Vatican officials cast Pope Leo XIV’s meeting Saturday with three dozen Hollywood and Italian A-lister cinema stars as “cultural outreach” by a pontiff who has long had a soft spot for film.
But in a papacy barely six months old, even small things can be a cultural Rorschach test – including the conspicuous absence of high-profile conservative stars at Saturday’s event.
Leo’s guest list included Oscar-winning director Spike Lee; two-time Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett; comedy director Judd Apatow; Mad Max director George Miller; Gus Van Sant, best known for directing Oscar winner Good Will Hunting; Abel Ferrara, director of Bad Lieutenant; award-winning actress and former Bond girl Monica Bellucci; and Oscar-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen.
“Cinema is a workshop of hope, a place where people can once again find themselves and their purpose,” Leo said, calling on those present to make cinema what he called “an art of the Spirit.”
Afterward, Blanchett said she would take to heart Leo’s call to “inspire and create those spaces” that create hope on screen.
The meeting is part of the Vatican’s wide-reaching 2025 Jubilee Year celebrations, and Vatican officials cautioned against assigning too much importance to the event because of the high-profile of the day’s participants. They also noted that Leo met earlier this month with acting great Robert De Niro and in June with Al Pacino, the first big-name cinema celebrity to meet with the pontiff.
The meeting took place as the cinema industry struggles through another year of weak ticket sales. The overall sector remains around a fourth smaller than it was in 2019, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic.
