Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Monica Bellucci, and other actresses and filmmakers were urged by Pope Leo to continue their work as “pilgrims of the imagination” to bring hope” during an audience with Hollywood talent.
The celebrity gathering served as both a means for the Catholic Church to interact more with the outside world and a dusting of star dust for a still-new pope. Speaking out against the “troubling decline” in movie attendance, Leo XIV also demonstrated his strong support for the international film industry.
The event was the first of its sort in the Vatican and was praised as a “great day” by director Spike Lee. Pope Leo praised cinema’s “capacity to amaze” and its ability to amuse and educate while speaking in Italian beneath the exquisite frescoes of the Clementine Hall.
However, he advised filmmakers to confront “the world’s wounds” head-on. Violence, poverty, exile, loneliness, intoxication and forgotten wars are issues that need to be recognized and narrated,” added the pontiff. “Good films acknowledge and investigate suffering rather than taking advantage of it. All of the great filmmakers have done this.
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