Pope Leo XIV urges Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, and top filmmakers to use cinema to heal a divided world and give voice to the voiceless in historic Vatican meeting.
Newsroom (17/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a rare intersection of Hollywood and the Holy See, Pope Leo XIV welcomed a delegation of prominent filmmakers and actors to the Apostolic Palace on Saturday, calling on the global cinema industry to confront humanity’s deepest wounds and rekindle hope through storytelling.
Speaking to an audience that included Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Spike Lee, comedian Leslie Mann, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan, the pontiff lamented the 8.8 percent drop in worldwide cinema attendance in 2024 – a loss of half a billion tickets compared to the previous year – and described theaters as “the beating heart of our communities.”
“Cinema and theaters must be safeguarded,” Pope Leo said in Italian, warning that their decline threatens shared cultural experiences in an age dominated by streaming platforms.
American actress Leslie Mann told Vatican News she felt personally challenged by the Pope’s words. “I’m trying to get people back into theaters to experience movies together instead of on the couch at home,” she said. Despite not understanding Italian, Mann called the encounter “incredible” and vowed to study the English translation of the address.
Kenneth Lonergan, the Manchester by the Sea writer-director who identifies as non-religious, praised the Catholic Church’s centuries-long patronage of the arts. “A world without art – film, painting, music – would be a pretty sorry world,” he said, adding that in an era of conflict and social tension, “as soon as people have a chance to be hopeful, they grab it.”
The audience concluded with personal greetings and gifts that bridged continents and causes.
Brooklyn native Spike Lee presented Pope Leo – a Villanova University alumnus from his pre-papal days studying in the United States – with a customized New York Knicks “city edition” jersey bearing the name “Pope Leo” and the number 14. “The Knicks had three players from Villanova,” Lee explained with characteristic enthusiasm.
Cate Blanchett, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, gave the Pope a small blue bracelet symbolizing solidarity with the world’s displaced people. The Australian star highlighted her recently launched Displacement Film Fund, a partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam aimed at amplifying refugee and displaced filmmakers whose voices, she said, “often get marginalized from the mainstream.”
Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic welcomed the Pope’s emphasis on unheard stories, saying it reflected “shared values” between the fund and the Vatican in promoting human dignity.
Pope Leo urged the industry not to shy away from difficult realities – violence, poverty, exile, loneliness, addiction, and forgotten wars – but to narrate them with compassion. Blanchett later reflected on the pontiff’s observation that cinema allows audiences to shed tears they cannot express in daily life. “He asked us to return to our day jobs and create spaces for dialogue through stories of hope,” she said.
As of mid-2025, the United Nations refugee agency reports 117 million people remain forcibly displaced worldwide, underscoring the urgency of the issues the Pope placed before the film community.
In an industry increasingly fragmented by algorithmic viewing, Pope Leo’s message was clear: cinema retains a unique power to gather strangers in the dark, confront shared pain, and illuminate paths forward.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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