As Medill sophomore Ashley Wong watched the 2024 film “Conclave” on her laptop Thursday, the other half of her screen played a live broadcast about the real one.   

Pope Leo XIV was elected Thursday to succeed Pope Francis, who died April 21. Leo was born in Chicago, making him the first U.S.-born pontiff.

While the film depicts a fictional papal selection process, the recent conclave renewed some Northwestern students’ interest in watching “Conclave,” months after its theatrical release last October. It received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

“Conclave” viewership rose by 283% after Francis’s death, according to Luminate, a platform that tracks analytics for streamed content. 

Wong, a former Daily staffer, said she often follows Oscar-nominated films but hadn’t had time to watch “Conclave” before the awards. Hearing people around her talk about the new pope made her curious about the selection process and motivated her to view the film. 

“There are so many similarities for myself,” Wong said about the film. “Like the lived experience of being someone who has had your faith tested or the lived experience of someone feeling like someone that isn’t really well accepted by the Church.” 

Although Wong said she does not identify as Catholic, she attended an all-girls Catholic high school in Singapore for a decade. She said she has also attended Catholic processions. 

Visual elements of Catholicism interest even those who might not believe in the faith, she said. Her film major friends have praised certain shots in “Conclave.” 

She said the religion influences people’s everyday lives often without them noticing. 

“We say things like Hail Mary in our lexicon,” Wong said. “There’s a lot of parts in our lived experience that intersect with Catholicism.”

Other recent “Conclave” viewers at NU, like Communication senior Jeff Snedegar, sought out the film despite not being invested in Catholicism. 

Snedegar said he had also wanted to watch the movie due to the Oscars. He knew lead actor Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort in the “Harry Potter” movies.

He got around to watching the film Thursday evening, having been sick and resting all day in his room. 

“I find the conclave very intriguing because it is a tradition that has so much importance, and the pope is such a worldwide, important figure,” Snedegar said. “Yet, it happens so rarely, and you get such little of a view into what’s going on.” 

“Conclave” provided some insight into the real process, such as the logistics of gathering over a hundred cardinals from all over the world in Vatican City for the election, he said. 

Though Snedegar doesn’t have a religious connection to Pope Leo XIV, he has a hometown one. He hails from Rockford, Illinois, less than a two-hour drive from Chicago.  

“To suddenly hear that the pope likes the White Sox, I thought was very, very fun and interesting,” Snedegar said. “It hadn’t really crossed my mind that the pope even could be from somewhere near where I grew up.” 

After Leo’s selection, Medill senior and former Daily staffer Kelly Rappaport said she learned the pope used to work with a priest at her mother’s parish. 

Rappaport, who grew up Catholic but said she no longer practices the faith, said her family comes from the southeast side of Chicago. 

She said her family members have exchanged memes about the pope’s Chicago background, such as “Da Pope,” in their text group chat. 

“Sometimes Chicago gets the little brother treatment from the coasts. … It was really cool to kind of be like, ‘Haha, see, the holiest man in the world is from Chicago,’” Rappaport said. 

Rappaport said she watched “Conclave” shortly after Francis’s death, after it had remained on her watchlist since last year. 

Prior to viewing the film, she said she didn’t know much about the conclave despite her Catholic upbringing. But she figured a pope’s passing was a rare event — one she said perhaps happened once every 20 to 30 years. 

“What is a better time to be watching this movie than right now?” Rappaport said. 

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