It is rare for art to imitate life quite so literally as Conclave does in the wake of the death of Pope Francis.

The papal drama, which is based on Robert Harris’s book of the same name and directed by Edward Berger, is a fictional take on the closed-door process of appointing a new pontiff, known as a conclave, which is set to begin for real in the Vatican on 5 May.

Cardinals from across the world – depicted in the 2024 film by stars including Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci – will descend on Rome, where they will be cut off from the outside world until a new pope is chosen.

Pope Francis dies: Follow live updates

As with anything given the Hollywood treatment, some elements of the film were added for dramatic effect. The biggest twists (don’t worry, you are safe from major spoilers) were read by some as anti-Catholic propaganda.

But on the whole, Conclave – which took home four BAFTA Awards, including best film, and best adapted screenplay at the Oscars – now feels bizarrely prescient, having been released months before cardinals first became concerned for Pope Francis‘s health.

So how accurately does it depict the highly secretive conclave process?

The basics

On the basics, the film does an accurate job of depicting what we know an actual conclave involves.

Cardinals are seen living, eating and socialising together at a version of the purpose-built Casa Santa Marta, a guesthouse on the grounds of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City, which is what will happen at the beginning of next month.

The film also shows the Sistine Chapel – the famous Vatican hall decorated with the works of Michelangelo – being swept for listening devices before the start of the highly classified morning and evening voting sessions, where cardinals write down the name of the person they wish to become pope.

Berger’s thriller also accurately depicts cardinals putting their votes inside a sealed container – which in real life is a silver urn. Once all votes have been cast, a Vatican dignitary reads the votes aloud.

If a two-thirds majority has not been reached, the votes are threaded together and burnt with an additive to produce black smoke, only showing white smoke when enough cardinals agree on a candidate to take over the papacy – details also true to the real process.

Internal politics

The film shows clear factions within the group of voting cardinals, with some clearly backing particular candidates more than others, largely depending on their beliefs.

Cardinal Aldo Bellini (played by Tucci) is depicted as the leading liberal candidate, who seeks to reform the church and follow in the footsteps of the late pope. Whereas Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco (played by Sergio Castellitto) is an Italian who represents the church’s conservative wing.

It is true that every pope will have their own beliefs, some of which are seen as more liberal or conservative than others. Pope Francis in fact diverged from his predecessors on many contentious issues within the Church.

He more openly embraced LGBTQ individuals (although stopped short of full acceptance), decried climate change, and called publicly for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Speaking to Sky News’ Katie Spencer in February after the film’s release, Fiennes said it is “human” how the cardinals are seen positioning themselves for the top role.

“They’re full of pride, ambition, things they’ve kept hidden and I think that’s what’s great [is this film] is not cynical and that’s what drew me to it.”

But Bill Cavanaugh, a professor of Catholic Studies at DePaul University, told The Guardian that the politicisation of the process in the film is likely “a little bit exaggerated”.

He said cardinals do not often fall “neatly into progressive and conservative camps”.

The character of Cardinal Lawrence

Central to the film is Fiennes’ character Cardinal Lawrence, a key dignitary within the Vatican who is tasked with overseeing the fictional conclave.

Cardinal Lawrence is depicted in the film, at times, as fulfilling the roles of both the camerlengo, the person who traditionally takes over the Holy See – the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City – after the death of a pope, and the dean of the College of Cardinals.

But in reality these are two separate roles.

After Pope Francis’s death on Monday, Irish-born American Cardinal Kevin Farrell took over the Holy See as camerlengo. The traditional role involves helping to organise the conclave but also includes announcing the pope’s death, sealing the papal apartment and breaking the pontiff’s fisherman’s ring – a sign that there is a vacancy in the Vatican.

Cardinal Farrell will also play a key role in the pope’s funeral, which will take place in Rome on 26 April.

