In a surprising act of solidarity with the arts, Pope Leo recently visited with a group of A-list actors and movie directors to discuss the decline of cinemas and the dwindling numbers of moviegoers post-covid. In attendance were stars such as Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci, Chris Pine, and Viggo Mortensen.
Pope Leo’s address called on institutions to protect cinemas from continuing to be closed because of the intrinsic value that they offer to the public. Calling them the “beating hearts of our communities”, the Pope urged people to participate in cultural spaces like local cinemas to build relationships with one another and recognize the importance of the arts and our own imaginations.
In what reads like a love letter to movie theaters, the Pope described how he feels that physically entering a cinema gives a feeling of hope and new possibilities. Our minds become “receptive to things not yet imagined.” For the Pope, going to the movies is about finding meaning and beauty. It is where “light pierces the darkness” and is not just a place where you go solely to be entertained.
The Pope also discussed how today, movies serve as an opposition to a culture so heavily immersed in the digital world. “We live in an age where digital screens are always on. There is a constant flow of information. However, cinema is much more than just a screen; it is an intersection of desires, memories and questions.”
“The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what works, but art opens up what is possible,” he said, urging filmmakers to defend stillness and slowness in a time that continues to be infiltrated by heavy AI usage.
The Pope’s earnest message comes at a very relevant point in time where the movie industry is still struggling to regain the audience it once had before the covid pandemic. Movie theater attendance remains 30% – 40% lower than the numbers it saw before 2020. Arguably, the biggest factor contributing to this phenomenon is the popularity of streaming platforms and how many people are simply more comfortable watching a movie at home rather than somewhere outside of their own living room.
But cinema lovers like Pope Leo argue that there is something meaningful for the soul that happens when you watch a movie on the big screen with surround sound, in the darkness. “As the plot unfolds, our mind is educated, or imagination broadens, and even pain can find new meaning.”
During his weekend of campaigning for the defense of moviegoing, Pope Leo also shared his top four films with the public, which are The Sound of Music (1965) starring Julie Andrews, Frank Capra’s Christmas Classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Ordinary People (1980) directed by Robert Redford, and Life is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella) (1997) directed by and starring Roberto Benigni.
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