How does a fanpage for the 2024 film “Conclave” become a source of real-life Catholic news, memes and discourse with over 100,000 followers on X?

I became determined to find that out after the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis, when my social media feed was flooded with posts about the new saint. Amongst a sea of thoughtful, reverent content, the casual quips of an account on X called Pope Crave made me laugh. One of Pope Crave’s posts featured an image of the incorruptible body of Carlo Acutis on display in Assisi, Italy, with the caption: “First Nike sneakerhead Saint…” Another featured young Carlo with his dog, captioned: “This dog is a second-class relic…much to think about.”

This type of content might seem bizarre in the broader Catholic social media landscape, but it is fairly typical for Pope Crave—whose name is a play on Pop Crave, a social media platform dedicated to pop culture news and updates. Pope Crave mixes Catholic terminology with internet speech to create posts that feel slightly ridiculous and deeply hilarious to read out loud.

I encountered Pope Crave for the first time last May, in the midst of the real-life conclave. Most of their posts up to then had been focused on the 2024 Academy-Award nominated film “Conclave,” directed by Edward Berger. That film follows a group of Catholic cardinals as they navigate the process of electing a new pope. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, Pope Crave spent much of May posting memes about the papal selection and drawing comparisons between the actual event and the depiction in the film. One such meme, reposted from Focus Features, featured Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence saying to a group of fellow cardinals, “Let us pray for a Pope who doubts.” Pope Crave tweaked it to read: “Let us pray for a Pope who watched ‘Conclave’ (2024).”

Despite the page’s comic tone, I was struck by how earnest its coverage of the real event felt. Pope Crave was not making fun of Catholics—it was having fun with people who were observing Catholic traditions play out in real time. Since this first interaction, I have watched the account evolve to incorporate more coverage of Catholic media and events.

Earlier this month, I spoke with Noelia, one of the co-administrators of the account, about Pope Crave’s growing popularity. Noelia describes herself as the “Catholic on call” for Pope Crave. The account was originally founded by Noelia’s longtime friend Susan—a Chinese Buddhist, not a Catholic—but a big fan of the “Conclave” film. (Both Noelia and Susan prefer to use only their first names.) Noelia was involved with Pope Crave fan projects like the “Conclave” zine since the account’s inception. Her direct involvement with the Pope Crave X profile began during the real conclave, when Susan asked her to assist with answering questions about the church.

Noelia is clearly well-suited for her role as the account’s consultant on all things Catholic. She is theologically educated and deeply involved in her local parish life. She made it clear that Pope Crave is “not necessarily a Catholic account,” but tries to “cover Catholic content as it’s related to our audience.” According to Noelia, this audience includes many fans of the film that inspired the account, but also people interested in Catholicism more broadly. A large part of their audience comes from Catholic countries in “the global south.” Noelia indicated that many of these followers seem to have histories with the Catholic Church, even if they are not currently practicing the religion. At the very least most of them have an awareness of the church’s international importance and cultural impact.

Noelia told me that Pope Crave is not trying to “evangelize or proselytize.” Rather, she simply enjoys answering questions and explaining topics like church hierarchy, the sacraments and sainthood to curious followers. “What I want the account to provide is just a sense of open-mindedness to others,” she told me. “And I think people are interested in Catholicism and want to learn, not even in a sense of like, ‘oh, these people will become Catholic,’ but just to learn about their neighbors and about what traditions happen in a diverse body of the church.”

Noelia emphasized Pope Crave’s attempts to capture the complexity and diversity of the Catholic faith, saying, “We embrace multiple cultures. And I think people are getting a chance to get a little bit of a taste of that through our account.”

Pope Crave is certainly a place to laugh with others who are in the know about both Catholic lore and internet references. When the Catholic Herald released an article titled “Pope Leo to share papal apartment with flatmates,” Pope Crave tweeted a take on another popular meme, “Oh my god, they were flatmates.” And after Jonathan Roumie (Jesus in “The Chosen”) met Pope Leo, Pope Crave posted the People magazine write-up of their encounter with their own tweet: “Jesus STUNS in new photo with Pope.”

