Now that it’s been a little over six months that Pope Leo was elected to the highest office of the Catholic Church, he’s having a little fun with it. On November 15, Pope Leo will host Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci, Adam Scott, Dave Franco and Alison Brie, Viggo Mortensen, and the best Chris, Pine, at the Vatican. He will also meet some notable directors: Spike Lee, George Miller, and Gus Van Sant, as well as NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim (who is having quite a year already — check out his GQ spread). To be clear, Pope Leo has met celebrities before: He hung out with Al Pacino back in June and said hi to Robert De Niro last week. But that’s not enough. The cinephile pope craves more celebrity encounters.
It would make sense for a pope to want to meet Catholic celebrities, or even celebrities who could be grouped together by similarities in their work (like when Pope Francis met a bunch of comedians), but the celebrities that Pope Leo wants to meet are literally random. This eclectic list asks more questions than it answers: Has Pope Leo seen Tár? Did Pope Leo think Mad Max: Fury Road should have won Best Picture over Spotlight (given the latter’s subject matter … probably)? Does Pope Leo think that Mark S. made the right call at the end of season two of Severance?
The pope has said his desire to talk to people in the film industry is so that he can “deepen dialogue with the World of Cinema” in order to explore “the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values.” On November 10, Pope Leo anointed his four favorite films of his own accord (not cornered by Letterboxd outside the Sistine Chapel). Three are relatively obvious selections — Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, Robert Wise’s The Sound of Music (it’s about a nun!), and Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful — and the fourth is Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, a deeper cut set in his native city of Chicago. But it’s not just that Pope Leo wants the world to know his favorite movies. He’s also decided that it’s time for him to meet a bunch of celebrities. What’s next, Pope Leo at the Golden Globes?
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