A German cardinal has decried the recent Hollywood movie Conclave as “anti-Christian propaganda” that could have been produced “in the time of Hitler or Stalin”. Source: National Catholic Register.
Speaking on the sidelines of Confraternity of Catholic Clergy conference last week in Rome, Cardinal Gerhard Müller lambasted the motion picture for giving the impression “that all cardinals are stupid and corrupt”.
The prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said he had not seen the movie, but that he did not need to watch it because many people had shared their views with him on it.
“I accept their judgment,” he said.
“I’ve seen some clips and read some reviews and that is enough for me,” he said, adding that he found it “stupid, ridiculous, and idiotic” when a cardinal is revealed in the storyline to be an “intersexual person”.
“It shows more their own corruption – that of the film’s producers – than the Church,” Cardinal Müller said. “It’s a very anti-ecclesial, anti-Christian propaganda film that could have been produced in the time of Hitler or Stalin.”
The movie, directed by Edward Berger and released last October, is based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris and centres on the Dean of the College of Cardinals who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens to undermine the foundations of the Catholic Church.
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, the film has been praised for the cast’s performances and cinematography but significantly criticised for its portrayal of the Church and its teaching.
In November, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester panned the movie and urged Catholics to skip it, saying it “checks every woke box.”
“The hierarchy of the Church is a hotbed of ambition, corruption, and desperate egotism [in the movie],” Bishop Barron wrote on X. “Conservatives are xenophobic extremists and the liberals are self-important schemers. None can escape this irredeemable situation.”
Other Catholic critics have denounced the film for turning a deeply spiritual process into a spectacle of human weakness and ambition, detracting from its intended solemnity.
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Cardinal Müller Calls ‘Conclave’ Film Hitlerian ‘Anti-Christian Propaganda’ (By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register)
