{"id":135106,"date":"2025-11-15T18:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/135106\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T18:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:16:09","slug":"cate-blanchett-and-spike-lee-join-pope-leo-as-he-hosts-star-packed-vatican-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/135106\/","title":{"rendered":"Cate Blanchett and Spike Lee join Pope Leo as he hosts star-packed Vatican meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hollywood stars met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where the pontiff<\/a> called cinema a \u201cworkshop of hope\u201d and lamented declining audiences.<\/p>\n

The line-up of film stars and directors meeting the first American pope on Saturday included Oscar-winners Cate Blanchett, known for \u201cAviator\u201d and \u201cElizabeth\u201d, and Spike Lee, who directed \u201cMalcolm X\u201d and \u201cBlacKkKlansman\u201d.<\/p>\n

All those present in the audience in the Vatican\u2019s apostolic palace met Leo personally at the end, with Lee presenting the first American pope<\/a> with a New York Knicks jersey.<\/p>\n

Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cThe Passion of the Christ\u201d, also met the pope on Saturday, as did actor Adam Scott, of the series \u201cParks and Recreation\u201d and \u201cSeverance\u201d, and Sergio Castellitto, who played the \u201cvaping cardinal\u201d Tedesco in the movie \u201cConclave\u201d that dramatizes the secretive papal election process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church esteems you for your work with light and time, with faces and landscapes, with words and silence,\u201d Leo told them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish to renew this friendship because cinema is a workshop of hope, a place where people can once again find themselves and their purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting took place, the Vatican said, to \u201cdeepen dialogue with the World of Cinema\u201d and explore the \u201cpossibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church.\u201d It also comes as the church is seeking to reach new audiences with a new Gallup World Poll<\/a> showing a 17-point drop in the percentage of adults in the US who say religion is an important of their daily life.<\/p>\n

\"Pope<\/p>\n

Pope Leo walks on the day of an audience with international filmmakers and actors, including Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, Viggo Mortensen, Monica Bellucci, and Gus Van Sant. – Simone Risoluti\/Vatican Media\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\"Cate<\/p>\n

Cate Blanchett reacts in the Galleria Lapidaria of the Apostolic Palace after meeting Pope Leo. – Matteo Minnella\/Reuters<\/p>\n

In his speech, delivered in Italian, Leo also lamented the \u201ctroubling decline\u201d of cinemas, which he said were increasingly being removed from cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge institutions not to give up, but to cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value of this activity,\u201d he said in remarks that were greeted by an applause.<\/p>\n

The Chicago-born pontiff had shared his favorite movies<\/a> ahead of the meeting, naming \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u201d (1946), \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d (1965), \u201cOrdinary People\u201d (1980), and \u201cLife is Beautiful\u201d (1997).<\/p>\n

Rev. Antonio Spadaro, one of the Vatican officials helping to arrange the meeting, reflected<\/a> that in each of Leo\u2019s chosen films \u201cgoodness appears fragile, na\u00efve, almost out of place \u2013 and yet precisely for that reason, revolutionary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vatican meeting with film stars follows a similar gathering hosted by Pope Francis with comedians.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hollywood stars met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where the pontiff called cinema a \u201cworkshop of hope\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[84161,4279,458,146,462,85,46,84162,22930,9243,84159,746,84160],"class_list":{"0":"post-135106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-adam-scott","9":"tag-cate-blanchett","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-hollywood-stars","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-mary-magdalene","16":"tag-monica-bellucci","17":"tag-new-york-knicks","18":"tag-pope-leo","19":"tag-spike-lee","20":"tag-the-vatican"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}