According to Noelia, decisions about what to post are guided by certain key questions: “What are things that people would be interested to know and would find uplifting?” she said. “What are things that they could take part in, or things that would contribute to the feeling of belonging that I think is so essential to the communities that we’ve been building through Pope Crave?”

Noelia believes that an emphasis on joy and community is one of the major appeals for practicing Catholics who enjoy the account: “The benefit for Catholics is that we get to laugh and have fun together. We’re being playful together. And I think that that’s a nice breath of fresh air for a lot of people.” This lightness shines through in examples like the account reacting to the Vatican hosting K-pop group BamBam at the “Grace for the World” concert with the tweet: “K-pop at the Vatican, call it K-popacy.”

Clearly, Pope Crave is doing something right. The account currently boasts nearly 104,000 followers and seems to be growing in both presence and influence. I asked Noelia about how the film “Conclave” could prompt such a phenomenon. She told me the answer was easy: The movie was deeply hopeful.

“It shares a message of progress and of belonging,” she told me, “And for a lot of people who have experiences with the Catholic Church, or who are Catholic, this resonated strongly.”

(Note: If you haven’t seen the film “Conclave,” maybe skip down two paragraphs.)

Noelia also pointed to the fictional Cardinal Vincent Benitez as a character of particular intrigue for fans of the film. Pope Crave and its followers often choose to feature him in memes and fan art, like the post which referenced the popular show “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Pope Crave posted an image of Benitez with the caption “The Summer I Turned Pope,”

Benitez, played by Carlos Diehz, is the fictional cardinal who arrives at the Vatican from his latest missionary posting in Kabul, Afghanistan. Benitez is eventually elected pope in the film, taking the name “Innocent.” At the end of “Conclave,” Innocent is revealed to be intersex and famously tells Cardinal Lawrence, “I am as God made me.”

“[Benitez] had been in occupied countries, worked with women and marginalized communities, and was explicitly anti-imperialist,” Noelia told me. “So he hits on all these key points that resonate particularly for people who are marginalized and even those who are marginalized within the church.” She also pointed out that the Pope Crave zine is a charity project, with its proceeds going to causes Pope Crave deems relevant to the film and its messaging, including the Intersex Human Rights Fund, the Freedom Fund and Librarians and Archivists with Palestine.

The timing of the film perfectly coincided with church news to create a perfect storm of attention. Noelia told me that both she and Susan considered going to Rome themselves to cover the conclave, but ultimately decided to stay in their respective homes to ensure speed and accuracy with their coverage.

But Pope Crave followers in Rome for the conclave unexpectedly reached out to Susan and Noelia with photos and updates for the account to share. “We had correspondents,” Noelia told me, “people who reached out and said, ‘We’re here, can we give you information, send you pictures that you can share?’ And we said yes.”

Since then, Pope Crave has befriended a vaticanista—a reporter who covers the Vatican and the Holy See—who has assisted them in their coverage of the church. They have also continued to depend on correspondents for events like the canonizations. Susan also accompanied L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics to the recent Outreach Jubilee Pilgrimage and reported on it directly from Rome.

I asked Noelia how her involvement with Pope Crave has shaped her relationship with Catholicism. “I would say that it has deepened my faith and my knowledge of the church,” she told me. “And I hope that as people continue to ask questions and as events happen that I continue to learn and grow.”

Noelia also told me, only half-jokingly, that she considers Carlo Acutis to be the “patron saint of Pope Crave.” She earnestly expressed that she has “asked for his intercession plenty of times since he’s been canonized.” Noelia said she and Susan often joke about which memes would have been Carlo’s favorite. “We genuinely think he would have enjoyed Pope Crave.”

As I watch Pope Crave create a space for Catholics and non-Catholics to engage with the church in a positive and welcoming light, I can’t help but think that she is right.

Brigid McCabe is an O'Hare Fellow at America Media.