Pope Leo XIV Gives His Blessing to the Theatrical Experience: ‘Cinemas and Theaters Are the Beating Hearts of Our Communities’

Pope Leo XIV isn’t just a White Sox fan, turns out he’s also a cinephile.

Speaking at the Vatican on Saturday, November 15, His Holiness, who is the first American-born Pope, gathered together Representatives of the World of Cinema to give a brief address that championed the theatrical, movie going experience, saying that cinema is “a popular art in the noblest sense” and that cinemas and theaters themselves are the “beating hearts of our communities.”

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“It is wonderful to see that when the magic light of cinema illuminates the darkness, it simultaneously ignites the eyes of the soul,” Pope Leo XIV said in Italian (as translated in English per a document distributed at the event). “Indeed, cinema combines what appears to be mere entertainment with the narrative of the human person’s spiritual adventure. One of cinema’s most valuable contributions is helping audiences consider their own live, look at the complexity of their experiences with new eyes and examine the world as if for the first time. In doing so, they rediscover a portion of the hope that is essential for humanity to live to the fullest. I find comfort in the thought that cinema is not just moving pictures; it sets hope in motion!”

Though the event was live streamed, press wasn’t present, though IndieWire spoke with a source who said that a litany of A-list filmmakers and actors saw His Holiness speak. Those included, according to our source, Cate Blanchett, Chris Pine, Greta Gerwig, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Julie Taymor, Monica Bellucci, David Lowery, Viggo Mortensen, Nicholas Winding Refn, Joanna Hogg, Gasper Noe, Adam Scott, Bertrand Bonello, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Lee, Dave Franco and Alison Brie, Kenneth Lonergan, and festival heads from TIFF, Locarno, Sundance, and Rotterdam.

The Pope’s remarks came after he recently revealed his four favorite films, those being “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Sound of Music,” “Life Is Beautiful,” and perhaps an unexpected selection, the late Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People.”

But the speech came ahead of what is the coming 130th anniversary of the invention of cinema, with the Pope namedropping the Lumiére Brothers’ first public screening back in December 1895. Many of the attending filmmakers also dropped by the Cinema Troisi in Rome, hosting screenings of some of their own films or other classics that have been packed through the weekend. The cinema, curated by Valerio Carocci, is a single-screen theater that plays films 24-hours a day.

While we don’t know if the Pope is making his way down to the Cinema Troisi anytime soon, we know he blesses those who do.

“May your cinema always be a meeting place and a home for those seeking meaning and a language of peace,” he said. “May it never lose its capacity to amaze and even continue to offer us a glimpse, however small, of the mystery of God.”

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