Robert Harris looked doubtful when I asked if he’d be glued to his television set for the Pope’s funeral. “I don’t know. I’m almost conclaved-out, to be absolutely honest with you,” he said.
One small part of the Pope’s legacy is that a moment during his election, back in 2013, inspired Harris’s thriller Conclave—which was adapted into last year’s Oscar-winning film. The book and film took us behind the scenes after the death of a pope and showed the chapel intrigues and hostel politicking as cardinals maneuvered to succeed him. What Harris calls the “ultimate election” was revealed in a way we had never seen before.
