Pope Leo XIV pressed a gathering of filmmakers, actors, and screenwriters at the Vatican on Nov. 15 to safeguard cinema’s ability to “set hope in motion,” praising the medium as a “workshop of hope” capable of illuminating human fragility and anchoring communal life.
As Hollywood reels from its worst October box office in nearly three decades, studios and theaters contend with thinning release slates and waning audiences.
Drawing on an Augustinian sense of human restlessness and the longing for transcendence, the Pope articulated a vision of cinema as a craft that helps people confront interior questions and consider what makes life meaningful. He emphasized storytelling as a moral and spiritual act capable of awakening hope and deepening the audience’s awareness of their own humanity.
His address began with cinema’s human and spiritual purposes.
“I find comfort in the thought that cinema is not just moving pictures; it sets hope in motion!” he remarked.
He later added: “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 lives, look at the complexity of their experiences with new eyes and examine the world as if for the first time.”
He spoke of the cinema as a place where people contemplate meaning and rediscover hope.
“Entering a cinema is like crossing a threshold. In the darkness and silence, vision becomes sharper, the heart opens up and the mind becomes receptive to things not yet imagined,” he said. “In reality, you know that your art form requires concentration.”
He reflected on theaters’ place within civic life, describing cinemas and cultural venues as “the beating hearts of our communities” and essential to making cities “more human.” He noted with concern that many theaters are disappearing from neighborhoods and said “the art of cinema and the cinematic experience are in danger,” urging institutions to work together to preserve their social value.
He also addressed the aesthetics of filmmaking, urging artists to “defend slowness when it serves a purpose, silence when it speaks and difference when evocative.” Authentic cinema, he said, should resist predictability and be willing to unsettle its audience. “When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console, but challenges,” he told the group, adding that “good cinema does not exploit pain; it recognizes and explores it,” a task he described as central to portraying the depth of human experience.
He also situated his remarks within the Jubilee Year, describing the filmmakers present as “pilgrims of the imagination” whose work traces a spiritual journey of images and shared memories.
Closing with emphasis on the collaborative nature of filmmaking, he noted the many craftspeople — from prop masters and sound engineers to costume designers and editors —whose work makes a film possible. In an era of what he called “exaggerated and confrontational personalities,” he said the art form endures because it depends on shared labor and a “collaborative and fraternal atmosphere.”
The audience comprised artists working across independent and studio filmmaking. Those in attendance included prominent actors, directors and screenwriters from several countries, including Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, Greta Gerwig, George Miller, Monica Bellucci, and Viggo Mortensen. After the address, several artists greeted him individually. Cate Blanchett offered the Pope a bracelet, while Spike Lee presented a personalized New York Knicks jersey. Photographs released by Vatican Media showed the group listening closely in the Clementine Hall.
Read his full address here.
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