This differs from the dean of the College of Cardinals, who is seen as the “first among equals” – essentially the head of the body of cardinals who elect the new pontiff.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re has been in the position since 2020 and will now preside over the general congregation meetings, the gathering of the cardinals currently in Rome, which finalises the details of the pontiff’s funeral and upcoming conclave.

Once a new pontiff is chosen, Cardinal Battista will also be the person to accept the election and ask the newest pope what name he will take.

Read more:
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Inside Vatican City at moment of high tension

A secret cardinal

One of the film’s main characters, Cardinal Vincent Benitez (played by Carlos Diehz), is described as a cardinal in pectore, which refers to the real process of a pope appointing a cardinal in secret.

A pope is entitled to keep the name of the newly elected cardinal secret for various reasons, but they are not officially recognised as a cardinal until their name is known publicly.

Contrary to what the film depicts, cardinals who have only been named in secret cannot take part in a conclave.

The Who’s Zak Starkey is back in the band after reports earlier this week he’d been sacked.

A statement on the band’s official social media pages written by guitarist Pete Townshend said “communication issues” had been “aired happily” and Starkey was “not being asked to step down”.

Townshend also acknowledged the situation “blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen”, concluding “it’s over” and acknowledged his part in “the confusion”.

Titled, “News Flash! Who Backs Zak,” the long statement said Starkey was “not being asked to step down from The Who”.

It said: “There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily.

“Roger and I would like Zak to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line-up and he has readily agreed.”

The rock and roll row followed the band’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows in March.

Townsend’s statement went on: “I take responsibility for some of the confusion. Our TCT shows at the Royal Albert Hall were a little tricky for me.

“I thought that four and a half weeks would be enough time to recover completely from having a complete knee replacement. (Why did I ever think I could land on my knees?) Wrong!

“Maybe we didn’t put enough time into sound checks, giving us problems on stage. The sound in the centre of the stage is always the most difficult to work with.”

So what went wrong?

Going on to highlight the specifics of what went wrong, Townshend added: “Roger did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors. Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologised. Albeit with a rubber duck drummer.

“We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen. It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”

A review of one gig, published in the Metro, suggested frontman Roger Daltrey – who launched the annual gig series for the charity in 2000 – had been “frustrated” with the drumming during some tracks.

Townsend also said he owed drummer Scott Devours “an apology” for not “crushing the rumour” that he would be replacing Starkey in the Who line-up.

Devours is supporting Roger Daltrey on his solo tour, which kicked off this weekend.

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Starkey – who is the son of The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr – reposted Townshend’s statement, with the message: “V grateful to be a part of the Who family Thanks Roger and Pete xx”.

The 59-year-old drummer previously said he was “surprised and saddened” by news of his sacking.

He’s been with The Who for nearly three decades, after joining in 1996 for their Quadrophenia tour.

Starkey also drums for supergroup Mantra Of The Cosmos – along with fellow musicians Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy Mondays, and Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis – and has previously played with Oasis, Lightning Seeds and Johnny Marr.

Could the next public health crisis be caused by a fungus?

Such an emergency is the basis of the post-apocalypse TV drama series The Last Of Us, which has returned for its second season on Sky Atlantic.

Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the show takes place in a world ravaged by a pandemic caused by a mass cordyceps outbreak, which transforms people into bloodthirsty abominations.

The prospect was outlined in its debut episode in 2023, when a prescient epidemiologist played by John Hannah warned how a warming climate could force some fungus to evolve into something more dangerous.

“Candida, ergot, cordyceps, aspergillus: any one of them could be capable of burrowing into our brains and taking control of not millions of us, but billions,” he said.

An extreme outcome with plenty of artistic licence taken – but is it entirely without scientific basis?

Do fungi really threaten humans?

“There are numerous fungi infecting the brains of human beings all over the planet, often with devastating outcomes,” says Professor Elaine Bignell, a world leader in the field of human fungal pathogen research.

