Cinema event organised as part of ongoing Jubilee Year as Vatican reveals Pope Leo’s favourite films.
Pope Leo is to host several dozen actors and directors this weekend for an event dedicated to cinema, as part of the ongoing Jubilee Year, the Vatican said on Monday.
The Hollywood stars joining the pontiff for the meeting at the Apostolic Palace on Saturday morning will include actors Cate Blanchett, Chris Pine and Adam Scott, alongside Oscar-winning directors Spike Lee, George Miller, Giuseppe Tornatore and Gus Van Sant.
Other actors set to meet Pope Leo include Monica Bellucci, Alison Brie, Dave Franco and Viggo Mortensen.
The pope “has expressed his desire to deepen the dialogue with the world of cinema, and in particular with actors and directors, exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values”, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education said in a statement.
The event follows previous meetings, hosted by Leo’s predecessor Pope Francis, with the world of visual arts (June 2023), comedy (June 2024) and the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture earlier this year.
In June, Al Pacino became the first Hollywood star to meet with Pope Leo who last week received another legendary American actor, Robert De Niro, at the Vatican.
Ahead of this weekend’s cinema-themed event, the Vatican shared four of Pope Leo’s favourite films: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Sound of Music (1965), Ordinary People (1980), and La vita è bella (1997).
Photo credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp / Shutterstock.com.
