Saw it last night. Acting was top notch and the documentation of what goes on behind the scenes in Pope selection was interesting to say the least.

But....

Once again a film handles two sides of an issue one sided.

SPOILERS

Much of the film focuses on the interaction between a soon to be Pope Francis and a soon not to be Pope Benedict.  In these interactions they discuss many Catholic issues: e.g., abortion, gays, how the church handled pedophile priests, woman's role in the church, immigration, wealth, etc. etc.

Fair enough.  Now, although raised Catholic (Catholic school and the whole nine yards), I am now an Atheist with no skin  the game. But to me they did a disservice to the more conservative of the flock. Basically, every theological argument went like this:

POPE FRANCIS
Speaks dialogue that makes a compelling case on how the church
should handle a particular issue in a more liberal manner (e.g., immigration, women priests, etc. etc.).

POPE BENEDICT
Defends the church's teachings basically by citing Dogma.

So, of course by the end of course we are to believe that Francis is enlightened and Benedict is a dinosaur.  This would have been a much better film if the conservative side of the church's views were handled in an equally competent manner is the liberal side of the Church's views.  

And again - I'm an Atheist, liberal - left winger so it's not like I disagreed with Francis POV. It's just that too often the conservative view is not articulated as skillfully as it could be. The Newsroom is another classic example of this.

Anyway - on acting alone worth a view.