Not sure why is it supposed to be a comedy. That certainly threw me off. Because as a comedy it was terrible. Even embarrassing.
As a drama, it is decent. It explores the feeling of the newly elected pope. The actors do a pretty good performance.
However, but maybe it is just me, when you can tweet the whole plot and still have space left in the tweet, something is quite wrong with the movie....and this is one of these cases.
At least, your title was the most appealing to me, in order to answer, instead of opening a new topic.
It could have been a masterpiece, Piccoli is just right for it. He shows what needs to be shown, his second thoughts, etc. The feeling of the conclave, the volleyball game, all is totally in for a remarkable movie.
But then, a lousy director, a boring screen play, and partially off-the-shelf cinematography ruin all these favourable ingredients.
In the end, what we get to see is a movie without much fun, without much depth. No, I don't ask for both. But it didn't have anything to go for it but its mediocre mixture.
This movie is one of the rare cases that shout for a remake. With Michel Piccoli.