“Conclave” screenwriter Peter Straughan stood behind his Golden Globe-winning papal thriller after conservative pundit Megyn Kelly slammed it as “anti-Catholic.”
The host of “The Megyn Kelly Show” called “Conclave” the “most disgusting anti-Catholic film [she has] seen in a long time” in a post to X Saturday. After winning a Golden Globe for the film’s screenplay, Straughan, unaware of her comments, said he did not agree.
“I don’t think the film is anti-Catholic,” Straughan said in a press conference at the Globes Sunday. “I was brought up Catholic. I was an altar boy.”
In the film, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) takes part in the closed-door process of selecting a new pope at the Vatican. Within the walls of the Vatican surrounded by religious leaders, Lawrence discovers a chain of secrets that could uproot the Catholic Church.
“I think the core message of ‘Conclave’ is about the Church always having to re-find its spiritual core, because it deals so much with power. That’s always been a careful, difficult balance,” Straughan said. “To me, that was a very central Catholic ideal that I was brought up with.
“I stand by it as an admittedly lax Catholic,” he added.
Kelly took offense specifically to the film’s ending when the newly elected pope, Vincent Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), reveals he is intersex.
“This is the big exciting twist at the end. I wish I had known so I wouldn’t have watched it,” she wrote in a post on X. “There are almost no redeeming characters in the movie — every cardinal is morally bankrupt/repulsive. The only exception of course is the intersex pope (who — surprise! — has female reproductive parts) and the cardinal who keeps her secret — because of course that kind of Catholic secret-keeping must be lionized. I’m disgusted.”
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). “Spoiler:”…
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) January 5, 2025
“They would never do this to Muslims, but Christians/Catholics are always fair game to mock/belittle/smear,” she added.
Straughan adapted “Conclave” from the book of the same name by Robert Harris.
“Conclave” is now playing in theaters and available to stream on Peacock.
