Conclave

He knew them all so much better now, their foibles and their weaknesses. A line of Kant’s came into his mind: Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made… The Church was built of crooked timber—how could it not be? But by the grace of God it fitted together.

This book has been on my list for a while, so when I luckily found it at a thrift shop, of course I went for it. It is probably the first paperback I’ve read in a while since I have been doing so much of my reading on my ereader. The art of turning pages and smelling a slightly old book is really unbeatable. In any case, this book pulls you in from the very beginning—the Pope has died, and it is up to Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, to oversee the procedures of the Conclave, which will elect his successor. This was also my first Robert Harris novel, and surprisingly for me, since I expected to start with his Cicero books. Either way, it fits his style of being a political thriller, so there is plenty to enjoy in Conclave even if you aren’t religious. I’m not, and this book did not disappoint.The plot primarily hinges on the political tension that arises almost immediately from the start of the novel. Lomeli is preparing for the Conclave, but already there are wrenches thrown his way—things he did not expect, which complicate things. Well, no matter. Lomeli is a steadfast man and seeks to get his job done. He has his reservations about the old Pope, and some of his actions leading up to his death, but at his core he is a loyal servant of the Catholic Church. Harris is careful to include subtle details here and there that suggest where the plot may go, but he also keeps many tricks up his sleeves for later. Until the final moments, there is little certainty on the outcome of the election—though I did find it surprisingly predictable, it still kept me on the edge of my seat. There really is nothing like slightly shady political machinations, and in this respect, the election of a new Pope is prey to the same tactics and strategies that other elections are. We also get to see a great deal of the inner workings of the Conclave and the Church generally, everything from the mundane bureaucracy to the ritualistic burning of the ballots, which I found fascinating—Harris definitely did his research.Lomeli is the main character as mentioned, and he serves as a kind of ‘neutral’ viewpoint for the reader. Since he is the Dean, he oversees the Conclave, but he claims to betray no ambition of his own—he merely wants to support his friend, a fellow Italian cardinal. There are a great many cardinals to keep track of, but Harris simplifies this for the reader by creating fairly easy to follow factions. The factions themselves make sense, and though we don’t get too much depth with these characters, their motivations and support for various potential Popes is reasonable. Cardinals are human and just as flawed as we may expect; there is some great internal reflection that we get to see with Lomeli, and I enjoyed how that played a role in the story. Moreover, through the process of organizing the Conclave, Lomeli gets a greater look at many of his brother cardinals—many of whom he scarcely recognized or knew about. This is a key part of the novel, and it helps him better understand the subtle movements that are underfoot.The novel suggests several themes, but perhaps the strongest of these is the notion of mortal weakness and change. Through the characters, Harris has a chance to provide some commentary on the Catholic Church as well—for instance, the demographic makeup of Catholics worldwide now retains a majority in South/Latin America and Africa, but these populations are significantly underrepresented in the College of Cardinals. The Church has also changed—once steeped in Latin liturgy, now permitting women greater roles in the Vatican, and unsurprisingly many are utterly surprised at this, as if change were not an omnipresent force since the beginning of time. There is also of course discussion of scandalous behavior by the cardinals—including, I was surprised to see, some vehement condemnation (and self-blame) from certain cardinals on their inaction to prevent the sexual abuse carried out by Catholic clergy, and then later, covering it up to protect their own. Perhaps this aspect was a bit more on the side of literary fiction, but it nonetheless was nice to see. There is also extensive discussion of faith and doubt (in the religious laity and the cardinals), but since this is a political thriller, this ends up being somewhat of a superficial treatment.Perhaps none of this makes as strong of a statement as the ending. Without delving into spoiler territory, I will just say that the ending is—yes, a bit random, but even more so, it only furthers the questions spurred on by the themes explored in the novel. If you blame Harris or find the ending unsatisfying, I fear you may have not gotten the main ideas behind the novel and what he was trying to explore here. The ending, whether you hate it or find it ingenious, has everything to do with what we have read preceding it. To that end, though it was a predictable twist for me, it’s definitely a proper twist, and I particularly enjoyed how it emphasized the themes of the novel. The ending is a bit abrupt, to be sure, but it does leave plenty of food for thought. At the end of the day though, this is a political thriller, so the plot is the mainstay of the novel—and in that regard, I had a great time breezing through this read and following all the twists, even if I would have wanted to see more.Full disclosure: I am a non-religious reader and did not grow up in a Christian context, but I have visited the Vatican and am a huge fan of the TV series ‘The Young/New Pope’.Favorite quotes:※ ‘An excess of simplicity, after all, was just another form of ostentation, and pride in one’s humility a sin.’※ ‘Look around this dining room, Dean. Observe how unconsciously, how instinctively, we have arranged ourselves according to our native languages.’※ ‘Yet when you and I were boys, Dean, and the Tridentine Mass was still the liturgy of the entire world, the cardinals at a Conclave were able to converse with one another in Latin. But then in 1962, the liberals insisted we should get rid of a dead language in order to make communication easier, and now what do we see?’※ ‘In 1978, Karol Wojtyła brought a Marxist journal into the Conclave that elected him Pope, and sat reading it calmly during the long hours it took for a total of eight ballots to be cast. However, as Pope John Paul II, he did not accord the same distraction to his successors.’※ ‘The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happen to all…’