papal

Sister Agnes chooses to voice her thoughts to the gathered cardinals only as an act of faith, calling out one of the papal candidates with evidence of his misbehavior.

London — In the papal thriller “Conclave,” Isabella Rossellini’s character, Sister Agnes, is a woman of few words.

Starring Ralph Fiennes and set within the private inner sanctum of the Vatican, the movie treats the papal balloting like a thriller.

Rife with backroom skullduggery among the conniving cardinals, as well as a Pakula-esque penchant for stairwell whisper campaigns among the power brokers, “Conclave” is less of a searching philosophy piece than it is a scandalously twisty papal potboiler.

It was some of the most direct criticism levelled at the Church by a country’s leaders on the issue during a papal visit, with both King Philippe and Alexander de Croo alluding to the pontiff’s own responsibility in bringing about justice.