Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

Award-winning ‘anti Catholic’ movie depicts cardinals as ‘morally bankrupt and repulsive’

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CONCLAVE this week won a Golden Globe Award for the best screenplay. It was accepted by British writer Peter Straughan, above.

Not everyone is happy. The thriller stands accused of portraying every cardinal as “morally bankrupt and repulsive” by former Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

Two days ago she wrote on X:

Just made the huge mistake of watching the much-celebrated “Conclave” & it is the most disgusting anti-Catholic film I have seen in a long time. Shame on Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci & John Lithgow for starring in it & shame on director Edward Berger (among others) …. They would never do this to Muslims, but Christians/Catholics are always fair game to mock/belittle/smear.

Megan Kelly. Image via YouTube

Despite Kelly’s whinging, Conclave has proved a massive hit with reviewers, one of whom, Jared Rasic, wrote:

Who knew a bunch of old men voting for a new pope would feel like a glossy Hollywood thriller? Ralph Fiennes gives career-best work here, and that’s saying something.

Wiki points out that John Mulderig of the Catholic OSV News opined that in Conclave, “rival viewpoints within the church are caricatured with a broad brush … and the deck is predictably stacked in favor of those who advocate change.”

He warned that:

All moviegoers committed to the church’s creeds will want to approach this earnest, visually engaging but manipulative — and sometimes sensationalist — production with caution.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie scored a whopping 93 percent among reviewers and 86 percent among viewers.

And Forbes Magazine rated it as one of the four best films of 2024. Scott Phillips wrote:

Ray Fiennes leads a stunning ensemble cast in this thriller about the backroom politicking and deal making that precedes the election of a new Pope. Conclave is old school filmmaking of the highest order: a brilliant screenplay combined with a cast that brings it vividly to life. The suspense is generated through dialogue and character dynamics …

Contrast this with a report on far-right Christian site, LifeSiteNews. Stephen Kokx wrote:

While the movie’s cinematography is to be praised, the wooden acting and superficial storyline that cartoonishly depicts the various factions in the church not only makes it rather predictable but reveals its director has a grade-school level understanding of the faith.

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5 responses to “Award-winning ‘anti Catholic’ movie depicts cardinals as ‘morally bankrupt and repulsive’”

  1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    Award-winning ‘anti-catholic’ movie depicts cardinals as ‘morally bankrupt and repulsive’; the RCSC (Roman Catholic Sleaze Corporation) boss, the poop (who is full of shit) is more ‘morally bankrupt and repulsive’ than the cardinals.

    I would like to produce an ‘Anti-muhammadism’ movie that depicts imams as more ‘morally bankrupt and repulsive’ than the poop and his cardinals.

    Liked by 1 person

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  2. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    I would like to see a long debate between a cardinal and an atheist including (a) the truth of the bible, (b} how the bible came to be written and why it is God’s word, (c) why every human is “precious” to God when they perform so much villainy including torture etc.

    There is so much more they avoid such as the billions of stars in the galaxy, the trillions of galaxies, the slaughter of creatures to extinction, the different religions al convinced they are right.

    I read that the new generation is not producing children who attend C.of E, churches. Their parents don’t encourage them.

    Liked by 2 people

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  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    As a former Sunday School teacher in the CofE, I agree it became harder to attract children to

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    1. Matilda Avatar
      Matilda

      Oops, on a new phone, messed up the comment above. It became harder to attract children as the 1990s as the the UK secularised. I observed children came with grandparents. Parents were too busy often, but back then had happy memories of bible stories and wanted their kids to hear them, believing the country had a christian heritage. That generation of grandparents has now gone too. My doubts about my faith were increasing during 2012-13 when illness kept me out of church for 6months. An IFB church planted itself during that time and put on FB that they were starting a kids club. I was absolutely amazed that 2 commenters wrote, ‘My child won’t be coming, religious indoctrination is child abuse’. I had never had that said to me in 4 decades of child evangelism. And of course we subsequently found that out to be true. Many clergy were or are involved in paedophilia. Who would even consider trying the claims of christianity with so much of that going on and being covered up by senior clergy?

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
        malcolmjdodd

        Matilda. Church affiliation is inversely proportional to the level of science understanding, the exception being the USA and Donald Chump!

        Liked by 1 person

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