Pope Leo XIV names “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Sound of Music,” “Ordinary People,” and “Life Is Beautiful” as his most significant films before meeting Hollywood and world cinema stars Nov. 15.
Newsroom (11/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a rare personal disclosure, the Vatican on Tuesday released a list of the four films that Pope Leo XIV considers the “most significant” in his life, just four days before the Holy Father hosts a landmark gathering with some of the world’s most acclaimed actors and directors in the Apostolic Palace.
The titles, announced by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, are Frank Capra’s 1946 masterpiece It’s a Wonderful Life, Robert Wise’s 1965 beloved musical The Sound of Music, Robert Redford’s 1980 Best Picture Oscar winner Ordinary People, and Roberto Benigni’s 1997 Holocaust drama Life Is Beautiful, which also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The selection offers an intimate glimpse into the spiritual and artistic sensibilities of the 267th Roman Pontiff, revealing a deep appreciation for stories of redemption, family, sacrifice, and the triumph of hope and imagination in the face of despair.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Frank Capra’s enduring Christmas classic, follows George Bailey (James Stewart), a compassionate but disillusioned man who is shown by his guardian angel the profound impact his selfless life has had on others.
The Sound of Music (1965), the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical directed by Robert Wise, chronicles the real-life story of Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) as she brings joy and song to the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children, ultimately leading the family to flee Nazi-occupied Austria.
Robert Redford’s directorial debut Ordinary People (1980) is a stark, psychologically acute portrait of an upper-middle-class American family unraveling after the accidental death of one son and the surviving son’s suicide attempt, featuring Oscar-winning performances by Timothy Hutton and Mary Tyler Moore.
Finally, Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful (1997) sees the Italian writer-director-actor play Guido, a Jewish father who uses humor and fantasy to shield his young son from the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp — a film inspired by Benigni’s own father’s experience in a labor camp.
Saturday’s encounter, scheduled for 11 a.m. in the Apostolic Palace, continues Pope Leo XIV’s deliberate outreach to the creative community. Previous audiences have included visual artists (June 2023), comedians (June 2024), and a Jubilee of Artists during the 2025 Holy Year.
A Vatican statement emphasized that the pope “wishes to deepen the 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 universal human values.”
Among the confirmed participants are Italian actresses Monica Bellucci (The Passion of the Christ) and Maria Grazia Cucinotta (Il Postino, The World Is Not Enough), two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, directors Spike Lee, Gus Van Sant, George Miller (the Mad Max saga), and Giuseppe Tornatore, whose Cinema Paradiso won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The gathering underscores Pope Leo XIV’s conviction — echoing his predecessors St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI — that cinema remains one of the most powerful instruments for exploring the human condition and illuminating transcendent truths in an increasingly secular age.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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