Box office ,
Conclave has grossed worldwide total of $128million with just over a quarter of this coming from the Canada and United States having a gross take of $32.5million. In the United States and Canada,
Conclave was released alongside
Venom: The Last Dance, and was projected to gross $4–6 million from 1,753 theatres in its opening weekend. The film made $2.5 million on its first day, including $500,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $6.6 million, finishing in third. The film drew significantly older audiences. 77% of viewers were over 35 years old, with the largest demographic group being those over 55 at 44%, and 67% identifying as Caucasian. The film then made $5 million in its second weekend (dropping 23.7%) and $4.1 million in its third weekend (dropping just 18.1%), finishing in fourth and sixth place, respectively.
Critical response Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by
PostTrak gave it an 84% overall positive score, with 62% saying they would "definitely recommend" it. however, some criticism was met for the plot, with Katie Walsh of the
Los Angeles Times calling it "a pretty thin and silly mystery ... that seems like it's deeper than it actually is".
IndieWires David Ehrlich agreed that the film was "very silly but wonderfully staged ... even if the film might be a bit too convinced of its own dramatic import". The
Chicago Tribunes
Michael Phillips praised the film's "delicious portraits in pursuit, deceit and evasion".
Mark Kermode praised the film for what he saw as a thoughtful and respectful portrayal of the papal election process. He highlighted the strong performances, particularly by Fiennes, and said that the film created suspense and intrigue without resorting to sensationalism. He also noted the nuanced exploration of the
Catholic Church's future and its internal politics, which he found compelling and well-executed.
Richard Lawson of
Vanity Fair said that the film rightly portrayed "both the seriousness of [the conclave] process and the
campy ridiculousness of it", and thought that the film "touch[es] fingers with prestige greatness while keeping its feet firmly planted in the realm of rollicking entertainment". Lawson called the final twist "reckless" and insufficiently thought through,
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times noted that the film's stance towards the Catholic Church mirrors
Hollywood's own stance towards its film industry: "lightly cynical, self-flattering and finally myth-stoking". Writing in
The Guardian, Benjamin Lee opined that the film was "a glossily transferred
airport novel first and a deeper drama about the world of religion second", awarding it four stars out of five.
The Observer's Wendy Ide praised Fiennes' performance as "one of the performances of the year", concluding "
Conclave is a blast" and giving it five stars out of five. Neil Young, reviewing the film for the
BFI, praised the "outstanding" ensemble cast but was less positive on the score, feeling it was unrestrained, "doing much of the creative heavy-lifting" and turning the film into a "rather clangorous affair." Filmmaker
Alexander Payne named it one of his favorite films of 2024, saying: "You just can't believe how riveting it is – funny and suspenseful and so well-cast and well-acted. Berger has the miraculous quality of making something you never forget is a movie, but at the same time, it's as though you're actually there." Other filmmakers, including
Oliver Stone,
Kelly Fremon Craig,
Adam Elliot,
Coralie Fargeat,
Tim Fehlbaum,
Hannah Fidell,
William Goldenberg,
Reinaldo Marcus Green,
Savanah Leaf,
Laurel Parmet,
Paul Schrader and
Denis Villeneuve, also lauded the film, particularly the performances of the cast. In July 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of
The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century", finishing at number 194.
Nigeria Otosirieze Obi-Young, writing for Nigerian magazine
Open Country Mag, argued that the portrayal of Adeyemi is problematic for playing into stereotypes of black men being sexually aggressive, and that "Sexual abuse ... has become, in the last few decades, the defining moral damage of Western Catholicism, yet the ahistorical vision of
Conclave pins that responsibility not on a cardinal from any of those Western countries but on its sole black African papabile."
Religious response The progressive
National Catholic Reporter praised
Conclave, calling it "a compelling and ecclesial call for a renewed spiritual stewardship characterized by humility, meekness, and, curiously, doubt". Kate Lucky of
Christianity Today, an
evangelical publication, called the film "gorgeous" and "riveting", and said that "though the film subtly advances progressive convictions, it gives cardinals of all ideological persuasions equal opportunity to fall short". Writing for the
Catholic Herald, Miles Pattenden considered that the film "lacks the subtlety to explore [Church politics] inventively" despite some "exquisite moments", notably the performances of
Sergio Castellitto and Rossellini. He also criticised its "lack of historical awareness", noting that questions concerning voting eligibility at conclaves and
intersex clergy were "nothing new to the Church". John Mulderig of the Catholic
OSV News said about
Conclave that "rival viewpoints within the church are caricatured with a broad brush ... and the deck is predictably stacked in favor of those who advocate change". He warned that "all moviegoers committed to the church's creeds will want to approach this earnest, visually engaging but manipulative—and sometimes sensationalist—production with caution". The
Archdiocese of Los Angeles'
Angelus magazine praised several of the actors' performances but ultimately dismissed the film, writing: "The problem here is not that it is full of
bias against the Catholic Church. The problem is that it is just plain bad. ... At the crucial moment, [Benítez] gives a speech so full of platitudes it could have been written by
ChatGPT." The
Bishop of Winona–Rochester,
Robert Barron, dismissed it as
Oscar bait and termed it "a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of
The New York Times". Sean Fitzpatrick of
The Catholic World Report, a conservative publication, agreed with Barron's criticisms, while also criticizing the writing of Benítez's
intersex status, opining that the statement "I am what God made me" is a "popular" yet "ridiculous" argument. Father Hugh Mackenzie, of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, acknowledged
Conclave was "a slick drama" and Fiennes "a great actor", but criticised the depiction of doubt as a necessary component of faith, and Cardinal Lawrence's breaking of the seal of confession, as "directly undermining the Catholic faith." Cardinal
Mykola Bychok – Australia's only representative – called the film controversial, especially about prayer: "Have you seen in this movie any of the cardinals pray? Not one time, which is Hollywood style."
Accolades == Impact and real-life parallels ==