ROME– The conclave has began. But even if he’s not a cardinal, Ariel Lachica has experienced what it feels like to vote in a closed-door “papal election.”
The 57-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) played a minor role as an Asian cardinal in the controversial 2024 film Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes. The film has experienced a resurgence on streaming platforms and at the box office following the death of Pope Francis and the start of the process to elect his successor.
“Ako lang ang nag-iisang Pilipino. Kasama ko mga Japanese, Korean. And then, nag-audition ako, nag-costume, picture-picture. After five days, tumawag, sabi sa akin, ‘nakuha ka as one of the cardinals from Asia,’” Lachica told CBCP News.
Lachica could easily pass for Manila’s Jose Cardinal Advincula, who he said is a relative and fellow native of Capiz.
In “Conclave,” his role is uncredited, and he did not portray an actual cardinal. But the producers were looking for a Filipino to ensure representation in the fictionalized College of Cardinals.
It was difficult to find a Filipino male available to film for 26 days in early 2023.
But Lachica got the part as he was already known to the talent agency. It’s not his first rodeo, so to speak.
He appeared in the 2019 Italian film Baby Gang, which spotlighted juvenile crime, and played the Philippine ambassador to the Holy See in the 2020 HBO miniseries “The New Pope”, starring Jude Law, John Malkovich and Sharon Stone.
For “Conclave,” his second pope-related bit role, Lachica signed up for 15 of the 26 shooting days, the maximum allowed number of vacation leaves in his day job as an administrator of two residential buildings in Rome.
He kept the gig a secret for months, so when “Conclave” streamed last year, friends, relatives, and employers were all shocked.
“Never ako nagbanggit na may ginagawa akong film. Nu’ng lumabas na ang film, saka ako nagsalita,” he said.
Members of the fictional College of Cardinals in the movie “Conclave” pose for a group photo at the end of filming in 2023. CBCP NEWSThe film, based on the novel by Robert Harris, was shot mostly at Cinecitta, the 400,000-square-meter studio said to be the largest studio in Europe.
Lachica got a “Bravo!” from the director in a courtyard scene after he appeared to size up Fiennes, the English actor who plays the lead role of Thomas Lawrence, the British dean of the College of Cardinals who manages the fictional conclave.
He also helped some actors who struggled with Italian, notably the Mexican actor who played Cardinal Vincent Benitez, Carlos Diehz.
The income from the bit role was good and helped him build a home in the outskirts of Rome, where he had recently hosted a Filipino choral group.
Lachica is a community organizer, having founded and chaired the Federation of Filipino Communities and Associations in Italy and Europe International (Federfil), as well as the Outstanding Filipino Workers Under Federfil Awards.
A devotee of Santo Niño, he and Filipino Augustinians in Rome formed the Vatican chapter of the Cofradia International Señor Santo Nino de Cebu in 2023.
His life story could be film-worthy itself. A graduate of the Advanced ROTC course, he once dreamed of a military career. But after moving to Italy in 1989, the call to enlist came too late. He instead worked in households, hotels and restaurants. In 2003, he married a Filipina, also based in Rome.
Lachica said he admires Pope Francis, whom he met in person, and hopes the next pope will also champion the rights of migrants, refugees and the poor.
“When he talked [during the Wednesday general audiences], inuutos niya sa mga Katoliko na magsilbi sa Panginoon, lalo na sa mahihirap. Lagi niyang binabanggit ang mga estranghero,” he said.
Lachica will wait for white smoke out of the Sistine Chapel in the hopes it will be an Asian pope this time.
An Asian pope, he believes, will rebuild the Church.
“Dapat magkaroon tayo ng Asian pope para ma-reconstruct ang ating Katolisismo … hindi lang sa Asya kundi sa buong mundo,” he said.
