The Vatican is going Hollywood this weekend. Or, perhaps more accurately, Hollywood is going Vatican.
As part of the Roman Catholic Church Jubilee celebration, which takes place every quarter century, Pope Leo XIV is expected to host dozens of actors and directors in a star-studded “World of Cinema” gathering on Saturday at his official residence, the Vatican announced this week. Some of the actors expected to attend are Cate Blanchett, Adam Scott, Chris Pine, Viggo Mortensen, Alison Brie and Dave Franco — as well as the directors Judd Apatow, Spike Lee, George Miller and Gus Van Sant.
On Tuesday, Variety posted a video of Pope Leo sharing his four favorite movies of all time: Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), starring Jimmy Stewart; Robert Wise’s “The Sound of Music” (1965), starring Julie Andrews; Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People” (1980), starring Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore; and Roberto Benigni’s “Life Is Beautiful” (1997).
“In this Jubilee Year, Pope Leo XIV has expressed his desire to deepen dialogue with the World of Cinema, and in particular with actors and directors, exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values,” the Vatican statement read.
The yearlong Jubilee, a rare Catholic tradition of penance and forgiveness, began last December and will end in early January 2026. This particular event is promoted by the Church’s culture and education department, along with its communications department and the Vatican Museums.
Pope Leo, who was born in Chicago and is the first pope to hail from the United States, was elected in May to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. Last week, he met with the actor Robert De Niro at the Vatican, and in June, Al Pacino visited with him there.
Saturday’s gathering is the first such meeting of its kind, though Pope Francis, who died in April, hosted comedians from around the world in 2024. Among the attendees were Conan O’Brien, Whoopi Goldberg, Tig Notaro, Stephen Colbert, Chris Rock and Jimmy Fallon.
Pope Leo’s move to connect with the film world could be seen as an extension of one of his predecessor’s interests. In 2013, the year he was elected, Pope Francis founded Scholas Occurrentes, a global educational movement that developed a project for youth communities around the world to create short films highlighting their identities, histories and values. Martin Scorsese, who had a long relationship with Pope Francis, is producing a feature-length documentary titled “Aldeas — A New Story” as part of that project. The documentary includes what is said to be Pope Francis’s final on-camera interview, recorded at Vatican City last December, months before his death.
Maya Salam is an editor and reporter, focusing primarily on pop culture across genres.
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