VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has decried the recent Hollywood movie Conclave as “anti-Christian propaganda” that could have been produced “in the time of Hitler or Stalin.”
Speaking to the Register on the sidelines of Confraternity of Catholic Clergy conference last week in Rome, the German cardinal 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 told the Register that 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 centers 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 criticized for its portrayal of the Church and its teaching.
Among the criticisms is its perpetuation of negative stereotypes about clergy, emphasizing scandals and power struggles while overlooking the positive contributions of many dedicated Church leaders.
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.”
Critics have also said the intersex character undermines Catholic doctrine regarding the all-male priesthood, and argue that such representations could lead to confusion about Church teachings on gender and ordination. Fitzpatrick said it conveyed the false teaching that “God made this man trapped in a woman’s body, so he should be allowed to embrace that. And the rest of us must embrace it.”
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.
The popular commentator Megyn Kelly, who is Catholic, was particularly censorious of the film, writing in a Jan. 5 post on X that she had “just made the huge mistake of watching” it and said it was “the most disgusting anti-Catholic film I have seen in a long time.”
She added, “What a thing to release to streaming just in time for Christmas. They would never do this to Muslims, but Christians/Catholics are always fair game to mock/belittle/smear.”
Fitzpatrick said that he nevertheless found it “fascinating that such a film exists” because it “betrays a serious concern that the world has for the Church.”
Conclave, he wrote, “suggests a deep apprehension about the Church by its existence and its acclaim, and it is a dread that the liberals will lose their foothold.”
He agreed with Bishop Barron that Catholics should perhaps “run away” from the movie, but added that it also “provides, in its warning, a most revealing glimpse into the acknowledged might and majesty of the Catholic Church, and it is interesting to witness such a compliment from the cunning enemy.”
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