For centuries, the rituals of the Roman Catholic Church have inspired both reverence and intrigue. But in recent years, it is the papacy itself—particularly the figure of Pope Francis—that has drawn the lens of global cinema with renewed intensity.
From behind the sealed doors of the Sistine Chapel to the intimate chambers of Santa Marta, the secretive and symbolic rites of selecting a new pontiff have proven fertile ground for filmmakers. Most recently, Conclave, directed by Edward Berger and featuring Ralph Fiennes in a commanding role, captured audiences and critics alike. The film, praised for its fidelity to Vatican procedure, won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars and has grossed $115 million globally—a rare feat for a religious political drama.
Supported by an accomplished cast including Isabella Rossellini and Sergio Castellitto, Conclave offers a rare cinematic experience: suspense rooted not in spectacle, but in the gravity of tradition and moral reckoning. Now set for its small screen debut on Sky Cinema Uno on May 5, the film is also available for digital rental on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Mediaset Infinity.
The success of Conclave is not an anomaly, but rather the latest entry in a growing canon of films inspired by the real-life papacy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has embodied a paradox of humility and reform—less papal sovereign, more global shepherd. This shift has not gone unnoticed in the arts, particularly in cinema, where his image has catalyzed both reverence and inquiry.
It began in earnest with The Two Popes (2019), Fernando Meirelles’s compelling portrayal of ideological confrontation and spiritual evolution within the Church. Starring Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Bergoglio, the film imagines a series of private dialogues between two men at a turning point in Church history. Set partly in Castel Gandolfo, it portrays a thoughtful, often witty exchange on sin, forgiveness, and the burdens of leadership. The film earned three Academy Award nominations and positioned the Vatican once again as a meaningful, if unconventional, cinematic setting.
Beyond fiction, Francis has also proven to be a muse for documentarians. Wim Wenders’s Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (2018) offered a portrait of the pontiff as a global moral voice, speaking plainly on issues from economic inequality to ecological peril. Two years later, Evgeny Afineevsky’s Francesco delved deeper, drawing headlines for the Pope’s comments on LGBTQ+ rights and the plight of migrants, and earning accolades at the Venice Film Festival.
Another entry, In Viaggio (2022) by Gianfranco Rosi, offered a meditative journey through the Pope’s foreign missions, told almost entirely through archival footage. The result was a reflective mosaic of faith, diplomacy, and the silent burdens carried across continents.
Francis’s earlier years were the subject of Call Me Francis (2015), a biographical drama by Daniele Luchetti that traced his path through Argentina’s years of dictatorship. Rodrigo De La Serna’s portrayal reveals a young Bergoglio shaped by political unrest and spiritual conviction.
Even before Francis ascended to the papacy, Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam (2011) hinted at what was to come. The film’s fictional pontiff, played by Michel Piccoli, flees from the weight of his office—foreshadowing, in spirit if not in fact, the human vulnerability that would become a hallmark of Francis’s reign.
And then there is the stylized flourish of Paolo Sorrentino’s The Young Pope (2016), a baroque fantasia starring Jude Law as an enigmatic and polarizing Holy Father. While far removed from reality, it testifies to the cultural fascination surrounding the papacy in the modern age.
What unites these works is not simply their subject, but their tone: contemplative, searching, often reverent—but never naïve. In Pope Francis, filmmakers have found a living character both steeped in tradition and attuned to the crises of the present. His papacy has opened a cinematic space not merely for stories of religion, but for explorations of conscience, reform, and the weight of moral authority in an increasingly secular world.
In the end, these films suggest what history has long shown: the papacy remains not only a religious office but a global symbol—one that continues to inspire, provoke, and reflect the hopes and doubts of our time.