Conclave is the process by which Catholics choose the Supreme Pontiff, the Pope who will lead the Catholic Church. After the death of a pope, cardinals from around the world gather in Vatican City, are locked in the Sistine Chapel each morning and afternoon to conduct a series of carefully orchestrated votes. With much prayer and meditation, they undertake this serious task, guided by the Holy Spirit, to vote for the person best suited to serve as shepherd for Holy Mother Church. And, being sinful man, much ambition, politicking, and gossip are manifest. Harris saw a great opportunity for a suspenseful novel, and he did his research on the process. He made an effort not to include any actual persons, but created characters who represented current viewpoints in the College of Cardinals. He also used real titles of positions held in the Church.

Cardinal Lomeli is the Dean of the College of Cardinals, and it falls to him to run the Conclave, assuring that it results in the candidate anointed by God to lead His Church. He had a close relationship with the deceased Holy Father, understands the ambitious, popular candidates and the directions they wish to take the Church. It is Lomeli’s point of view that the novel presents. There is a new cardinal who appears at the last minute, the Archbishop of Baghdad, a place where the Church has suffered greatly, with the deaths of many of the faithful, and oppression for those who survive. Cardinal Benitez is a Filipino, worked for decades as a missionary in the Congo, and was appointed by the late Pontiff in pectore, “in the heart”, a secret appointment, known only to the Pope and the appointee. This made sense given the danger of being a Catholic leader in the Middle East— it would put a target on him. His appearance at the conclave brings the cardinals to 118 votes in the College.

Harris describes the process accurately, as each cardinal takes the oath while submitting each ballot, the tally of the ballots following a careful procedure, resulting in the burning of all ballots and notes with either black smoke for no result, or white smoke for a new pope, visible to all gathered at St. Peter’s Square, the faithful waiting for the appearance of the new Pope on the balcony. All the worlds’ press are waiting too, as well as the faithful worldwide. This is the reason the conclave is sequestered from the world, so as not to be influenced by anyone save the Holy Spirit.

The process lends itself to drama, as candidates rise in the voting, only to have their impending success dashed by the ghosts of past sins, or immoral behaviors bent on skewing the results in their favor. Vote by vote, the suspense builds, as the cardinals struggle with their momentous decision. Harris has written a very effective novel, a real page turner. I have only one problem with the novel, the ending. I did not think it was necessary to throw that last twist into the plot, and it cheapened what otherwise was a very well-done book. Harris could have gone a different way, and the end would have been much better, more realistic and satisfying. That last choice was unfortunate, since he plotted an excellent, accurate suspense up to that point.

This novel has been made into a movie, scheduled for release in November, 2024. I look forward to seeing it, and recommend you read the book before seeing the movie. It is a very good book by a skilled novelist, in spite of that one small, but significant flaw.