Conclave, the gripping papal thriller about the race for the next pope, won big at the 2025 BAFTA Awards. On February 16, the film swept up the grand prize for Best Film, along with three more awards for Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing. While it may still have to contend with immigrant epic The Brutalist, which also brought home four BAFTA awards, Conclave is now primed for a strong showing at next month’s Oscars ceremony, positioning itself as a top contender for the year’s biggest cinematic honors.
For a film so deeply rooted in the power struggles and melodrama of the Catholic Church, Conclave strikes a resonant chord with Filipino audiences, who are no strangers to the intersection of faith and politics. This connection extends beyond the screen, as real-life Philippine Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David y Siongco recently shared his criteria for voting in a papal conclave. The cardinal outlined his desire for a candidate who is “deeply spiritual and pastoral in his leadership style” and “rooted in the genuine apostolic tradition.”
At the same time, he emphasized the importance of a leader who is “sensitive to the signs of the times, open to renewal” and dialogue. In Robert Harris’ novel Conclave, which the film is adapted from, the character Vincent Benitez, a Filipino cardinal assigned as the Archbishop of the war-torn Baghdad, creates a stir at the conclave after being made cardinal in pectore (or “in secret”) by the Pope just before his death. Cardinal David’s vision for the Church not only reflects the institution’s delicate balancing act between tradition and a responding changing world, but also the political maneuvering and personal beliefs in the papal race.
In the film adaptation, Benitez’s character was changed to Mexican when rising actor Carlos Diehz was cast for the role — something that may have left Filipino moviegoers feeling robbed of the chance to see a key Filipino role on screen.
