Pope Leo to host Hollywood stars at the Vatican for the first time
Pope Leo is set to host the first-ever Hollywood audience at the Vatican, where huge names from across the film industry, including Cate Blanchett and Spike Lee, will be in attendance.
The event will be held on the morning of November 15th at the Apostolic Palace within the Vatican. Its seismic guest list, including actors such as Blanchett, Chris Pine, Viggo Mortensen, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, and Monica Bellucci, makes it the first Hollywood gathering of its kind in the heart of the Catholic country.
The culture office at the Vatican has organised the event as the Pope “has expressed his desire to deepen dialogue with the World of Cinema… exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values,” it said in a statement.
As part of this, a range of prolific directors, including Lee, George Miller, Giuseppe Tornatore and Gus Van Sant are also expected to attend, forming one of the events celebrating the Catholic church’s current and ongoing Holy Year.
While announcing the news, the Vatican also gave details in its statement of what Pope Leo’s four favourite films are. These are It’s A Wonderful Life from 1947, The Sound of Music from 1965, Ordinary People from 1980, and Life is Beautiful from 1997.
As the first ever pope to hail from the United States, the leader of the Catholic Church is evidently making an effort to create inroads with the Hollywood scene, with him now holding the upcoming unprecedented event. However, he also recently met with Robert De Niro and his family, while the actor was being awarded the ‘Lupa Capitolina’, the highest honour bestowed by the city of Rome.
As well as this, Pope Leo also welcomed Al Pacino to the Vatican back in June, marking a pontiff’s first ever meeting with an actor.
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