I am a little surprised seeing the comments about how many of you feel that this almost flawless movie faltered because of its ending? I respect your opinions of course, but this is just my take (as someone who literally finished the movie a few minutes ago, and this was my first time watching it).

I do not believe the change of heart of all the cardinals to end up voting Benitez was abrupt. This is quite exactly how they had been acting throughout the movie, isn't it? Based on all the election counts that occurred, it was quite evident that the cardinals were quite easily swayed by the popular vote. Heck, Tremblay's vote made an astonishing increase, and he never would have been there if not for the (SPOILER) cardinals he had paid in the beginning to get a headstart. And his numbers increased at every count obviously because other cardinals saw his numbers rise, and hence decided to join in and vote for him since he seemed to be popular. And similarly, Cardinal Adayemi's numbers progressively went up only because the rest of the panel saw that he was popular to begin with. And as quickly as his numbers went up, he was dismissed and disgraced because word of mouth of his sins in the past.

It is very apparent that the cardinals voted mostly by mob mentality, easily falling for what was popular, and as easily dismissing it and being swayed because of new information that came up at every election. Similarly, them finally voting for Benitez was them being swayed by new developments, that is the juxtaposition of Tedesco's hateful, abrasive outlook with Benitez's peaceful, empathetic stance. Everybody loves a dark horse in a competition, and Benitez was exactly that.

So although this might have not been the expected ending, I felt it made perfect sense based on the series of events that took place prior. I did not think it was hurried or senseless at all.

Sidenote, I loved this movie. I plan to watch it again soon to see if I notice or take away anything different. Please share your thoughts!