Pope says digital culture compresses real storytelling

Pope Leo told a group of top Hollywood actors and filmmakers on Saturday that cinemas are struggling to survive and more needs to be done to protect them and preserve the shared movie-going experience.

Movie stars Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci, Chris Pine and Viggo Mortensen were among those invited to the Vatican’s private audience, along with award-winning directors Spike Lee, Gus Van Sant and Sally Potter.

Leo, the first US pope, said cinema was a vital “workshop of hope” in an age of global uncertainty and digital overload. “Movie theaters are experiencing an alarming decline, with many moving away from cities and neighborhoods,” he added.

“More than a few say that the art of cinema and the cinematic experience are at risk. I call on institutions not to give up, but to work together to affirm the social and cultural value of this activity.”

Box office receipts in many countries remain well below pre-Covid-19 levels, with multiplexes in the United States and Canada suffering their worst summer since 1981, excluding the Covid shutdown.

Leo said cinema, which celebrates its 130th anniversary this year, has evolved from a play of light and shadow into a form capable of revealing humanity’s deepest questions. “Cinema is not just moving images; it sets hope in motion,” he said.

Entering a theater was “like crossing a threshold” where the imagination expands and even pain can find new meaning. A culture shaped by constant digital stimuli risks limiting stories to what algorithms predict will succeed, he said.

“The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what works, but art opens up what’s possible,” he said, urging filmmakers to champion “slowness, silence and diversity” when serving history.

The Pope also encouraged artists to deal with violence, war, poverty and loneliness with honesty, saying that good cinema “does not exploit pain; it recognizes it and explores it”. Australia’s Cate Blanchett said his call carried weight.

“The words of His Holiness today were a real charge not to shy away from difficult, painful stories,” he told reporters. “It really encouraged us to go back to our day jobs and inspire people.”

The Pope praised not only the directors and actors, but also the vast number of behind-the-scenes workers whose craft make films possible, calling filmmaking “a collective effort in which no one is self-sufficient.”

At the end of his speech, the long list of guests met the pope one by one, many offering him gifts, including Spike Lee, who presented him with a New York Knicks basketball shirt emblazoned with the words “Pape Leo 14.”

“It was a surprise to me that I even received an invitation,” Lee told reporters. “I’ve been to Rome many, many times. But (this was) the first time to the Vatican and the first time I met the pope. So it was … a great day, a great day.”