“A number of fungal species are quite prominent pathogens and kill hundreds of thousands of people every year – it’s just the public is not well aware of this.”

A few of the dangers identified by The Last Of Us’s fictional epidemiologist previously featured on a list of health-threatening fungi by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Among the fungi deemed most high-risk was Aspergillus fumigatus, a common mould widespread in the environment in homes and outdoors, which can cause “chronic and acute lung disease” and can be deadly.

Candida species, which are behind complaints like thrush and skin rashes, are also one of the leading causes of bloodstream infection in intensive care patients.

Cryptococcosis neoformans – which infects the lungs and brain, causing pneumonia and meningitis in immunosuppressed patients – also made the list. It kills more than 100,000 people a year in sub-Saharan Africa.

“One thing killer fungi do have in common is they are able to grow at human body temperature, and that’s unusual for a fungus,” Prof Bignell tells Sky News.

“Most fungi in the environment are suited to growing in more temperate conditions, and it places quite a strain on any microorganism to counteract an immune response in a human body and cope with the high temperature.”

What about cordyceps?

Cordyceps was not on the threat list – but it is absolutely real.

The parasitic fungus infects and takes over the mind of insects, as it does to humans in The Last Of Us.

“There are about 600 species,” says Dr Mark Ramsdale, a professor in molecular microbiology at the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology.

“They are predominantly insect pathogens. It’s their insect host that they manipulate and change their behaviour. And so from that perspective, there is some basis there.”

Found in tropical forests, the fungus penetrates an insect’s body via spores, which are released to allow a fungus to reproduce and defend itself.

The fungus then guides its host into more humid locations to help it grow, before feeding on the remains and launching new spores from its corpse.

When it comes to humans, cordyceps is used in treatments and therapeutics – notably Chinese herbal medicines.

“There’s a long history of relationships between humans and this particular group,” Dr Ramsdale tells Sky News.

“There’s no evidence they’re causing disease in humans. However, in terms of their insect relationships, they do manipulate their hosts – and several fungi have evolved this capacity over time.”

Could climate change the picture?

Another facet of The Last Of Us shared by the WHO’s landmark report was the potential influence of climate change on the nature of fungi and our relationship with it.

Prof Bignell says the impact of global heating will be “profound” for all microbes on our planet.

There are some 150,000 identified species of fungi in the world, well short of the millions estimated to exist, and few have what it takes to cope with the 37C temperature and other stresses imposed by the human body.

But some do, and more could – either those yet to be discovered or which adapt to survive on a warming planet.

Read more:
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“It changes the selection pressures that are put on those huge, diverse life forms,” says Dr Ramsdale.

“Perhaps some could potentially make that transition from one lifestyle to another and become pathogenic in a context we haven’t thought of before.”

So the show’s pandemic may be far from factual, but it’s not completely without merit.

“What really is the most removed from the current status quo is the scale and the rate of the infections occurring in The Last Of Us,” says Prof Bignell.

“Some fungi can get passed from one person to the next – and in the environment we are exposed to them all the time – but it would take a very significant variant to be able to cause the sorts of species extinction event they’re dramatising.”

So … no reason for alarm?

You can sleep easy knowing there won’t be a fungus that turns you into a zombie in your cereal tomorrow morning.

But COVID, researchers say, is proof we can’t rest on our laurels when it comes to public health threats and the potentially sudden nature of their arrival.

With fungal infection in humans being a relatively modern phenomenon, with few examples until the 1980s, and the absence of any antifungal vaccine research programmes, there’s certainly work to do.

“We have to be in a state of preparedness,” says Prof Bignell.

“We have to have a very good understanding of how different fungi can cause human diseases, how our immune systems cope with those microbes, and a good medicine cabinet with antifungal agents we know are effective.”

In the meantime, if you do happen to see anyone that looks like they’re covered in mushrooms and feasting on a member of their family – best steer clear.

The Last Of Us airs every Monday at 2am on Sky Atlantic.