From Hollywood to Holy Water: Pope Leo invites stars to the Vatican | Pope Leo XIV

A number of Hollywood celebrities will meet with Pope Leo on Saturday, in a meeting that Vatican observers say is aimed at giving the Pope some power, as he is the first American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci, Chris Pine and Adam Scott are among the actors who will join a private audience with Leo at his Apostolic Palace residence, along with Oscar-winning directors Spike Lee, George Miller and Gus Van Sant.

The Vatican said in a statement this week that the Pope “expressed his desire to deepen the dialogue with the world of cinema… and explore the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values.”

In front of the audience, the Chicago-born Pope revealed his four favorite films: Robert Wise’s “The Sound of Music,” Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People,” and Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful.”

The Vatican’s Cultural Office described the meeting as related to the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture, which was part of the Holy Year of the Catholic Church.

But commentators say it’s also about promoting Leo, who hosted Robert De Niro just last week, outside the Catholic media as well as casting a positive light on the church.

Liu, 70, has been in the position for just over six months and is considered a more moderate and calm person than his charismatic but often controversial predecessor, the late Pope Francis.

“Leo does not have the same charisma as Francis, who was always making catchy one-liners,” Hendro Munsterman, a Vatican correspondent for the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, told me. “Leo is a listener, very quiet and humble, and has his own charm. But he is also a product that needs to be created.”

The Vatican began working to improve Liu’s image immediately after his election in May. Within days, Leo, an avid tennis player, welcomed the Italian world No. 1, Jannik Sinner, to the Vatican. In a video of the meeting, Siner, 24, gave the pope a tennis racket before handing him a ball and asking him to play. “Here we’re going to break something,” Leo joked as he looked around the room. “We better not!”

In June, Leo hosted Al Pacino for a private meeting, and this week he met Italian singer Laura Pausini.

“They started with sports and now they’re with culture, especially since we’re in a very visible culture like Netflix, movies, etc. It’s a way to get this pope in touch with popular culture, and I think it’s a smart way,” Munsterman said.

Such meetings are “not for fun” or “because the pope wants to meet some important people,” said Severina Bartonicek, a Vatican correspondent for KNA, a Catholic news agency in Germany.

“We are talking about positive PR for both sides because the actors also need some attention from the media to get their next job,” she said, adding that if the pope wanted “he could also select a theme in his speech because it would get attention.”

Bartonicek described the papal meeting as an ideal opportunity to capture “wonderful, positive images” from the Vatican to reach the international press, which, outside of the Catholic media, tends to focus on church scandals.

She added: “No one outside the Catholic bubble talks about the Pope normally, and about Leo in particular. It was easier to deal with Francis because he probably found it easier to deal with him.” [connect] to the secular world.”

But Francis also exploited the world of popular culture to spread his messages.

In June last year, he sat down with more than 100 comedians, including Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Stephen Merchant, urging them to use their powerful talent for humor to spread laughter “in the midst of so much bleak news” while telling them that laughing at God “is not blasphemy.”

Francis also met plenty of Hollywood stars and other celebrities during his 12-year papacy, including Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom he discussed environmental issues, Angelina Jolie and Bono. Italian-American director Martin Scorsese also has close ties to the Catholic Church, and is directing a film featuring conversations between him and Francis, including the late pope’s final in-depth on-camera interview.