process:

“To lock the door and say you’re not going to come out until you’ve come up with a result concentrates the mind – and if you look back, the popes have been pretty good.

“I didn’t come away from researching the novel thinking this is a terrible idea [and that] I must write a novel to expose how awful it is. In a way, the novel shows a conclave working.”