Four Classic Films Earn a New Honor: “Pope-Approved”

Four beloved Hol­ly­wood clas­sics can now add one more unex­pect­ed dis­tinc­tion to their lega­cy: the per­son­al endorse­ment of Pope Leo XIV.

Ahead of a spe­cial Vat­i­can cel­e­bra­tion ded­i­cat­ed to cin­e­ma, the Pope revealed his four favorite films in a video released by Vari­ety on Nov. 11.

Despite decades of movie his­to­ry, the Chica­go-born pon­tiff has yet to find a 21st-cen­tu­ry release wor­thy of crack­ing his top selec­tions. His favorites span from the 1940s through the 1990s, reflect­ing a deep appre­ci­a­tion for time­less sto­ry­telling, com­pas­sion, and human dig­ni­ty.

Pope Leo — the first pope from the Amer­i­c­as — shared the list ahead of an Oct. 15 gath­er­ing at the Vat­i­can, where he will wel­come Hol­ly­wood fig­ures includ­ing Cate Blanchett, Adam Scott, Spike Lee, and Chris Pine.

Accord­ing to the Vat­i­can, the Pope “has expressed his desire to deep­en dia­logue with the world of cin­e­ma, explor­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ties that artis­tic cre­ativ­i­ty offers to the mis­sion of the Church and the pro­mo­tion of human val­ues.”

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Pope Leo XIV’s Four Favorite Films

1. “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), directed by Frank Capra

A cor­ner­stone of hol­i­day-sea­son tele­vi­sion, Capra’s clas­sic stars Jim­my Stew­art as George Bai­ley, a man on the brink who is shown by his guardian angel how pro­found­ly he has changed the lives of oth­ers. The film’s mes­sage of hope, com­mu­ni­ty, and self-worth remains one of the most endur­ing in Amer­i­can cin­e­ma.

2. “The Sound of Music” (1965), directed by Robert Wise

One of the most famous musi­cals ever made — and win­ner of the Acad­e­my Award for Best Pic­ture — the film stars Julie Andrews as Maria, a free-spir­it­ed gov­erness who brings music and joy to the sev­en von Trapp chil­dren. Maria’s romance with their father, Cap­tain von Trapp, and the family’s dra­mat­ic escape from the Nazis cement­ed the film as a glob­al cul­tur­al touch­stone.

3. “Ordinary People” (1980), directed by Robert Redford

Redford’s debut as a film­mak­er is a raw emo­tion­al dra­ma star­ring Don­ald Suther­land and Mary Tyler Moore as Calvin and Beth Jar­rett, a cou­ple strug­gling with grief after the acci­den­tal death of their eldest son. Tim­o­thy Hut­ton won an Oscar for his per­for­mance as Con­rad, their sur­viv­ing son, whose bat­tle with trau­ma and guilt tears at the family’s frag­ile bonds. The film won Best Pic­ture, and Red­ford claimed Best Direc­tor.

4. “Life Is Beautiful” (“La Vita è Bella”) (1997), directed by Roberto Benigni

Benigni’s acclaimed tragi­com­e­dy stars the direc­tor him­self as Gui­do, a Jew­ish Ital­ian father who uses humor, imag­i­na­tion, and love to shield his young son from the hor­rors of a Nazi con­cen­tra­tion camp. The film earned wide­spread praise for its bal­ance of heart­break and hope, and Benig­ni became the first actor to win the Best Actor Oscar for a non-Eng­lish-lan­guage per­for­mance.