Martin Scorsese Brings Pope Francis’s Final On-Camera Interview to Life in Aldeas – A New Story

Leg­endary film­mak­er Mar­tin Scors­ese has embarked on one of the most spir­i­tu­al and glob­al­ly mind­ed projects of his career — a new doc­u­men­tary titled Aldeas – A New Sto­ry, cen­tered on the late Pope Fran­cis and the world­wide edu­ca­tion­al move­ment he inspired. The film fea­tures what the pro­duc­ers describe as the pontiff’s final in-depth on-cam­era inter­view before his pass­ing in April 2025.

A Meeting of Faith and Cinema

Scors­ese, whose decades-long career has explored moral­i­ty, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, and redemp­tion in clas­sics like Silence and The Last Temp­ta­tion of Christ, once again turns his lens toward the human spir­it. Through Aldeas – A New Sto­ry, he seeks to show­case Pope Francis’s vision of a world built on empa­thy, lis­ten­ing, and under­stand­ing — a mes­sage the direc­tor has called “urgent­ly nec­es­sary for our frac­tured time.”

The film is pro­duced through Sike­lia Pro­duc­tions, Scorsese’s own com­pa­ny, and chron­i­cles the work of Scholas Occur­rentes, the glob­al edu­ca­tion­al net­work found­ed by Pope Fran­cis in 2013. The orga­ni­za­tion pro­motes the “cul­ture of encounter,” bring­ing togeth­er young peo­ple from diverse nations and back­grounds through art, tech­nol­o­gy, and social projects.

Youth Voices From Every Corner

At the heart of Aldeas – A New Sto­ry are sto­ries cre­at­ed by young film­mak­ers from Italy, Indone­sia, The Gam­bia, Argenti­na, and oth­er coun­tries, who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Aldeas ini­tia­tive. Their short films, con­ver­sa­tions, and cre­ative col­lab­o­ra­tions are woven togeth­er with Scorsese’s reflec­tions and the Pope’s final inter­view, record­ed at the Vat­i­can.

The result promis­es to be a deeply human tapes­try — part doc­u­men­tary, part glob­al con­ver­sa­tion — explor­ing how sto­ry­telling and cin­e­ma can unite peo­ple across cul­tures, lan­guages, and beliefs.

A Legacy Beyond the Vatican

For Pope Fran­cis, who led the Catholic Church from 2013 until his death at 88, the project rep­re­sents a last­ing mes­sage to future gen­er­a­tions. His inter­view report­ed­ly touch­es on themes of com­pas­sion, lis­ten­ing, and the moral respon­si­bil­i­ty of com­mu­ni­ca­tion — echo­ing his life­long call for dia­logue between the Church and the mod­ern world.

Scors­ese, a life­long Catholic him­self, described the expe­ri­ence of work­ing with Fran­cis as “pro­found­ly hum­bling,” not­ing that cin­e­ma has always been about search­ing for mean­ing. Aldeas – A New Sto­ry appears to con­tin­ue that search — this time on a glob­al, inter­gen­er­a­tional scale.

What’s Next

The film has yet to receive an offi­cial release date, but ear­ly reports sug­gest it may pre­miere at major inter­na­tion­al film fes­ti­vals before becom­ing avail­able on stream­ing plat­forms. Indus­try insid­ers antic­i­pate an emo­tion­al­ly pow­er­ful doc­u­men­tary that blends Scorsese’s cin­e­mat­ic artistry with the Pope’s uni­ver­sal mes­sage of peace and con­nec­tion.

Final Thoughts

In a world often divid­ed by noise and mis­un­der­stand­ing, Aldeas – A New Sto­ry reminds us that sto­ry­telling — when guid­ed by com­pas­sion — can heal more than hearts; it can bridge entire cul­tures.
Mar­tin Scorsese’s trib­ute to Pope Fran­cis is not only a film — it’s a tes­ta­ment to the endur­ing pow­er of dia­logue, faith, and human cre­ativ­i­ty.