Matthew Blitz

2 months ago | atlasobscura.com | Matthew Blitz |Sarah Laskow |Elizabeth Harper |Esther Inglis-Arkell

In the 2024 film Conclave, which received eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, the process of selecting a new pope reveals skeletons in each candidate’s closet. Although the story is fictional, the real-life papacy has had no shortage of secrets and scandals over the centuries. Here are seven of Atlas Obscura’s favorite tales of wild, shocking, or just plain peculiar goings-on behind the Vatican’s walls.